Itty-Bitty Review: Fun Food Songs - Raffi

It has been too long since Raffi gave us a whole album of original music for kids (2002 was the last time, with Let's Play ).  But even though the Canadian kids music legend still has an incredible voice and delights listeners in concert, he's more interested in tweeting and writing than recording new music.  And with a back catalog stretching back 25+ years and more than 10 albums, there's plenty of opportunity for his label to repackage his output in new ways for a new generation.  (See here an example from more than 7 years ago.)

This week sees the release of Fun Food Songs, a collection of songs associated (to varying degrees) with food.  Ranking high on the food association (and enjoyability) scale are Raffi classics like "Peanut Butter Sandwich" and "The Corner Grocery Store."  More of a stretch for the collection (but no less enjoyable) are songs like "Down By the Bay" and "Brush Your Teeth."  These songs are, for the most part, fun, in part because few of them were written or recorded with the idea of Making Food Fun.

The 15-song,  30-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 6.  Because I consider a lot of Raffi's work essential, collections of previously-recorded such as these aren't.  But it's a solid collection of songs from a wide range of his albums, and if you don't have any Raffi songs, or if you're looking for an instantaneous food-themed CD for a classroom or daycare setting, this'll be great.  Recommended.

Note: I was provided an advance stream of the album for poss

Weekly Summary (4/29/13 - 5/5/13)

Concert Review: Raffi (New York City, April 2013)

First off, let's recap Kindiefest 2013.  I'd already got to sing with Ella Jenkins, Dan Zanes, and Elizabeth Mitchell.  I'd got to play a bunch of cool kids music videos.  I got to see the debut live performance of Underbirds.​  And I got to catch up some wonderful and interesting folks who make their living (or at least part of a living) making music for families.

So it had already been a pretty full weekend by the time Sunday rolled around.  ​And normally I would have been happy just to hang out at Kindiefest's Sunday public music festival listening to music from folks like Cat Doorman, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, the Terrible Twos, and more before heading to the airport to catch a flight home.

But I had an even better plan.​

​I'd get to sing with Raffi.

That's right, the venerable Canadian troubadour, the man whose 1976 album ​Singable Songs for the Very Young​ literally created the concept of the kids music genre, was performing on tour, his first significant tour in a number of years.

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Now, I was never a #belugagrad, as Raffi hashtagged this tour.  I only have my #belugaGED, as someone who came to his music after having a child of my own.  And, indeed, the biggest regret I have from the show is that one or both of my kids weren't there to enjoy it with me.

Because there were lots of kids there, and they all seemed very happy to be there, even before the show started.  They were calling out "Raffi."  And, then after a brief medley of prerecorded songs, the man himself strode out onstage.

I wish I could say how long he performed; the most honest answer is that I forgot to keep track of it (though in retrospect, it was probably about 60-70 minutes).  The more poetic answer is that I just lost track, watching Raffi and his guitar (and occasional piped-in backing music) keep the audience highly entertained.  Part of that may have been his large back catalog, so that he was able to play almost nothing but familiar hits.

Part of that also had to do with Raffi's youthful nature and voice.  He looks a lot like he does from album covers -- a little older perhaps, but no 3-year-old would at all be confused by who was up there.​  And that voice!  Exactly​ like it sounded 35 years ago -- the best voice in kids music, certainly amongst the males, bar none.

I say that the kids were entertained, but for folks like me who spend a lot of time listening to kids music, I think we adults were entertained as well.  I sat next to Tim Kubart from Tim and the Space Cadets, and Taes and Nick from Splash'N Boots, and they were as thoroughly entertained as I was.​  (Even Tim's girlfriend, the non-kindie-obsessive amongst the five of us, enjoyed it.)

The tickets are not cheap and would easily run upwards of $100 for a family of four.  But if your family are big into Raffi, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to plunk down the cash if you can afford it.  The only way it could have been better would have been if he'd been able to bring Pete Seeger onstage (thereby making my weekend utterly complete, sing-along-wise).

