Golden Record Curation Assignment
Based on The Voyager Golden Record: Humanity’s message to the cosmos (NASA, n.d.) podcast, I have selected below 10 pieces:
- India – Raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho” – Click here to Listen
- Mexico – “El Cascabel” – Click here to Listen
- Germany – Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, First Movement – Click here to Listen
- United States – “Johnny B. Goode” – Click here to Listen
- Japan – Shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest”) – Click here to Listen
- Peru – Panpipes and Drum – Click here to Listen
- Georgia – “Tchakrulo” – Click here to Listen
- Senegal – Percussion – Click here to Listen
- China – Ch’in, “Flowing Streams” – Click here to Listen
- Austria – Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night Aria – Click here to Listen
Justification:
In selecting these 10 pieces, I have decided to show a blend of musical diversity and cultural importance worldwide. For instance, “Johnny B. Goode” from the United States showcases rock and roll, a modern genre that became valuable in contemporary music. In contrast “El Cascabel” from Mexico shows vibrant and colorful folk traditions that speak to cultural identity (NASA, n.d.). Next, I also picked classical compositions such as Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto (Germany) and Mozart’s Magic Flute (Austria) because they are highly regarded in Western classical music and represent intellectual and artistic achievement. Furthermore, I selected pieces like “Tchakrulo” from Georgia and “Panpipes and Drum” from Peru to highlight the richness of non-Western Indigenous traditions, mainly ensuring the inclusion of both historical and contemporary sounds across cultures (Taylor, 2019).
References:
Music from Earth. Links to an external site. (n.d.). NASA.
Taylor, D. (Host). (2019, April). Voyager golden record Links to an external site. [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz. Defacto Sound.
