Animal Playground

Description

Product Description Since children of all nationalities are fascinated by animals, Putumayo found it only natural to create a collection of exceptional songs featuring animal themes and folklore from across the globe. The 13 tracks on the album will guide listeners on a journey that begins in North America and ends in Africa without skipping a beat in between. Music fans of all ages will want to jump, hop and sing along to the playful, upbeat melodies of Animal Playground. The collection includes a track from up-and-coming North American kids artists The Wee Hairy Beasties, whose bluegrassy "Animal Crackers" features Jon Langford of the Mekons. Texas singer-songwriter Terri Hendrix offers "Eagles," a sweet song from a mother eagle to her baby with a little southern twang. Crossing the globe, Netherlands based Samba Salad presents a song about a Surinam crocodile called "Bigi Kaiman." From Italy, Quartetto Cetra delivers a fast-paced version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," though here it's "Nella Vecchia Fattoria." Zé Renato of Brazil leads a call-and- response sing-along that will get kids dancing to the forró tune "Cantiga do Sapo," about a little singing frog. And Australian children's music legend Don Spencer contributes an amusing song about using caution when walking near snakes. Also featured is the video for Asheba's irresistible Caribbean arrangement of the popular "No More Monkeys!" song. Shot on the beaches of Trinidad, the video creates a magical land where Putumayo Kids' characters come to life and interact with Asheba and his band of Trinidadian kids as they sing and dance to the playful song. A portion of Putumayo World Music's proceeds from the sale of this album will be donated to the Wildlife Conservation Society, headquartered at the world famous Bronx Zoo, in support of its activities that save wildlife and wild lands. desertcart.com Putumayo's Playground series consistently lives up to its name by sending far-flung cultures out to recess, freeing them to reveal their musical fun sides. The metaphor ends there, but the parallel to actual playgrounds doesn't: as any parent who's felt forlorn at times knows, nothing nullifies a dreary afternoon funk more effectively than a trip to the neighborhood playground. So it goes with the series. Animal Playground, the latest to swing, slide, and see-saw its way into agile imaginations of all ages, is a fine-tuned creature feature as playful as a giant-pawed puppy. Even if you don't know what forro is (North Brazilian dance music), or that "Cantigo do Sapo" has something to do with a little singing frog, you'll want to shake a tail feather in time to the beat; that holds for Quartetto Cetra's right-on Italian reworking of "Old McDonald," "Nella Vecchia Farroria." No disrespect to the other exotic offerings here ("Aves," from Honduras, for example), but the English-language songs are most winning of all: Canada's the Be Good Tanyas captivate with "The Littlest Birds," and you can't help but a love a man who cries crocodile tears from his puppy dog eyes, in this case Jon Langford who, when he's not a Wee Hairy Beastie belting out "Animal Crackers," leads the excellent punk/folk band the Mekons. --Tammy La Gorce P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review "...a lively grab bag of critter-related tracks from Australia to the Netherlands, A-" --Entertainment Weekly, May 11, 2007 See more Review: Quality music can be fun. - Putomayo puts out some great products. This CD is no exception. My 5 yr old has learned every song (so have I) and we have so much fun singing along in the car. Her favorite is trk 11. I chose to buy this CD and other Putomayo CDs because most music out there for kids seems to be made without integrity and frankly, is usually a painful listening experience.. Other kids music seems to embrace the idea that quality music is lost on children which is quite the opposite in my experiences. desertcart has a sample listening for some of these CDs. Take advantage of this is you have not done so already. In conclusion, we love this CD and the songs will be part of my child's childhood memories. Review: FUN and very enjoyable CD - I have most of the CD's in the Putumayo Kids collection. By far, this is my 16-mo son's favorite. It starts off very upbeat and my little guy immediately starts clapping along. Another one of our favorites is the Latin Playground CD. To be fair, he tends to like more uptempo music and the second the first track on this CD comes on, "I got ants in my pants..." he starts smiling and moving his body. This is a very nice collection of songs. Not a dud in the bunch. As for the review that questions whether dinosaurs are real animals... well, even if you don't believe they existed, you'd probably still enjoy this CD.