Putumayo – music from around the world

Written by Dan Finkel

I’ve said it before, but I guess it can’t hurt to say it again – don’t buy in to the weird idea that exposing your kids to certain kinds of music as soon as they are born will or will not lead them to become world class musicians.  The best we can do with kids is to enjoy music ourselves, and share that joy with them (of course music lessons are eventually appropriate if you choose that route).

That said, it just might be possible that exposing them to a wide variety of musical styles is a nice gift for their auditory and musical development.  Again, I want to be clear and careful – don’t stress!  I am offering a suggestion for potential enrichment, not a necessary ingredient for the normal musical development of each and every human being (which more or less happens whether we want it to or not).

I would like to introduce (or possibly re-introduce) Putumayo World Music and particularly Putumayo Kids.  This interesting company has been compiling music from around the world in a remarkably responsible, caring, and educational way.  Here are the basics:

1.  Putumayo Kids features two types of albums – Playgrounds, which include upbeat music, and Dreamlands, which are quieter melodies good for calming down before nap or bed.  Their compilations usually focus on a geographic or ethnic style of music such as African, Hawaiian, Asian, New Orleans, Jamaican.  Now lumping the wide variety of styles that exist in “Asia” together in one compilation probably has the ethnomusicologists tooting their figurative horns in anger, but for most of us it is perfectly appropriate to begin an understanding of foreign music in this way.

2.  Teacher Tools – interested in going into more depth about the music you are listening to?  The Putumayo kids website has free PDF files downloadable that are full of richly educational activities for learning about the music.  Each album has a teaching guide, a map for use in figuring out where the sounds are coming from, and complete song lyrics so you can attempt to learn the songs yourselves – a truly fantastic resource!

3.  Streaming Radio – the main site (http://www.putumayo.com/en/index.php) also has 24/7 streaming radio that you can access with a single click.

Though some part of me would feel better recommending Putumayo if they were a non-profit organization, the truth is that this organization is a rare example of a for-profit company that deals respectfully and responsibly with both the musicians they are recording and their customers – they donate a lot of money (for example, 100% of their proceeds from French Caribbean and Caribbean Playground albums are going to Red Cross for Haiti Relief), raise awareness of the incredible range of musical expression around the world, and introduce all of us to wonderful new sounds to enjoy to with our kids.

I bet many of you already have Putumayo albums – what are your favorites?  What are your favorite tracks?

Happy Listening!