Sónar festival sends a musical birthday message to aliens that includes Hong Kong composer
As the second edition of Sónar Hong Kong coincides with the Spanish festival’s 25th anniversary, music from Hong Kong producer Choi Sai-ho has been chosen to be part of a message sent 110 trillion kilometres to planet GJ273b
Most music festivals would celebrate their 25th anniversary by releasing a commemorative T-shirt, or maybe cracking a few bottles of champagne at an exclusive after party.
But not Sónar. Fittingly for a forward-thinking event that is widely regarded as the world’s top electronic music festival, the Barcelona-based Sónar is going the extra distance to mark its quarter century.
To be exact, it’s going a remarkable 110 trillion kilometres – that’s the distance between the earth and the planet GJ273b, where Sónar is sending transmissions of music in an attempt to make the first human contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence.
GJ273b lies in the habitable zone around Luyten’s Star, located in the Canis Minor constellation about 12.4 light years from earth.
For the first transmission, the Sónar Calling project collected short clips from previous Sónar artists including French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michelle Jarre. The music was then converted into a self-decodable digital signal by the Messaging Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (Meti) programme. It was sent from the EISCAT international scientific association facilities in Tromso, Norway, last October and will arrive at Lutyen’s Star towards the end of 2030.