10 Selected Songs from the Golden Record
- Southeast Asia: Java, court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers,” recorded by Robert Brown
- Africa: Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle
- Australia, Aborigine songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird,” recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes
- Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México
- North America: “Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry
- Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,” collected by Radio Moscow
- South America: Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima
- Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor
- Asia: China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu
- Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service
I have a love-hate relationship with music. Having studied traditional and classical music for 15 years, music is something I would automatically love wholeheartedly if I am spared the traumatically dreadful practice sessions. Since I did not have to play any music and only had to listen and choose songs to be included in this list, I really enjoyed this task!
However, out of 27 songs, I can only pick 10 – it is somehow not as easy as I thought. I initially wanted to prepare a rubric (as what many teachers are usually accustomed to) but as the Golden Record was intended for extraterrestrials, I was not even sure what I should include in my rubric. As my overarching aim was to create a list of songs representative of the population on Earth, I came up with a list of continents – Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Australia/Oceania. My first step was to categorize all the 27 songs by country of origin. If there are two songs from composers that represent the same continent (for instance, Bach and Mozart), I have to admit that I am emotionally inclined and pick the song that is more pleasant to my ears. I am also not completely impartial as I found I was drawn to songs that included instruments that I played in school. Kinds of Flowers immediately got in the list because of the many years spent playing the Javanese gamelan.
Reviewing the final list, I also realized that I tended to gravitate towards music that is rich in sounds and tones. IF I were allowed to simply pick ANY songs that I am familiar with or merely appeal to me, this task would have been much easier, but I am sure the list would have been one that is biased and not representative of the many beautiful cultures on the planet.