If you have not yet had the pleasure of hearing Jose-Luis Orozco’s newest CD with Duck Duck Moose, Favorite Spanish Songs For Kids, you MUST! It is a brilliant arrangement of bilingual music made for both English and Spanish speakers filled with Latin and American classics that both parents and their children (or teachers and students) will enjoy for sure. The variety of tempo and rhyme in the music and lyrics provides a balanced range of lessons that help with language acquisition in young children that is sometimes difficult to find in Children’s Music. I love a good CD that teaches and entertains at the same time and this is one of those. There is something for everyone in the family to enjoy!

A couple of our favorites were “Buenos Dias” (Good Morning), and “Diez Deditos” (Ten Little Fingers) because they’re both sung in English and Spanish. In fact, I used to sing both these songs each morning as we gathered for circle time when I was a daycare provider. I was so thrilled to hear these songs on there! Another favorite that we all enjoyed was “Las Vocales” (The Vowels), also in English and Spanish. Hearing these familiar songs in both languages brought back so many memories of my preschool teaching days.

My own favorite from this CD was “Compadre Comprame Un Coco” (Buy Me A Coconut). I swear we played that song countless times together as a family, laughing at just trying to keep up with the hilarious 32-second tongue twister. Paired with some of his award-winning books like Diez Deditos and Other Play Rhymes and Action Songs from Latin America, and De Colores and Other Latin American Folk Songs, you’re sure to experience many fun-filled gatherings either at circle time if you’re a preschool teacher, or parent at home.

Listen to some short samples of this CD for yourself on the Duck Duck Moose site and also download the full lyrics in both English and Spanish!

(The entire album is available for purchase on iTunes for $9.99 and Google Play for $9.49.)

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one digital copy of Jose-Luis Orozco’s newest CD with Duck Duck Moose, Favorite Spanish Songs For Kids to THREE lucky winners! Winners will receive their prize through iTunes or Google Play. All you have to do is visit the music preview page and leave us a comment letting us know which song you and niños enjoyed the most. Then enter the rafflecopter below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Watch the interview below and wait until the end for a special rendition of his classic song “Dos Manita, Diez Deditos.”

Check out Caramba Kids here and also this super cute video of José Luis Orozco singing Rin, Rin, Rin, Do, Re, Mi to my daughter and SpanglishBaby readers.

If you’ve followed us for the last almost three years, you know we are avid fans of bilingual educator and musician, José Luis Orozco. We admire his vision and dedication of more than 30 years for preserving our cultural heritage and language through the use of music and literature aimed at our niños.

The restless Orozco and his crew have just announced the launch of a site and project we were already privy to, but were waiting for it to finally be live so we could share it with you. Be one of the first to visit the brand-spanking new Caramba Kids site with your kids and meet the animated version of José Luis Orozco with his cast of bilingual amigos: Juanito, Mónica, Paco, Susana and their pet Tito.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-UXGWTEfEI&feature=player_embedded

Along with a team of award-winning experts in animation, music, technology and early childhood development, they´ve created Caramba Kids as a bilingual educational platform based on Orozco´s well-known and loved music.

For now the site offers only one video in both English and Spanish, but more are in the works. There´s also a section with educational activities based on common core standards which are also available for download in both languages.

What ties it all together is Orozco´s newly released bilingual CD titled “Caramba Kids” which features the singer performing alongside his crew of pequeños amigos. Each tune is sung first in Spanish and then in English.

Check out the full versions of the track Sí se puede in Spanish and then in English. If you love it, then head over to iTunes to purchase and support an artist who gets us and who has inspired many for decades.

Sí se puede by joseluisorozco

Yes, I Can by joseluisorozco

For more on José Luis Orozco and Caramba Kids Like them on Facebook, follow on Twitter and subscribe to the YouTube Channel.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winners: Cindy Lou,Claudia N,Nancy F,Melissa,Veronica Alonzo,Angelina,Tati,Sandy,Jodi Monroy,and Lupita !

We’re giving away TEN AUTOGRAPHED copies of the new Caramba Kids CD!

