Kids music news and reviews for librarians, teachers and parents.
This morning the nominees for the 20th Annual Latin GRAMMY awards were announced. The nominees in the Best Latin Children’s Album category are a diverse and delightful group. Be sure to try the albums below before the winner is announced on November 14.
Luces, Cámara, Accion performed by Claraluna
¡Alegría! performed by Sonia De Los Santos
Buenos Diaz performed by The Lucky Band
Bim Bom Bam! performed by Payasitas Nifu Nifa
Canta las Letras performed by 123 Andrés
Did you know that National Grandparents Day officially became a holiday on August 3, 1978? In the early 1970’s Marian McQuade, a resident of West Virginia and advocate for the senior population, began campaigning to have Grandparents Day recognized in that state. Through her efforts, in 1973, West Virginia became the first state to proclaim Grandparents Day a holiday. McQuade’s quest didn’t end there and in 1978, President Carter designated the Sunday after Labor Day as Grandparents Day. And this year, that special day is Sunday, September 8.
What better way to celebrate Grandparents Day 2019 than with a delightful new song from Stephen Michael Schwartz? Whether your grandma and grandpa are the ones that you were born with or special seniors that you hold dear to your heart, all grandparents will be touched by this upbeat, special message of love from a grandchild. “Grandma and Grandpa” appears on veteran children’s performer, songwriter and member of Parachute Express, Schwartz’s latest solo album, Ditto Kiddo. Click here to get a sneak “peak” at the songs in this new collection and click below to enjoy “Grandma and Grandpa.”
Chicago-based children’s music artists Wendy Morgan and Darryl Boggs don’t just talk the talk, they also walk the walk. Along with writing music about helping protect the environment, the animals within it and general messages about having love for one another, for years the duo has donated part of the proceeds from their albums to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. While the target audience for the music from their albums is at the preschool through early grade school level, Wendy & DB make time each year to work with local middle and high school students throughout the Chicagoland area to create music that is important not only to the students, but to the larger global community as well.
At the end of 2018, Wendy & DB worked with the HHW Youth Gospel Choir, Easter Seals, A Better Life for Kids, and ABLFK African Signers to create the video for their uplifting song, “Way is Peace.” As the song goes, “Let me show you the way. The way is peace. Let me show you the way. The way is love.” The pure joy of the younger children, the powerful voices of the teens and the messages for peace at the end of the video work together to convey an incredibly simple yet so often unheeded message. All of the proceeds from the sale of “Way is Peace” go to Cure Violence Global.
With their latest song, Wendy & DB take on the topic of immigration. To ensure that the message of “We the People” was properly conveyed, they worked very closely with the students at Chicago’s Sullivan High School where over 80% of the student body is immigrants themselves. Over the course of several months, Wendy, DB and bandmate Dean Rolando worked with Sullivan’s music department as well as several English as a Second Language students to create the lyrics of “We the People.” The images in the video combined with these lyrics depicts the immigrant experience not just of these incredible students but of so many throughout our country. Proceeds from “We the People” as well as the Sullivan High School students version of the song go to the immigrant support organization RefugeeOne.
In the follow-up to Legion of Peace, a beautiful album dedicated to an amazing array of Nobel Peace Prize winners, Lori Henriques returns to her light-hearted yet earnest style with her new album What Do You Wish. Originally released as a solo-voice and piano, cabaret style song on Lori’s 2013 album The World is a Curious Place to Live, “Everlovin Water” has been reimagined for 2019 with an arrangement that features a full funk band. With Schoolhouse Rock as inspiration, Henriques takes her passion for good, clean water and teaches children what happens to the water in your body. To capture the essence of “Everlovin Water,” Henriques enlisted the help of her brother Joel, a Portland-based artist. With his use of brightly colored graphics that feature a full cup of water, the sun, and twinkling stars, Joel created a video that through its simplicity allows listeners to truly concentrate on the fun and informative lyrics while grooving to an awesome beat. Click on the link below to enjoy the premiere of “Everlovin Water.” Make sure to stay all the way to the end for an adorable visual surprise. Check out all the songs on What Do You Wish when it is released on Saturday, August 31.
Everlovin Water Video Premiere
Montana-based Cowboy Andy and the Salamanders follow their celebrated album Bubbles with their new collection of rollicking, kid-friendly tunes. Much like on their previous albums, each song has its own personality and clever lyrics abound on tracks such as “Mom Only Counts to Three” where a child tries to best the mom who is giving him to the count of three to get ready and “Snow!” that celebrates the end of summer and the impending change in the weather. “Snow” also includes a groovy snow dance break and snow chant that children in areas that experience a lot of the white stuff will be sure to use in the hopes of conjuring a snow day or two. In addition, “Countdown” calls to mind old variety shows where a song would begin then the performers would take a break to chat before diving back into the song. In this case the countdown goes from 20 down to 2. Before they get to one, funny breaks occur where favorite foods like ice cream, frozen bananas and s’mores are discussed but Cowboy Andy just can’t seem to remember that one essential ingredient (chocolate!). Listeners will have a great time filling in the blanks and laughing at the twists.
