HIV is a terrible
disease that infects 2.7 million people a year in addition to killing 2 million
people each year. However against all odds Alexandra Pajak managed to find
beauty deep within the genetic make-up of virus. Pajak took as her basic formula
that she developed from the National Institutes of Health’s record of the
retrovirus’ genome and used the coded letters by assigning them
notes on a keyboard. She then assigned pitches for the amino acids and ordered
the 20 directly encoded amino acids based on their affinity for water and gave them
notes on the A minor scale. Pajak decided to use the A minor scale to emphasize
the sadness that surrounds the virus. I found this article very interesting
because it took a subject matter that is both dangerous and frightening and
made music out of it. Also the fact that Pajak made the songs based of the actual
genetic make-up of the virus was interesting. I believe that this music could
help to bring awareness about HIV and then people could become more educated
about the causes of HIV and how it is transferred from one person to another.
Also this awareness could stop the rumors and the shame that is affiliated with
HIV.
