New CDs
By Pamela Brill -- Playthings, 5/1/2004
Stores boasting a diverse customer base may want to add Sing Along With Putumayo to their music selection. The sixth title from Putumayo Kids exposes young listeners to folk, blues, bluegrass, swing and reggae that will open their ears to the vast array of culturally rich music available to them. Kids will delight in recognizing well-known favorites like "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," and they'll get a kick out of fun numbers such as "Bling-Blang" and "Bellybutton Song." If Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne have had too much play in the home, retailers might suggest this welcome alternative.
Speaking of the blues, today's generation has its fair share of growing pains. Re-Bop Records' Even Kids Get the Blues lets them lament their sorrows and frustrations the ol' fashioned way: belting them out through song! The ensemble of young voices, crooning lighthearted numbers like "I Miss Daddy's Chili" and "Chop an Onion (Cry Your Blues Away)," may inspire budding Buddy Guys to take a turn themselves. This CD is a great way to bring a shy child out of his or her shell and is worth playing on a store's music system.
The classical music of Beethoven's Wig 2 is anything but. The Rounder Records release features nearly a dozen tracks of sing-along symphonies set with wacky lyrics that'll have young viewers in stitches. Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" becomes "Wow What a Wedding Cake," while "Sing Verdi Very Loud" will allow kids to flex their vocal chords the way the Italian composer meant them to. Any child who dismisses classical music as a stuffy genre will be proven otherwise. Stores that service area schools may recommend this compilation to elementary school music teachers.