Two tracks that would work well in programs are the title track and “The Letter Why.” “Put Your Arms in the Air” would be a good addition to storytimes or music programs (or any program that needs a movement break). While it clocks in at just over four minutes, the variety of tempos and movements will keep listeners engaged the entire time. Pair “The Letter Why” with the Pop Ups song, “How Do We Know” to explore all of the crazy, wacky, everyday things kids want to learn more about.
Cowboy Andy’s music on the nine original songs on the album features so much more than clever lyrics. There also is a beautiful musicality to the songs, especially those that work as wordless music breaks. “Already Great” has a lovely bossa nova feel and is followed three tracks later by “Pitfall” which almost has a Santana feel to it as the electric guitar and flute take center stage. The last break, “Tu Eres Lo Más Preciado” is Spanish spoken word with a musical backdrop. The final song on the album is “The Passenger” which originally came to fame performed by Iggy Pop. This time around, to make the song a little less Iggy and a little more kid friendly, the song begins with train sounds and cello accompaniment before easing into a new arrangement with a jazz vibe that features a stellar set of horns.
Put Your Arms in the Air is a wonderfully eclectic collection of musical genres and fun, relatable lyrics that families will want to listen to again and again.
I’ve always loved pictures that tell a story, and that is exactly what the cover art for Oran Etkin’s album Finding Friends Far from Home: A Journey with Clara Net does. Etkin is the founder of the Timbalooloo Method for learning music in which each instrument comes to life, adding character, humor and emotion to music. This album cover captures that methodology by depicting several instruments from around the world as characters who are sharing with one another and building a friendship.
This beautiful cover art was created by Mexican artist Lynda M. Tovar. In working on the project, Tovar says
“While listening to the album and doing the sketches and different explorations of the characters I got to know Clara, her brother, the Bass Clarinet, little Mbira and the rest of the characters. As they were presented to me through the music, the designs of the characters grew in me like they were present. I could listen to them while creating them and that helped me while creating their images and personalities.
While working on it, it also brought a certain feeling of nostalgia. I thought of my childhood and how when I was little I listened to an album with my parents, everyone humming, whistling or singing to it with a very different perspective, and me, as I imagine the children could also do with this album, looking at the cover of it and getting every detail of the characters and imagining all the scenarios the songs tell. It made me smile every time I thought of this and how the kids would be able to do that with this cover.”
In 2017 Alphabet Rockers landed far outside the realm of traditional children’s music with their groundbreaking GRAMMY-nominated album Rise Shine #Woke. Named to School Library Journal‘s Top 10 list of 2017 that album taught listeners that you are never too young to start a conversation about social justice. Filled with powerful lyrics and engaging rhythms and rhymes, it was the must have hip hop album of the year. Now, almost two years later, Alphabet Rockers are back and better than ever with their new album, The Love.
Recorded on land originally inhabited by the Ohlone people and produced at Zoo Labs in Oakland, California, The Love is a massive musical collaboration incorporating more than 60 guest artists who perform alongside Alphabet Rockers founders Kaitlin McGaw and Tommy Soulati Shepherd. The themes of love and belonging continue from Rise Shine #Woke to The Love but this time rather than the focus being social justice, the group is turning their attention to gender justice with the goal of the album being to honor the diverse identities within our society. Once again featuring well-thought out, powerful lyrics, The Love is an album that everyone should listen to.
Today it is my great honor to debut the track, “I Know You See Me.” Written as a response to the daily harassment experienced by a transgender/gender non-conforming parent of a four-year-old, this song takes that experience and makes it into something positive. “I Know You See Me” begins and ends with a gorgeous string performance that captures the emotion of the main character in the song. At the beginning of the track, they are walking down the sidewalk when someone says horrible things to them. Rather than giving that person the power, they embrace their belief in themselves and when Tommy’s character breaks into a hard driving rap, he flips the script and rather than harassing them, tells them, “You’re the powerful one/All assumptions be gone/You’re the ultimate you just do what you do and I’ll see you thru.” It’s a powerful message of love, acceptance and understanding. A message that we all could stand to hear and to share, no matter how we identify. Learn more about the Alphabet Rockers at www.alphabetrockers.com and listen to “I Know You See Me” on Spotify or Amazon. The Love is available to stream now, and will be available on CD beginning August 8.
