In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager spacecraft, which carried two phonograph records as a message to potential extraterrestrial life. We were assigned the task of reviewing the 27 musical selections included on the Golden Record and curating a list of only 10 pieces.
Below are the ten pieces of music I selected from the Voyager Golden Record:
- Germany: Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement
- Java: court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers”
- Senegal: percussion
- Australia: Aboriginal songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird”
- Mexico: “El Cascabel”
- United States: “Johnny B. Goode”
- Georgia: Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo”
- Peru: panpipes and drum
- Bulgaria: “Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin”
- China: ch’in, “Flowing Streams”
For my curated selection, I focused on diverse geographical representation to showcase music from each continent or cultural region. This selection aims to maximize geographical and cultural diversity. This criterion aligns with the Voyager Golden Record’s objective of conveying the breadth of human artistic expression to potential extraterrestrial life.
Given the limit of selecting only 10 options, this approach also required some simplifications. For example, “Senegal: percussion” represents the diverse musical traditions found across the African continent. While this approach ensured geographical coverage, it also limited other criteria, such as diversity in composer gender and historical significance.
References
Music from Earth.Links to an external site. (n.d.). NASA.
Taylor, D. (Host). (2019, April). Voyager golden record. [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz. Defacto Sound.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). (n.d.). The Sounds of Earth Record Cover – GPN-2000-001978 [Image]. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved October 21, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record#/media/File:The\_Sounds\_of\_Earth\_Record\_Cover\_-\_GPN-2000-001978.jpg