I had the opportunity to meet Raffi after the show, but there was a long line of VIPs before us, and nervous about making my cross-country flight home, I had to miss my opportunity to thank him in person in order to catch a cab to the airport.  So consider this my public thanks to Raffi for his many years of making families laugh and sing together, at home and in concert.

Set List

The More We Get Together

Six Little Ducks

Sambalale

Apples and Bananas

Bananaphone

On Hockey Days

Yellow Submarine

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sung by audience)

Brush Your Teeth

De Colores

Wheels on the Bus

Mister Sun

Peanut Butter and Jam (excerpt)

This Land Is Your Land

If I Had a Hammer

All I Really Need

Thanks a Lot

Baby Beluga

Shake My Sillies Out

Down by the Bay

This Little Light of Mine

Encore:

Our Home

If You’re Happy and You Know It

May There Always Be Sunshine

​

[Disclosure: I was provided a complimentary ticket to the show.]​

Weekly Summary (4/1/12 - 4/7/12)

Raffi #Belugagrads Tour Hits United States

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Kids music legend -- and I do not use that phrase lightly -- Raffi reaches the United States this weekend as he continues his #belugagrads tour.

After a long absence from the concert stage, the Canadian folksinger whose albums essentially created​ the kids music genre from a sales perspective (before him, there really was no separate category for retailers) gave a handful of concerts in Ontario, British Columbia, and Seattle in last year.  

Now, after a few concerts in Manitoba and Alberta last month, Raffi's heading to California to kick off a few concerts in the States.​  On 4 weekends in April and May, he'll be playing shows on both coasts and the Midwest, starting with the Bay Area and Santa Barbara this weekend.  He's raising funds for his Centre for Child Honouring and promises to sing fan favorites including, of course, "Baby Beluga."  (I'll admit to preferring -- by a substantial margin -- his earlier work.)

He'll be in New York City during Kindiefest. Ella Jenkins and Raffi - what a duet that would be, right?

Review: My Neighborhood - Johnny Bregar

In every reviewer's career, there are the artists you find, follow devotedly, and wonder why the rest of the world isn't quite as enamored as you.

Exhibit A, for me, I think, is Seattle's Johnny Bregar.  I thought his first three albums Stomp Yer Feet!, Hootenanny, and Dragonfly were on par with any recent three-album set from just about any artist you'd care to name.  While they were received positively, with radio airplay and cuts on a couple of Putumayo Kids albums, he hadn't received the attention that his peers (Justin Roberts, TMBG, Elizabeth Mitchell, a few others) had.

And then, 3 1/2 years of silence.  Much of that silence is because Bregar has been struggling to find his singing voice (literally).  And while that condition isn't fully resolved, Bregar has finally released his fourth album for kids, My Neighborhood.  For fans of the first three albums, it is good to hear Bregar's voice once more.

While I don't think Bregar's included too many more guest artists than on Dragonfly, he brought enough guests to his Bainbridge Island studio to make his rootsy Americana with a hint of bluegrass seem like a small party.  There's a mellow, soulful vibe to the album's best tracks, even a bit of wistfulness at points.  The title track recounts a stroll through the narrator's neighborhood, evocative of Mr. Rogers if he'd had a chance to listen to some Jack Johnson.  The next track "Weekend" evokes the best of the Counting Crows sonically in service of praising the fun of Saturdays and Sundays.

While Bregar still invites some younger kids to sing along (as on the uber-confident rocker "Yes I Can"), he's mostly moved on from the preschool songs he originally made his name on.  (I will admit to being tickled pink that Bregar, who I once called "the next Raffi," includes a simple, sing-along version of the Raffi classic, "You'll Sing a Song".)  Bregar's playing (and that of his guests) is unfussy, but there are some nifty instrumental turns.  I will admit to skipping forward past "Pancho," but the vast majority of the songs stand up to repeated spins.

The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 9.  You can listen to selected tracks by going here and clicking on the "Listen Now" button.

I've laid it out as best I can without coming over to your house or minivan and commandeering the CD player or iPod and making you and your kids listen.  My Neighborhood is what we expect good kids music to be these days -- musically rich, thematically diverse, and (for older kids, anyway) lyrically sophisticated.  Please please please try it.  Highly recommended.