Firstly, when listening to the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast discussing the Voyager Golden Record I was intrigued and also happy to learn about the thought behind each of these records and why they were added to the record. I was struck when Tim Farris stated that diversity was a serious intention behind the record. I must admit that I had not known about the Voyager Golden Record and therefore this was all new and interesting to me.

After listening to the entirety of the podcast and also sampling some of the tracks on the Spotify playlist, I had a hard time narrowing down the song list to just 10. Listening to Tim Ferris and Linda Salzman Sagan and their reasoning’s for each song made a lot of sense to me and each record seemed very intentional. Because I was struck so much by Tim Ferris’s comments on diversity, I wanted to ensure that my choices reflected that as well. I also wanted to honour and recognize time and place in my choices. I put the Navajo Night Chant first because for me, I felt that this was important in my place and time to honour Indigenous ways of knowing.

I also chose tracks that were of interest to me. I chose Beethoven and Mozart as classical music has always held a special place and gives me a sense of peace which reminded me of Tim Ferris’s comments about wanting to make sure the record did not sound threatening and was more of a greeting.

Listening about why each record was chosen to be a part of the Voyager Golden Record was an eye-opening experience and although I do not believe the record should be narrowed down, I did my best to narrow down the record to reflect my own interests and understandings.

References

NASA. (n.d.). Voyager – music on the Golden Record. NASA. Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/music/

Taylor, D. (Host). (2019, April). Voyager golden record. [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz. Defacto Sound.

Voyager golden record. Spotify. (n.d.). Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6pcuzwZSIw7OgL149bgJmZ