World music, NASA style

There's some fascinating information about the Voyager mission and a Golden Record sent along "intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials."

From NASA's web site:

"The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record--a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim."

The music on the disc can be found at NASA's Voyager mission Web site

Daily dose of anarchism

Just watched the Democracy Now! dramatization of readings from Howard Zinn's Voices of a People's History of the United States. Good stuff. Haven't read much Emma Goldmann lately, but worth revisiting. Check out Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty.

Listening list

On rotation as of late:

Getz/Gilberto -- Getz/Gilberto
Walter Gieseking -- Debussy, Preludes
AMM -- The Inexhaustible Document
"Ugly Music for Beautiful People" Podcast -- 02/02/06 broadcast
Bad Brains -- Rock for Light
Curtis Mayfield -- Superfly
Bob Moses -- When Elephants Dream of Music

Special study music

• Paul Motian -- Dance
• Edward Vesala -- Lumi

Podcasts

I've been enjoying two podcasts as of late, both worth checking out.

1) "D.D. Jackson's Living Jazz Podcast," available from iTunes and his Website, is an interesting approach to documenting the life of a jazz musician. In particular, check out podcast number three for intriguing comparisons between jazz and theatrical improvisation. Well worth a listen.

2) "Ugly Music for Beautiful People," perhaps a forced title, has some really interesting selections on it as well -- also available from iTunes. Ed Corcoran DJs the show and runs a blog here on Blogger. I've been introduced to a lot in only two shows, and am endlessly listening to the David Thomas Broughton song that starts the 02/02/06 show. Great stuff. Must go out and pick it up at somepoint.