Track List
Track 5- “Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047: I. Allegro” (by Munich Bach Orchestra/Karl Richter
Track 6- “Ketawang: Puspåwårnå (Kinds of Flowers)” (by Pura Paku Alaman Palace Orchestra/K.R.T. Wasitodipuro)
Track 7-“Cengunmé” (by Mahi musicians of Benin)
Track 9- “Barnumbirr (Morning Star) and Moikoi Song” (by Tom Djawa, Mudpo, and Waliparu, recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes)
Track 13- “Sokaku-Reibo (Depicting the Cranes in Their Nest)”
Track 16- “Chakrulo” (by Georgian State Merited Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance/Anzor Kavsadze
Track 17- “Roncadoras and Drums” (by Musicians from Ancash)
Track 19- “Muğam” (by Kamil Jalilov)
Track 28- “Liu Shui (Flowing Streams)” (by Guan Pinghu)
Track 29- “Bhairavi: Jaat Kahan Ho”
Reflection of Choices and Criteria
I first want to preface that I am very aware of the privilege that I possess as a white Canadian and how this can cause unintentional bias in the way I develop criteria. The main parameter that I chose to follow when choosing 10 songs was based on geography. I wanted to choose as many sounds from cultures from around the world with no regard for the period of time in which I chose them. If songs came from similar geographic regions, I chose one based on personal preference of listenability. As there were so many from European and Western cultures, I chose the first European song on the track list, which coincidentally was the first track, in an attempt to take out as much bias as possible.
This process of narrowing down songs was an interesting experience. If I had the freedom to choose more sounds, I would focus on the first few tracks that included sounds from the natural world such as a whale sound and sounds of the earth. The experience of choosing these songs reminds me of Abby Smith’s (Brown University, 2017) comments that reflect the difficult task of librarians in choosing what historical information should be digitized and “what can we afford to lose?”. Who makes these decisions and what influences what we keep? Will we forget to include something that could be extremely useful to reflect back on from our past? Did I, in choosing 10 songs, ensure that I was reflective enough of all world citizens? These are questions that make selecting criteria so difficult. The cultural background and biases of people can influence the choices that we make and consequently result in decisions and choices that are narrow-minded.
References
Brown University. (2017). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital Memory: What Can We Afford to Lose?” [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBrahqg9ZMc&t=2175s