The Seven Cosmic Alignments of 1977, presented by Warrick Sony, PART 2

Warrick Sony – composer, producer and creator of the Kalahari Surfers – presents the second of two lectures that emerged from a sound/video art exhibition that Sony presented as part of the 2022 Radio Art Residency at Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany, and form part of his recently submitted PhD dissertation.

Seven randomly aligned events occurred in 1977, the year that Voyager space craft departed earth with its “Golden Record” strapped to the front of its chassis containing an LP of music and sounds from earth. Curated by Carl Sagan, it was this “interstellar playlist” that prompted the music theorists Alexander Rehding and Daniel K.L. Chua to pronounce 1977

“ the most important year in human history, if not the only year recorded…” 

Sony takes a philosophical jaunt through the interconnectivity's that bind music, poetry, sound and art into, what Osip Mandelstam called, “the noise of time.” 

Part 1 was an overview of the ramifications of each of these seven aligned events. 

Part 2 will now dig a bit deeper into a few of the events particularly around the month of August when we, on planet earth, not only received a unique communique from outer space but sent out two of our own—which are still active—despite immensely irreconcilable problems amongst ourselves; the Cold War had become a nuclear missile contest and conflicts were raging in more than ten countries in the world. It was a time when the arts and politics were inextricably intertwined with funk, punk, dub, disco, regge and space rock.

A no ignorance he do it

A no brute force do it

Your weapons can't do it

So hear this !

Throw down your arms and come

Drop them

Put them away

(Winston Rodney - Burning Spear - Aug 1977)