Parents buy lullaby CDs with a specific purpose in mind - to get their babies to sleep. Gentle, soothing melodies are expected and this independently distributed CD delivers. The music is mildly Celtic in style, encompassing violin, bass, flute and drum. Melita’s desire for the album is to ‘inspire in children of all ages a sense of the sacred in nature and evoke a feeling of awe for the mystery of the universe’. Songs include both a traditional Hebrew and a yoga blessing, a pagan chant and a traditional English lullaby as well as her self-penned tracks. The inclusion of Twinkle Twinkle feels like an odd choice in such an eclectic blend, and the intro of the song - her own daughter child singing the words- distracts from the mellow flow of the album. The album is 45 minutes long, which should be long enough for most babies or children to fall asleep to. Find her album at melitamusic.com
My Friend Mark (Mark Travers) is the latest Aussie offering his musical talents in a bid to help educate and entertain our kids. Alphabet Songs contains 28 tracks, including one for each letter of the alphabet. Songs vary in style, but include kid-appropriate rock, country music and a pirate shanty. Travers has incorporated some rich harmonies that lend an unexpected depth to the album, and elevate it from the flat, repetitive habits of the usual suspects. Each song gives background information on a letter, and uses alliteration and word play to let kids know just what the letter sounds like.
Sunny Days has five packs which include both Alphabet Songs and My Friend Mark's new release,Counting Time to give away. Click here to enter.
If your child likes to be soothed to slumber with a lullaby, this could be the cruisy night-time CD for you. Ideal for budding little guitarists, tunes such as When I Fall in Love and What a Wonderful World have been given a laid-back jazz treatment. The music is unobtrusive in a restaurant-background kind of way, just the sort of thing for little people to fall asleep to. I did find the inclusion of Mary Had A Little Lamb and Baa Baa Black Sheep slightly out of place, given the timeless classic nature of the other tunes. Nevertheless, my two boys have been requesting this CD as they head to bed each night since I brought it home.
Sunny Days has six copies of Sleepytime Jazz Guitar to give away. Click here to enter
The newest CD from ABC Music for preschoolers, Barnyard Buddies, is labelled as ‘Favourite Animal Songs for Kids’, and there are 35 to choose from. The CD almost sounds like the soundtrack to PlaySchool, including well-known favourites like Old MacDonald, The Dingle Dangle Scarecrow and Five Little Speckled Frogs. There’s a slight American flavour to a few of the songs, with a twangy Southern accent and some finger pickin’ on the banjo. The strongest songs are the very Australian Click Go the Shears and Kookabura Sits in the Old Gumtree. The Kookaburra has had a funky update and a rich depth to the harmonies, but still remains true to the original. Australian Idol star Mary Worrall features on vocals, but even his voice can’t lift this CD out of the mediocre.
