Task 8:
Golden Record
Curation Assignment
10 Selected Golden Record Tracks
| Country | Composition | Artists | Length |
| Australia | Aborigine songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird” | recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes | 1:26 |
| Peru | wedding song | recorded by John Cohen | 0:38 |
| Austria | Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14 | Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor | 2:55 |
| Azerbaijan | Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes | recorded by Radio Moscow | 2:30 |
| Germany | Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement | the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor | 7:20 |
| India | raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho” | sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar | 3:30 |
| Java | court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers” | recorded by Robert Brown | 4:43 |
| Mexico | “El Cascabel” | performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México | 3:14 |
| United States | Navajo Indians, Night Chant | recorded by Willard Rhodes | 0:57 |
| Zaire | Pygmy girls’ initiation song | recorded by Colin Turnbull | 0:56 |
I found it challenging to narrow down the 27 tracks on the Golden Record to just 10. Wanting to stay true to NASA’s original goal, “to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials” (Davis, 2024), instead of choosing pieces based on personal preference, my selection was based on global representation and prioritization of pieces with human voices.
I first organized the songs by country and then by continent, eliminated similar pieces, and selected those that were calming or inviting and had human voices. In some cases, I attempted to see if there was any noted cultural significance; when I was able to find this information, it was used in the decision making process. While I tried to remain unbiased in my selection, personal preferences and experiences likely shaped the outcome. As Dr. Smith Rumsey highlights, it is a daunting task to decide what to save [or in the case of the Golden Record, what to send] when faced with mass amounts of material, and ultimately wrong choices will be made along the way (Smith Rumsey, 2017).
References
Davis, P., (2024, November 5). Golden Record Overview – NASA Science. NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-golden-record-overview/
Smith Rumsey, A. (2017, July 11). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital Memory: What can we afford to lose?” (By Brown University) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBrahqg9ZMc
I really like how you organized the Golden Record tracks while keeping NASA’s original goal in mind. Organizing by country and continent and prioritizing human voices was such a thoughtful way to make sure different cultures were represented.
Your point about cultural significance really stood out to me. It’s tough to make these kinds of choices without some level of bias, no matter how hard we try. I totally agree with Dr. Smith Rumsey’s idea that some “wrong choices” are bound to happen, just like when deciding what parts of history to preserve. There’s always going to be something important left out, which makes the selection process feel even more complicated.
Were there any songs that you struggled to cut? And what ended up being the deciding factor?