The Voyager Golden Record was packed off to space with plenty of a cappella, not least this lovely sounding polyphony performed by the Mbuti of the Ituri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, circa 1951. I wanted to choose something made solely by human vocal cords, so I picked this minute-and-a-half of goose-bump raising awesome from David Francey.

Artist Jon Lomberg, one of the Voyager Golden Record’s design/image team, suggested that they include some Mozart on the record. He met resistance from Carl Sagan who apparently thought it too ‘lightweight’. In the end they chose ‘Hell’s Vengeance Boils in my Heart‘ from The Magic Flute as it ticked the Mozart and opera boxes, demonstrated the range of the human soprano, and all in a very short space of time. My opera category is satisfied by the twin-attack of Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones performing ‘Il Miserere’ at the climax of A Night at the Opera.