Putumayo Kids Latin Dreamland is a musical journey through Latin America–from Mexico’s “Cucurrucucú Paloma” to Brazil’s “Noite de Lembrar.”

Latin Dreamland enables parents to infuse culturally tasteful music to children during nap time or right before bedtime. The disc is comprised of ten lullabies interpreted by a collage of Latin American artists.

It’s hard to choose a favorite from the rich arrangement of songs. Luis Salinas bolero, “Un Vals,” is the perfect Argentinian embodiment of childhood dreamland. Maruca’s, “Canción de Cuna” and Marta Gómez’s “Cielito Lindo” are interpreted in the maternal comfort any child would be willing to cuddle up to.

Perhaps my favorite song was “El Eco” by Los Incas. I’ve been listening to Andean music for a very long time, the mixture of wind and string instruments are a vessel to the magical landscapes that Perú is known for. There is also an element of storytelling in the non-lyrically enhanced genre unmatched by any other form of expression.

Putumayo World Music was built on the goal of introducing people to the music of the world’s cultures and their motto is “guaranteed to make you feel good!” Latin Dreamland is a precise embodiment of culturally rich music that makes you feel good. We are sure that the collection will become a favorite for nap time for both child and parent.

For Putumayo Kids visit Putumayo or Facebook and Twitter.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of Putumayo’s Latin Dreamland CD to TWO lucky winners. All you have to do is visit the Putumayo Latin Dreamland page and leave us a comment telling us what song(s) you are most excited to hear. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My son Santiago suffers from second child syndrome. Have you ever heard of that? It refers to how most second children don’t get the same kind of attention first children get. It’s not like I’m neglecting Santiago or anything like that, I just haven’t done the same sort of things I did with Vanessa at his age.

For starters, I’ve been working full-time since right before he turned one, which means I haven’t had nearly as much free time with him as I had with her. We also stopped going to our bilingual children meetup once Vanessa started kindergarten, so Santiago never really got the chance to make any friends in the group. I’ve also noticed I don’t read to him as much as I read to her, although luckily, now that Vanessa knows how to read, she does a lot of the reading and Santiago loves it.

Then, the other day he was giving me a hard time while I was trying to get him dressed for preschool when I decided to start singing “Arroz con leche” just out of the blue. Santiago LOVES music like no other child I’ve met and I was amazed that my singing worked wonders since he immediately came to me and let me get him dressed. But it broke my heart to realize that even though he wanted, he couldn’t follow along because he didn’t know the lyrics.

How is is possible that my 3-year-old son can’t sing “Arroz con leche“? I felt terrible so I continued singing to see what other traditional children’s songs in Spanish he didn’t know. “Los pollitos dicen“? Barely. “Aserrín, aserrán“? Not a clue. “Tengo una muñeca“? Never heard of it. Seems like “Pimpón” was the only one he knew almost in its entirety.

At his age, Vanessa knew how to sing all of the songs above and many more. I know it’s not the end of the world because I can still teach them to him, but it just got  me thinking how crazy it is that I didn’t even realize he hasn’t really heard them all that much.

Music is such a great way of enriching a bilingual child’s vocabulary — and in Santiago’s case even more so since he’s so in love with music. So now we’re making sure we listen to all the CD’s we have with traditional children’s music in Spanish. Santiago has a CD player in his room, so I’ve just started playing these songs whenever we’re in his room and he’s totally into them.

Teaching my son these traditional songs reminds me of my own childhood, and I can only hope that one day, when he becomes a dad, he’ll sing them to his child and remember his own childhood. By the way, if you don’t remember all the lyrics, there’s an amazing site called Mama Lisa’s Wolrd which includes all of them (with English translations) divided by country. Besides songs, you can also find nursery rhymes from all over the world. I promise that once you visit, you’ll be hooked and you’ll remember even more traditional children’s songs in Spanish.

The two CDs we play the most in our house are Canciones Infantiles and Canciones Infantiles del Tiempo de la Abuela.

And here’s a list of some of our other favorite CD’s with children’s music in Spanish:

• Music With Sara
• Salsa for Kittens & Puppies
• Caramba Kids
• Moona Luna
• Chocolalala
• Sones de México Ensemble
• Cha Cha Cha: Canciones Infantiles
• Chakuchukuchá-Bilingual Latin Beats
• The SpanglishBaby YouTube Musica Playlist

With babies and toddlers there is always a time when a lullaby comes to our rescue. And yes, I mean rescue because lullabies are fundamental to sooth a crying baby or simply to create the right bedtime environment. These songs are useful not just to lull the baby to sleep but also any little brothers and sisters who may be around.

Lullabies in all languages have put to bed millions and millions of babies, all over the length and breadth of the world. All of them share the necessary elements to put the baby, and even ourselves, at ease: rhythm, melody and story. And that is precisely what fascinates me the most, that there is a story behind each one of them, a story that reveals customs, lifestyles, fears and the unique ways in which each culture values babies and toddlers.

There are many beautiful lullabies in Spanish, many of them with recurring topics such as the urgency for children to fall asleep and allow their mothers to carry on with their domestic tasks. This is the case of Este niño lindo and Duérmete mi niño.  Aruru mi niño, Muñequita Linda and other similar songs focus on conveying the baby’s beauty, while those with their origin in popular folklore, such as Arruru la faena, speak of the mother’s arduous labor.

Some lullabies like Duérmete mi niño have threatening themes involving wolves and bogeymen; others like Arriba del cielo talk about selling children. Some lullabies, like Señora Santa Ana or A la rorro nene, have been used for centuries to lull Baby Jesus in Catholic and other Christian celebrations. And, of course, there are many lullabies in English that have been translated to Spanish, as is the case of Todos los caballitos lindos (All the Pretty Little Horses).   

Regarding the lyrics, I must say that I love the use of the words “roro, rorro, arroró, aruru” used to denote rocking movement or to say that the boy or the girl is very pretty.

Not all lullabies can be found in books or the Internet. I mean those in which parents or grandparents sing from their own imagination, usually basing their songs on a familiar tune and making up their own stories as they go along. As unbelievable as it may seem, some become part of the family tradition, generation after generation.

Making up your own lullabies could be a fun activity which could help you further strengthen that essential bond of safety and trust between you and your kids, for lullabies are, without doubt, songs for the soul.

What is your favorite lullaby? Have you ever tried creating your own lullabies? Share with us; we’d love to hear from you!

{Image via Jorge Ravines Fotografias}

Adriana Pacheco Roldán, is a children’s books author who has taught Spanish as a second language for most of her professional life. She has always found news ways to teach Spanish, not only as a tool for communication, but as a tool for developing critical ways of thinking and understanding culture, history and traditions. With her husband she founded Heritage Language, a publisher of bilingual books. She is currently a doctoral student of Hispanic American Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. Adriana was born in Puebla, Mexico, and she is very proud of having raised three multilingual and multicultural boys and one girl.