To enter all you have to do is visit the new Caramba Kids site and leave us a comment telling us what you loved about it.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including this link to the post http://su.pr/3HsvVa, @SpanglishBaby and @CarambaKids. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

Ex Tweet: Excited about @CarambaKids a new educational site & CD for bilingual kids by JL Orozco! I entered to win a copy here: http://su.pr/3HsvVa

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, Dec. 6th at midnight PST and is open to everyone over 18 years of age in the continental U.S. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Hispanic Heritage Month was created to honor the many contributions made by Latinos in our country.  It was a no-brainer, then, for us to recognize José Luis Orozco, a man who for 39 years now has been relentlessly focused on preserving our rich cultural identity through songs and music for children, while at the same time exposing a wider audience to the heritage of the Spanish-speaking world. His name is very familiar and well-respected amongs educators, especially with bilingual (Spanish/English) teachers.  Parents usually find him through a local library, word-of-mouth, their kids’ schools or when searching online for traditional Spanish folk songs for their children.

Orozco’s name was one of the first ones to come up when I started looking for music for my daughter.  I was really looking for traditional arrullos that I was sure I knew, but just couldn’t remember their lyrics.  I needed a CD that would open the floodgates of my memory.  And, that’s exactly what happened when I found Orozco’s Diez Deditos album.  I started listening to it and I found that song after song made me reminisce. Then, I ordered the accompanying songbook and now I have the lyrics to those songs, not that I really needed them since the canciones are simple to sing along to and most I’ve heard at some point; but the book will grow with my girl and it’s a great tool to teach her to read.  As Orozco himself said when I interviewed him recently, “When the storybook and the CDs are used in conjunction, they are an amazing resource to promote reading in young children.  They can read songs.”  Orozco envisions his music and storybooks being used at home to create family unity and to engage in conversations about our traditions. The illustrations on the books are so rich and descriptive that they alone provoke and engage my girl and I in long conversations about the depicted scene.

Jose Luis Orozco’s passionate mission is “to promote and maintain the Spanish language, traditional folk music, songs, and Latino cultural heritage in the U.S.”  Even though he’s been an advocate for bilingual education for four decades and he started at a time when, ironically enough, there were more resources to fund bilingual education in public schools, his message is better received now since there’s a larger audience than years ago. This is, in part, thanks to the continued growth of the Hispanic population and of people anxious to find ways to preserve their roots and language through their children.

Orozco stresses that “It’s important for us to hold on to our cultural roots because it’s a part of who we are and where we come from.  Traditions help make us feel good about ourselves because we can with certainty say ‘This is who I am and here is where I’m at.’  Our heritage is a joyous part of us we can easily share and pass along.”

He has focused his life-long work on the art of transmitting music and folk songs because these are to him “a pathway for other communities to learn what our culture is about.” Music, he says, is an important tool to use as a language and culture promoter. It’s used as a cultural container in any group.  As soon as we’re born we use the traditional nanas and arrullos that our parents sang to us.  These folk songs are a motivating instrument used to teach language and to comfort.

The musician himself is a father of four and grandfather of two children.  He was a first generation Mexican immigrant who left his native Mexico City at the age of 19 in pursuit of higher education.  As a child growing up in Mexico, he had the good fortune that his talent as a singer took him to travel 32 countries.  It was through his travels that he gained a wider perspective and world view that eventually led to him receiving his Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education.

Doing what he loves, he has built a successful career as  a children’s author, songwriter, performer and recording artist, as well as a passionate advocate for preserving language and heritage by using music as an important learning tool in multicultural classrooms.

I was curious to find out how a man so passionate about raising bilingual and bicultural children did it himself.  He shared with me that his strategy included:

• Speaking with his children and grandchildren only Spanish at home

• Visiting family in Mexico as often as possible

• Traveling overseas whenver feasible because travel broadens horizons and minds

• Enrolling his children in a bilingual school or any after-school program available

• Música en español, lots of it

I describe his songs as a portal parents go through to recapture those songs they heard as children and that might have been forgotten.  José Luis Orozco agrees:  “The idea is that one familiar song may trigger a connection to another one that we weren’t even aware we knew.  Here’s where the real cultural sharing and transmission begins.”

I’m sure we all agree that every day is a special one to celebrate our culture, but as Orozco points out:  “Hispanic Heritage Month is a celebration of our roots and independence.  These celebrations are important to bind a community together through a common language and ancestry.”  We thank him for his work and for providing a rich soundtrack for our children’s memory.

We are excited to give away a gift bag of Orozco’s CDs and storybooks worth $72 to one of the subscribers to our Newsletter.  The first edition of our combined SpanglishBaby and SpanglishBabyFinds newsletter will be sent out the last week of October and will include the announcement of the winner of this amazing, musical gift.  All you have to do is be subscribed. To find out more and to subscribe please go here.