Pick 5, tell us (the viewers) which ones you pick, and explain what considerations and criteria (the same criteria for all 5 choices) you used to choose them. Three to five thoughtful sentences will suffice for your justification. 

CRITERIA:

Upon having to choose five songs I decided it had to be from a different country each time, and that it should be far apart from each other (the countries). Including personal biases in it, I chose countries under these few criteria; places I want to visit, countries I like, and countries that present the widest coverage of differing traditions and peoples. To add onto that I would like to choose countries that have very different populations culturally and linguistically diverse.

SONG CHOICES:

• AZERBAIJAN S.S.R, bagpipes, Ugam, recorded by radio Moscow.

I chose this song because it is from Turkic people. Turkic peoples cover a large number of countries stretching from the top of Asia all through Eurasia and to the bottom of Asia. So, an important group of people that share similarities and connections with a larger group of people around the world is represented. Also personal reasoning being I really enjoyed this track.

• Bach, Brandenburg no 2, part 1

Originating from French it represents a language that is spoken widely In this world. France also is a country that historically speaking is very relevant to many important events AD. I picked this song because of it being a classical piece that has so much meaning and is also in of itself rich with history, more diverse representation.

• El cascabel – Lorenzo Barcelata & the Mari

El cascabel is originating from Mexican folk music. Mexico is somewhere I would love to visit someday for its culture and history. On top of that reasoning El cascabel is an introduction to the world of Hispanic folk music which also covers an important group of people differing from all these other five songs.

• Iziel je Delyo Hagdutin – Bulgaria

I love Bulgaria, it is a place I would very much like to visit like everything else on this list. Bulgarians are of Slavic descent, Slav people cover another major part of the world with Russians, Serbs, Ukrainians, Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, and more, so I would say for aliens to discover five important songs I would put this because it covers a big chunk of the world population and is a gate way to different peoples and culture because it has barely any ethnic connection to the other songs here.

• Melancholy Blues, performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven.

A classic that I listen to in my own free time, who wouldn’t love Louis Armstrong. It features POC which also open up a better door into the Americas and it includes music with rich history, representing a lot of groups of people. It is because jazz music, during the time of Armstrong was a form of protest a lot of the times and  a great way to break down barriers in America, also it is one of the best genres. Being exposed to this final song would also teach the aliens a lot about earth