What a fascinating action – curating 27 pieces to send out to any life form that may be out there. This is a first impression, a first contact, and an invitation to judge and to interact. The pieces included in the golden record represent the people of this planet and act as advertisements and encyclopedia entries for this planet.
In curating the list down to 10, I considered the following criteria.
- The selection of songs should be representative of the diverse population of our world, as inclusive as possible.
- The selection of songs should demonstrate the progress and evolution of the art form over time.
- The selection of songs should be stylistically diverse, representing the multi-faceted art form that music is, not just regionally, but also represented in the personal preferences of this planet’s people.
My curated list includes:
- Wedding song – Peru
- Tchakrulo – Choir – Georgia
- Morning Star and Devil Bird- Australia
- Melancholy Blues-L Armstrong&HisHotSeven
- Zaire, Pygmy girls’ initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull
- Johnny B Goode – Chuck Berry
- Jaat Kahan Ho – India – Surshr
- Flowing Streams – China
- Bach, Brandenburg no 2, part 1
- Beethoven 5th, part 1, Otto Klemperer
As I completed my list, I sought to include a song from each of the continents and included a variety of musical styles and periods. The Australian piece, for instance, will date from significantly earlier than some of the other pieces. I was prone to include pieces that utilized voices, a piece of humanity that can be heard. Instruments are hugely important, and demonstrate an incredible art form, but actual human voices cannot be replaced by technology.
One reply on “Task 8: Golden Record Curation”
Hi Steve,
It looks like we both used similar criteria to curate our selections. I also looked at geographic regions/continents as well as stylistic diversity. You mentioned in your reflection that most of the pieces you selected featured the vocals prominently, such as Wedding Song. I also chose many pieces that featured vocals, but I also wanted to ensure that the instrument choices were as diverse as possible. So, I opted to select songs that featured as many unique instruments as possible. The criterion you chose regarding showcasing musical evolution is interesting, and one that I hadn’t considered! Choosing pieces over a timeline can certainly showcase changes in the musical artform over time. The Golden Record digital recordings that are relatively ‘recent’ in the grand scheme of humans making music (some of the earliest instruments discovered date back to 35,000 years ago). This makes me think more about the Youtube video featuring Dr. Smith Rumsey (Brown University, 2017) regarding creating digital records for preservation for future generations and research. The records we have regarding music predating recording technologies are nil—we cannot refer to them. But they have made a massive impact on how we relate to music now, culturally, and amongst the human race as a whole. If we could somehow go back in time and get recordings of these very early beginnings of music, do you think they would be important to include by the timeline criterion you’ve suggested? It’s funny to think that, by the time any life form ostensibly finds this Golden Record, music will likely have changed to something beyond our current comprehension. Or, more likely, humans will have ceased to exist completely, but record of our existence will still be ‘out there’!
Thanks for your post!
-Lachelle
Brown University. (2017, July 11). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital memory: What can we afford to lose?”. [Video]. YouTube