In choosing a list of 10 works of music from the Golden Record list of 27, my parameters were to limit the duplication of music from specific regions or cultures, particularly European and American music selections that were predominant. This was to allow for the inclusion of other regions, nations and cultures, even though many regions and nations were not included in the original list (for example, there are no examples from Canada such as Inuit throat singing).
The 10 works Golden Record selections that I chose for the survey were as follows (in order of how they appear on the Golden Record list of 27) along with one of the main reasons I chose each of them:
- Track 3: Percussion (Senegal) – Example of percussion as a music form
- Track 7: Johnny B. Goode (USA) – Example of modern music played on electric instruments
- Track 11: The Magic Flute (Austria) – Example of European operatic music
- Track 14: Melancholy Blues (USA) – Example of seminal, influential African American blues
- Track 15: Bagpipes (Azerbaijan S.S.R.) – Example of East European/West Asian music
- Track 18: Fifth Symphony (Germany) – Example of European symphonic music
- Track 20: Night Chant (Indigenous-American) – Example of Indigenous vocal music
- Track 23: Wedding Song (Peru) – Example of South American women’s vocals, rite of passage
- Track 24: Flowing Streams (China) – Example of classical East Asian music
- Track 25: Jaat Kahan Ho (India) – Example of classical South Asian music
What was noticeably absent from the list, which also may reflect the biases of those who selected the music, were various forms of dance music, religious or worship music, and music used as part of cultural events or rites of passage, with the exception of the Initiation Song and the Wedding Song. There also seems to be no inclusion of emerging instruments of that era such as electronic sounds and most of the songs pre-date the 20th century.
Although my intention was to reduce the Euro-Western bias by limiting the number of songs that met that criterion, about 40 per cent of my list of 10 is still European or American. Unfortunately, because of that, my list excludes significant nations and even the entire continent of Australia.
NASA. (n.d.). Voyager – music on the Golden Record. NASA. https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/music/
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Hello Garth, I just wanted to say that i found your selection process to be rather intriguing. A defining rubric I’ve come ac ross in my own post and in several others is an inherent desire to have as culturally diverse a list as possible; but as you say so yourself (and I mention something similar in my own post), there simply isn’t enough diversity in the original track list to encompass a significant portion of the world. And even if there was a track from every continent, or even country, there would be no way to pay proper homage to the diverse cultures and religions and lifestyles of these counties. So in acknowledging this, why do so many of us still try to maintain some level of cultural representation? If it is impossible to do the whole world justice, why do we attempt to maintain the status quo and try to do the few that are already included justice instead of just trying to find a different rubric? I note that you also mention the different instrumentation and musical landscapes of each choice, something that I and others also did, but I too struggled with this one; if I am choosing songs based on their instrumental components and soundscapes, why do I still feel the need to offer as diverse as possible of a selection when it isn’t within my own parameters? Just an interesting thought exercise. Amazing post, as always!