Golden Record Curation

When I first read the description of this task, I was quite excited about the opportunity to explore the Golden Record from the Voyager spacecrafts. The Golden Record was something that I had read about previously, but I had never had the opportunity to sit down and actually listen to each song. Originally when I read about the Golden Record, my interest was piqued with this idea of a selection music that represents humanity and the world. The original curation of this record would have been a seemingly impossible task, and I found it overwhelming trying to curate this record further into a smaller playlist.

The original parameters that I used for my curation process was to first identify each song as either instrumental (highlighted below in yellow) or vocal (highlighted below in green). This is something that I do with my own music library because personally, I find myself either in the mood for music with vocals or music that is just instrumental. This split the Golden Record into eleven vocal songs and sixteen instrumental songs. Instruments, in their vast shapes, sizes, and sounds, provide language and storytelling in their own way. Since instruments provide a universal language for this world, I decided to choose the sixteen instrumental songs as the new list to be further curated. 

The next step, paring these sixteen instrumental songs down to ten, was by far the hardest and most difficult part of this task. I wanted there to be cultural representation in my final list, so I decided to further categorize the instrumental songs by instrument type and style. Some of these songs were really easy to add into my final list, but eventually I was left with seven songs and only one spot left (these seven songs are highlighted below in red). These seven songs were all fairly similar in relation to the rest of the list. All of them included orchestral instruments which created some similar sounds between each of the songs. In the end, the final spot on my list was filled by Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” Stravinsky does a great job isolating the unique sounds of each part of the orchestra which made Rite of Spring a great representative for the other songs.

My 10 Song Golden Record

• Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08

This song uses a combination of drums and other percussion instruments. In the background, some type of flute is used to complement the percussion.  The percussion used in this song along with the beat of the music made it a very unique contribution to the instrumental portion of the Golden Record.

• Australia, Aborigine songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird,” recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes. 1:26

The beginning of this song relies heavily on the didgeridoo, but is eventually complemented by a chant in the background. Even though this song is not truly “instrumental”, I thought that it was an important addition to my curation because of the cultural significance that it brings to the list. I also feel that the chanting in this song is more of an “instrumental” addition versus a “vocal” addition in the traditional sense.

• New Guinea, men’s house song, recorded by Robert MacLennan. 1:20

In terms of this list, this instrumental song from New Guinea really jumped out at me. I found the sound of the instrument that is used in this song to be very unique. The beat and the melody of this song is also very interesting and stands along on this list.

• Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest,”) performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51

Another flute or woodwind based song, this song tells a very beautiful instrumental story that was important to be included on this list. The translation “Crane’s Nest” is definitely appropriate for this song, and I could almost visualize myself in a crane’s nest. This song is truly a remarkable piece of instrumental storytelling.

• Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima. 0:52

This song uses a combination of percussion and panpipes and does so in a very unique way. By this point in the list, I was very surprised by the individual differences that exist amongst all of these instrumental pieces from across the world. All of these songs have their own culture and style embedded in the sounds created by the instruments.

• “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05

This song was also a sure-to-make-my-list song. The dominance of Louis Armstrong and his trumpet in this song is a stand-out on the Golden Record. The brass instruments used in this song create a sound that is not replicated anywhere else on the Golden Record.

• Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30

This song is another powerful storyteller. The sound of the bagpipes create an eerie but pleasant sound. From start to finish, this song takes the listener on a journey.

• Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35

This song was the most difficult song to add to this list because it lives with other orchestral songs on this record.. Being limited to only 10 songs on this curation eventually forced me to choose one song to represent the orchestral group. Choosing this one song far from a complete representation of the other songs, but I feel like Stravinsky did such a wonderful job putting the orchestra on display in this song.

• Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service. 1:12

Even though this is another panpipe song, I feel that this song deserved a spot on this curation of the Golden Record. This song represents the variety that a panpipe can bring to a song. It is also on this curation because of the stark difference between this panpipe song and the other panpipe song from Peru which displays the cultural impact on instruments and music.

• China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37

This song is a strong representative for the string group of instruments. The abundance of sounds that are created on the stringed instrument in this song beguiling.