Task 8: Golden Record Curation

The Golden Record is an incredible representation of the human species. Although it may not capture all human civilization or our history, it has certainly offered a glimpse of musical artworks from various cultural representations.

I chose the following 10 songs:

• Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55
• Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima. 0:52
• “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
• India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho,” sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30
• Bulgaria, “Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin,” sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59
• “Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15
• China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37
• Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
• Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20
• Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest,”) performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51

The reasons why I picked them are under the following parameters and criteria:

• The Golden Record has to have cultural inclusivity. Therefore, the above pieces include many cultural representations: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Bulgarian, American & European.
• The Golden Record needs to capture different musical genres. You may find a variety from above: classical music, instrumental music, orchestra, jazz & blues.
• The Golden Record doesn’t need to carry the burden of incorporating all existing languages on earth, but it has surely demonstrated some prominent languages.

Other than the above, what I find the most fascinating is the Golden Record captured the sound of the earth, such as the sound of animals, wind-blowing, rocket-launching, and so on. All of these sounds seem so usual to us and we don’t need to decipher or interpret them. Perhaps when we were born as a baby, we were not familiar with these strange sounds and they scared us. Through time, we learned through experiences and gained intelligence, and became more conscious of our being.

I imagine it may be extremely difficult for aliens to understand human culture and human behavior. Or maybe not, science fiction movies fantasize aliens to have the ability to master all earth languages and know well about human civilizations. I am more prone to believe there are intelligent alien species that exist in the vast universe. I hope they will appreciate Bach’s Gavotte en rondeaux as much as I do.