After listening to the Voyager’s Golden Record, researching about the background information, and reading people’s comments about each piece, I chose the following 10 tracks for my playlist:
- Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30
- Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
- Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,” collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18
- Australia, Aborigine songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird,” recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes. 1:26
- 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
- Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14
- China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37
- Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08
- Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20
While I was listening to it, I was curious to know why and how they picked these particular 27 tracks to be sent to the space. It reminded me of this week’s reading about selecting content based on power and authority (Apple, 1992). It seems like the Golden Record project initiated in Western society and was lead by middle-upper class, causation scientists, such as Carl Sagan. Does their selection of music truly a representation of Earth’s sound from all culture? When they have decided these tracks to on go the record, what are we not including? “Why can we afford to lose” if those end up being the only proof of music left from the Earth after humanity disappears? (Brown University, 2017)
I’m trying to pick and choose a variety of music based on my listening preferences as an East Asian living in the western society for the past decade. I’m also trying to choose pieces that are more likely to represent the cultural diversity of humans. In addition, just like what the 20kHz Podcast Channel mentioned, the aliens might only be able to hear high/low pitch sound, or no sound at all but only the rhythms.
References:
Apple, M. W. (1992). The text and cultural politics. Educational Researcher, 21(7), 4-19.
Brown University. (2017). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital Memory: What Can We Afford to Lose?”
Winnie- I liked how you tried to accommodate for the potential hearing differences of the extra-terrestrial. I also focused on a diversity of songs and the songs we had in common were quite diverse (the biggest commonality I could tell was that 3/5 were instrumental). I agree about the likelihood of western bias in the selection- there was too many European classical songs on the record.