Task 8: Golden Record Curation

Golden Record: Version 2.0 - Krastel Edition

It seemed like a large task to decide upon which musical tracks would be responsible for representing culture, diversity, and life on earth to potential other life forms. My initial thoughts about cutting over half of the songs seemed almost impossible. First, I would need to learn about each of the songs in order to decipher a set of criteria as to what I would want on my Golden Record: Version 2.0. A quote from Timothy on the Podcast really resonate with me, “music means a lot to us and I would be surprised if something like music didn't mean a lot to at least some other intelligent species. The fact that it is non-specific and yet communicates something to everyone.” To me, this highlights the importance of music in our world wide culture--not only Western culture, or my own personal culture or bias. This is what lead me to my decision of having a variety of Something important to note is that my picks reflect worldwide culture of our history up until today. There is no guarantee or indication that the 1977 record has been found. “The Voyager Golden Record will circle our Galaxy essentially forever."

As each song is unique, I have provided a short description as to why I think each song should be included. If I were to re-curate the Golden Record into 10 tracks... I would have the following:

1. Track 2: Greetings in 55 different languages - I think that this is one of the more important tracks on the album because it represents the diversity on our planet. It shows that we are not all "the same" so to speak, and invites peace and friendship with other life forms, which was the overarching goal of the Golden Record.

2. Track 3: Greetings continued from members of the United Nations, mixed in with humpback whale sounds - The humpback whales in this track really spoke to me (literally and figuratively!). It was interesting to hear on the Podcast that "If this record is found by intergalactic life, it’s possible they could understand a whale’s song just as well as they could understand human speech." Carl Sagan believed that the whale songs carried a lot of information - just like human speech, therefore the choice of songs was deliberate. This got me thinking about animals on our planet and how they communicate, many of which use sound.

3. Track 4: The Music of the Spheres - It’s a sonic representation of the planets in our solar system rotating around the sun. The music is composed mathematically with each planet having its own frequency. The highest pitch is Mercury. The lowest is Jupiter. I loved thinking about the history and evolution of our planet in terms of sound waves - from prehistoric earth (thunder, volcanoes, etc.) to modern day (traffic, power tools, etc.) This track ends with the sound of human brain activity, challenging intergalactic life to decode the data of the brain.

4. Track 8: Alima Song- This piece is performed by the indigenous people in the rainforests of the Congo. This song differs from others as it offers an indigenous perspective. Indigenous peoples offer a variety to typical culture and life. This track made me think about the potential extraterrestrial species finding the record and wondering if they, too, have indigenous species.

5. Track 11: Johnny B. Goode - This song was chosen for no reasonable explanation other than the fact that it's the only rock track on the record. It also gave me a nostalgic feeling as it reminded me of the song in "Home Alone" when Kevin throws the fake party to scare off the burglars and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is playing. The beginning of Johnny B. Goode was eerily similar to the start of that song in the movie, according to my nostalgia.

6. Track 14: Melancholy Blues- Jazz! This song is unique to the record's list as it is an instrumental jazz piece. Similar to Track 11, it is the only one of its kind and therefore should be included. This piece is more than just a song, a many different instruments are featured. Providing that extraterrestrials can actually hear, this song would be a good addition because it features typical band instruments (ie. trumpet).

7. Track 20: Navajo Indians, Night Chant- I wanted to include this piece as it (and one other- Track 13) are the shortest pieces on the Golden Record, coming in at under less than a minute. The Navajo Indians Night Chant is only 57 seconds long. I do not think that a short piece should be considered any less important (as compared to some pieces that are over 5 minutes long). This song is considered traditional folk music and it nicely combines both instrumental and voice features.

8. Track 22: Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5”- This song is a classic. By that I mean, I believe that many people worldwide would at least recognize it. This is interesting to think of now because the song was written in 1808. It must be powerful because it has "lasted" well over 100 years. One reflection about this piece I have is that although this song sounds sounds familiar to me (or general society), we really have no idea what aliens might make of it. A wonder I have that keeps recurring for me throughout this task is that I wonder if they can hear like we do at all, they might only be able to hear the higher frequencies, or maybe the low frequencies....

9. Track 24: China, ch'in, Flowing Streams- This piece represents more than culture and diversity of life. This track is one of the ones that adjusted my mind frame from people to the environment. The outdoors and environment etc. are a very big part of human diversity and culture. This song is soothing- as the name suggests- Flowing Streams- provides a peaceful listen and some insight into our natural world. Secondly, this piece provides a much different cultural perspective as it comes from China. The difference between this track and Johnny B. Goode is vast! This is why both must be included.

10. Track 25. India raga, Jaat Kahan Ho- Like many others, this selection is made because of the diversity of sound. This track has both instrumental and voice perspectives and it comes from another part of our world: India. This track showcases more than just Western culture, or my own personal culture or bias.