Client: Swedish Space Corporation
Project: Music for Alien Civilisations
Music for Alien Civilisations asks the question: can music express all of the magnificence that is humanity? Our collected knowledge, our history and our dreams. We want to use music to present an image to life forms in other solar systems of who we earthlings are, while at the same time express our interest in making contact.
We know nothing of beings in other worlds, if they even exist, or how we should communicate with them. Music, we assume, is something universal that can be understood by everyone. Just as with fundamental mathematics. Whether all music in the universe is built upon the intervals and harmonic sequences that is the basis for our music, we will never know. But we can guess. And we can, as did many great composers through the centuries, search for the greatness in music that expresses how fantastic we humans are. If that is even what we want to express.
Ten of Sweden’s best artists within electronica were given the assignment of creating music for alien civilisations. During the spring of 2008, one contribution was presented per broadcast of the radio program Ström on P2. Two participating members of Ström, Håkan Lidbo and Andreas Tilliander, have created their own pieces that only exist on this CD. Unique music that really is not meant for human ears -- but for beings in unknown worlds.
On June 4th, 2008, the music on this album was broadcasted from the space station Esrange in Kiruna, in cooperation with the Swedish Space Corporation. Radio waves were sent toward the star Epsilon Indi A, which is located eleven light years away from Earth. If someone exists who has measuring instruments sufficient to separate our signal from the radio waves sent by the sun, and if someone actually listens in our direction then we hope to receive an answer sometime around 2030.