This was a really fun task and sort of eerie too! I kept imagining aliens listening to these sounds at the same time as me. It was even more challenging trying to pick out 10 musical pieces that represent all of humanity on Earth.
I picked the following pieces:
- Senegal: percussion recorded by Charles Duvelle
- United States: “Johnny B. Goode” written and performed by Chuck Berry
- Japan: shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest,”) performed by Goro Yamaguchi
- Austria: Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14 by Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor
- Peru: panpipes and drum collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima
- Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes recorded by Radio Moscow
- Germany: Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano
- Germany: Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor
- India: raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho” sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar
- Java: court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers” recorded by Robert Brown
I tried to include most geographical locations. However, I also chose some that I think would be useful in communicating with extra-terrestrial life if it exists out there, such as Bach, as mentioned by Tim Ferris in Twenty thousand hertz podcast. I chose some classical music by Mozart. Some sounds I included sounded soothing, welcoming, and yet mysterious such as the Peru and Azerbaijan Bagpipes. I included Beethoven because of the varying pitch and frequencies of music. As a South Asian myself, Jaat Kahan Ho felt like a natural choice and made me feel represented.
References:
Music from Earth. (n.d.). NASA.
Taylor, D. (Host). (2019, April). Voyager golden record [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz. Defacto Sound.