Josh Lovelace (of the adult rock group NEEDTOBREATHE) returns with a follow-up to his 2017 debut family album, Young Folk. On Growing Up singer-songwriter Lovelace captures universal life experiences that affect everyone no matter their age like friendship, family, the birth of a baby and saying goodbye to those we love. His solo voice is occasionally joined to great effect by children’s backing vocals on the twelve Americana-tinged rock songs in this collection. While there are plenty of hand-clapping and toe-tapping moments on this album, they are tempered by other tracks such as the gorgeous “You Are Loved,” “Let’s Go Drive” which captures the peaceful moments of unplanned family drives, and the beautiful blending of voices on the Frances England duet, “Butterfly” which encourages listeners to reach your light and follow your dreams.
A couple of unique moments are found toward the beginning of the album. The first is in the classic rock sounding “Traveling Band (When I Grow Up)” which tells the tale of a youngster who wants to be in a traveling band and lists a who’s who of performers – like Elton on the keys who makes the people want to shout – who could be in the band too. The second moment is the song “Calypso.” Unlike anything else on the album, it calls to mind ocean breezes and your toes in the sand as people in the neighborhood are encouraged to dance the calypso.
With Growing Up, Josh Lovelace has created that rare family album that sounds like adult music, has lyrics and melodies with kid appeal, and a production value that makes every song sound like it should be on the radio. A must have for family listening.
I have to admit that I was surprised and pretty excited to see a family album by Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough come across my desk. After listening to their music for the past twenty years, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this album. I wondered what Howie D’s take on music for families was going to be and how he was going to handle his association with The Backstreet Boys. Would he try to distance himself from the group in order to establish himself as a solo performer of music for children and not mention the group, or would he slide a quiet note of thanks into the liner notes? Well, there is a thank you note, but Howie D did so much more. He completely embraced his history with the group and played up his role as the “lesser known” Backstreet Boy with the amusing opening track, “Which One Am I?” Mixed in with questions asking if he’s that guy from that group (*NSYNC, Menudo) are fun lyrics that pay tribute to each of his Backstreet brothers.
With that issue out of the way, the album settles in to tell the tale of nine-year-old Howie D, the insecurities he faced and how he overcame them to find his own way. Adult Howie D serves as co-writer, along with Tor Hyams and Lisa St. Lou, on the eleven original tunes in this collection that span a wide variety of musical genres and really showcase Howie’s array of talents. Every song is a knockout featuring top-notch melodies, vocals and production value. Standouts include “Monsters in My Head” which has a Lenny Kravitz-vibe that totally fits the tale of the monsters that only come out at bedtime, “Shy” which calls to mind Frankie Avalon’s hit, “Earth Angel,” and the slyly reggae-themed “Worry” about many of the concerns that a child may have. There is a fantastic R&B groove on “Pollyanna’s Shadow” while touches of the tango and the Blues also make appearances before the power ballad “The Me I’m Meant To Be” reaches in and grabs your heart.
Listeners will no longer be wondering “which one is he?” by the end of this album. Instead they’ll be saying, “Howie D? Don’t you know? He’s the one making amazing music for families!” Crossing genres and generations, Which One Am I? is sure to be a hit!
Check out the charming video below for “No Hablo Espanol.”
In the `1970s The Letter People, a literacy program to teach children how to sound out the consonants and vowels in the alphabet, was developed. This program gave each letter its own identity and made the beginning stages of learning phonics fun, Once introduced, The Letter People captured children’s imaginations and made them clamor for more. Who can forget being introduced to the inflatable for the letter “F” Fancy Feet then being assigned to design your own fancy feet and having a parade up and down the halls at school. Or the letter “T” Tall Teeth that featured the largest set of teeth you had ever seen. Each letter was unique in what it taught but they were all the same in that they entertained children while they learned. Listening to Canta las Letras, I felt the same excitement as I did when I first met The Letter People.
On their newest album, 123 Andrés takes the letters of the Spanish alphabet and elevates them from a single song that teaches the order the letters come in, to 38 songs that give each letter and sound combination their own musical identity. The songs are arranged in alphabetical order and composed using the rhythms and sounds that are found throughout Latin America. Many of the tracks feature animals such as “Cinco cerditos,” “El guepado,” and “Katy la koala” or body parts like “Cabeza, codo, corazon” and “Con mis ojos” while others directly speak to the letter such as “La H no suena” and “Aqui está la Q.” Also included are songs about double letter sounds, “La C y la H chocaron” and “Las llaves” as well as a pair of songs about combinations of consonants – “Amigable” and “Gracias a la letra R.”
123 Andrés infuse all of their music with an unbridled joy and this album is no different. With over an hour of original songs, Canta las Letras is the perfect musical learning tool not just for families who are native Spanish speakers but for anyone learning Spanish as a second language as well. Never didactic, but always educational and entertaining, this album is ideal for the classroom, storytimes, or family listening.