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OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in collaboration with the groundbreaking New York-based music organization Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation. ---------- The OneBeat 2018 mixtape takes inspiration from Carl Sagan's famous 1971 Golden Record, sent into outer space aboard two Voyager spacecrafts, setting a human record for the farthest flung human LPs. Our OneBeat Golden Record record was produced by an international cadre of sonic explorers, and features all 24 of the OneBeat Fellows, who hail from 17 different human countries. And while we don't have the funds to launch physical copies of this record beyond the stratosphere, we do hope to circulate it widely within the known world. This mixtape is divided into six chapters, which follow the path of the Voyagers from our home on Earth, around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and into the great unknown Heliopause. Rather than follow existing traditions of assigning the planets meaning --per their Greek and Roman namesakes or astrological implications-- we have instead assigned the planets novel musical meanings. The green-blue Earth chapter focuses on acoustic and organic sounds, from the Hindustani/Malagasy jazz odyssey “Sorabe” (featuring Tsanta Randriamihajasoa and Pavithra Chari) to the poignant Hungarian/Puerto Rican duo "Nostalgic Time" (featuring Zsolt Bartek and Andrés Rigau). Gas giant Jupiter brings us farther into the realm of the electronic, yet still grounded by it's earth-like moon. Jupiter features the effortless human laments of "Deixe-me Livre" (led by Brazilian songstress Luciane Dom) and South African/NYC collaboration of Ndivuma Kamnandi, featuring Gugulethu Duma (Cape Town), and Akinyemi (Queens). Saturn's rings move into the realm of hip-hop and creative sampling, led by The Edge, a collaboration between a group of OneBeat fellows and Brooklynite multimedia artist Boombaye. Cold-hearted Uranus is dedicated to electronic sounds, fronted by LLLB (Love It Leave It Let it Burn) featuring Umlilo (Johannesburg), Luss (Bronx), and Nina Marie Fernando (Washington DC) and Malfnktion's (Delhi) downtempo Afterplace. The icy seas of Neptune host ambient and atmospheric pieces, fronted by a duo between Brazilian composer+vocalist Bruna and Kalimantan-based multi-instrumentalist Nursalim Yadi Anugerah (here playing guitar). The last chapter, Heliopause, is left to the most experimental works, abstract pieces perhaps only understandable by the most adventurous human ears (and ideally a few extra-terrestrial ones). The OneBeat Team www.1beat.org www.foundsoundnation.org