Putumayo Kids: World Music for Children of All Ages

Somethimes you discover blogs on the web that just blow your mind, then you click through link after link only to the next pages more interesting than the prior. This was the case when I discovered the Putumayo World Music and Putumayo Kids record label through this blogpost at BootsnAll. Blogger Joshua Berman writes about discovering the Kids label…

This world-folk record label’s dedication to childrens’ music is amazing. Until recently, I thought all they did was make great multilingual compilations (for kids music, start with African Dreamland ). Turns out the Putumayo people also make music videos, just launched a blog (“DJ Spooky, Lila Downs and Herbie Treehead Discuss Kids Music!” is the title of the first post), and they even offer an educational program with downloadable teacher tools (can’t wait to try these out-next fall, that is).

I’m not a father yet but I can say I do look forward to the day of buying things like this for my kids. But what was even more fantastic, was discovering a blog post featuring DJ Spooky and Lila Downs sharing their thoughts on the universiality of children’s music!

Paul Miller (a.k.a DJ Spooky)…

“Something about children’s music plays on the innocence and openness that children have. You can’t listen to kids music without a sense of wonder at the simplicity. I think children’s music is catchy precisely because it is about memory – we always strip memory down to its most essential components. That’s why people like “riffs” – it’s a way of simplifying and connecting fragments, just like sampling. Putumayo does a great job at collecting all the different possibilities. It always amazes me to see how hyper-diverse their output is.”

Putumayo World Music is a New York City record label distributed by Koch Entertainment, specialising in folk, Latin and Afro-Cuban music, as well as other genres that may be classified as world music. The label grew out of the Putumayo clothing company, founded by Dan Storper in 1975 and sold in 1997. The name of the company comes from Putumayo, a region in Colombia or possibly from the Putumayo river which delineates the border between Peru and Colombia.

Here is the tracklisting of the Putumayo Kids album African Dreamland…

1 Ladysmith Black Mambazo • Nomathemba • (South Africa)
2 Mapumba • Mimi • (Democratic Republic of Congo)
3 Kaïssa • Lonon • (Cameroon)
4 Famoro Dioubaté • Douyoré • (Guinea)
5 Samite • Agalilala • (Uganda)
6 Chiwoniso • Usa Cheme • (Zimbabwe)
7 Hijas del Sol • Ikope Ye Tollo • (Equatorial Guinea)
8 Habib Koité • Mali Sadio • (Mali)
9 Toumani Diabaté with Ballaké Sissoko • Salaman • (Mali)
10 Bernadette Aningi & Anita Daulne • Kula Bébé • (Democratic Republic of Congo)
11 Tété Alhinho • São Horas de Dormir • (Cape Verde)

While you’re exploring Putumayo, check-out Asheba’s Trinidadian take on “No More Monkey’s Jumping on the Bed” below. Warning: I was singing and dancing along like a toddler with in the first minute!