Kid's Music Series: Songs From The Baobob CD and Book

I am a sucker for Children's Books with amazing illustrations, and the first thing I noticed about Songs From The Baobab was the beautiful artwork!  The illustrations of the African Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes the mothers were telling their children take on life through the colorful paintings.  The textures and different mediums and patterns used creates a story in-itself to accompany the simple phrases.  I appreciated that each page had the African words to accompany the English translations, and the story really comes to life when you enjoy it with the accompanying CD.

Songs From The Baobab the CD includes 29 songs that are from 10 different countries including Rwanda, Senegal and the Ivory Coast.  The beats range from uplifting and fast, to relaxing and soothing, and I felt like I could just imagine the people singing these songs with such joy and enthusiasm.  The songs are sung in 11 different languages, and even though I could not understand them I still felt a connection to the women, children, and men singing.  The kids really enjoyed listening to something in a foreign language and would often stop to interrupt and tell me the translation-which was very hilarious!  We also enjoyed how each song concluded with a brief description of the cultural significance of the song and instruments used.

Songs From The Baobab CD and Book are a great way to add some cultural history from Africa into your little ones library.

Check out Songs From The Baobab from The Secret Mountain.com for images, commentary, and audio samples.  You can even purchase the album to add to your MP3 device!