Putumayo Kids began producing regional compilations of world music for children in 1999, but in the last few years they have seriously ramped up their output. After slowly branching out from traditional "world" locales like Africa and the Americas, their latest releases range from French music to American folk to Asian lullabies. We'll be watching Putumayo Kids in the future because, in proving unwilling to repeat themselves, they keep wandering into more and more interesting territory.
We've been listening to Putumayo Kids' just-released Animal Playground, as well as the relatively recent New Orleans Playground and the earlier Putumayo release African Playground. Each of the CDs feature a CD-sleeve book that offers copious information on the background of the songs, musicians, and instruments, or a little about the songs' countries of origin.
Animal Playground
What it is: Released just last month, Animal Playground features a diverse array of songs about animals from around the world. We've been trying to pepper Z's aural environment with languages other than English, and the selections here incorporate different-language songs that are still recognizable and engaging to a not-quite-three-year-old.
This was and still is Z's favorite of the three albums, and Jeremiah and I have enjoyed it a lot too. This compilation paints with a broad brush Putumayo has pulled out only once before in its eight-year history, for the 2003 album of international lullabies Dreamland, and it works marvelously; the variety of languages and musical styles are refreshing and engaging to both children and adults. We're not sure what other themes would lend themselves to this treatment, but we're eager to see if Putumayo has any more up their sleeves.
Our favorite tracks: Z goes bananas for Asheba's version of "No More Monkeys" (jumping on the bed) and would have done backflips if she could when we showed her the music video that is included on the CD. Somehow, despite the song's potential to be annoying given the repetitious rhyme, Asheba pulls it off jauntily. Jeremiah likes "Nella Vecchia Fattoria" (an Italian version of "Old McDonald Had a Farm"). And here's the full music video of The Be Good Tanyas' sweet song "The Littlest Birds," one of my favorites on the album:
New Orleans PlaygroundWhat it is: Classic and contemporary songs of New Orleans presented in lively, vibrant renditions. Part of the proceeds for this album are being donated to the Louisiana Children's Museum to help rebuild its services.
Our favorite tracks: Hack Bartholemew's version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" has inspired some pretty good marching in our house when this song plays. Z also really loved Buckwheat Zydeco's "Skip to My Blues" and we all love Clifton Chenier's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie."
African PlaygroundWhat it is: This album was the least accessible to our almost three-year-old daughter. We have a smattering of African music in our collection, and while Jeremiah and I have enjoyed the CD, it seems to have been organized with greater concern for its international coverage, and is probably best-suited for older children, as it's the supplemental materials that define this as an album produced with kids specifically in mind.
Our favorite tracks: I can't imagine anyone won't recognize "Mbube" by The Mahotella Queens (we know the song as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"). (Ladysmith Black Mambazo sings a version of "Mbube" on the Animal Playground album.) "Hoya Hoye" by Seleshe Demassae, a traditional children's celebratory song out of Ethiopia, is another standout.
Where to sample them: Amazon.com and the Putumayo Kids website have brief samples of songs from each album.
Where to buy them: Amazon.com, Putumayo Kids
Overall, Putumayo Kids' releases are a great way to introduce your child (or yourself) to an area of world music. They provide a good starting point of interesting and diverse musicians within a theme so that you can further investigate if you find something you really love.
I can see how these CDs would be a very interesting addition to a classroom or homeschool study of world cultures and music. Putumayo Kids also recognized that opportunity, and has put together Multicultural Activity Kits for two of their albums (World Playground and Latin Playground) that includes the CD, an activity guide and a children's passport. Other albums would lend themselves naturally to learning with or without a kit, such as discussing the cultural relavance of saving a city like New Orleans by listening to the great musicians that have come out of that city and their influence on current music.
2 comments:
Thanks for the great review, Jennifer. We've checked out several Putumayo CDs from our library and really enjoyed them. I'm excited to see if they have the new ones.
As far as African music goes, my son LOVES Ladysmith's Gift of the Tortoise. I highly recommend it.
New Orleans, French, and World Playgrounds are our favorites. Sing Along with Putumayo will probably be more fun when our son can actually sing along, but there is one awesome song called Banana Phone that makes us all start dancing around like crazy! Asian Dreamland is a little weird for me, but our son seems to like it.
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