We enjoy listening to music from different areas of the world, and we enjoy the various styles of music from traditional to modern pop. At the moment we are enjoying “Little Songs of The Andes” by Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou.
I believe it is important to listen to a variety of music when children are young to expose them to many sounds so they will grow up to appreciate music and how it brings everyone together for celebration around the world. Children, especially young children, have open minds and hearts and it’s nice to fill them with new experiences.
This is the first time we’ve had the pleasure to listen to music from South America. Listening to this beautiful music has been such a nice tie-in to begin learning about the seven continents, and where they are located on a globe. Tristan colored the South America page of “The 7 Continents Coloring pages” by Discovering Homeschool, to familiarize himself with the area.
Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou spent her teenage years in Peru learning to dance and speak Quechua. Her connection to this wonderful country has stayed with her and she has recorded seven cds that have received critical acclaim. She performs regularly within the educational and library systems, as well as at community centers in Philadelphia (USA).
“Little Songs of The Andes” (Cancioncitas de los Andes)
The musical selections on the cd, “Little Songs of The Andes” (Cancioncitas de los Andes) are a mix of instrumentals and vocals. Daria provides a spread in the e-book to describing each song’s meaning to help us understand the emotions of the music and gain a deeper connection to it. There are many traditional instruments used in the music. Daria explains what each of the instruments are made of and what they sound like. There are also coloring sheets of some of them. It was fun for us to listen to the music and pick out each of the instruments. Tristan’s favorite sound is the rain pipe, while I find the guitar very relaxing. The Chapchas provide a more intense, upbeat sound to some of the songs.
Daria herself has a beautiful voice and it carries very well through the songs. She sings the songs in the old Andes language of Quechua, and her pronunciation is so clear that you soon find yourself picking out words and phrases and singing along as well! When I asked Tristan what he thought about the music, he replied, “I like this music!” Every child who has listened to it with us moves with the flow of the music and has asked for me to play it again.
“A Child’s Life In The Andes”
There is also an e-book that Daria has written to accompany the cd. It is called “A Child’s Life In The Andes”. After the first time we glanced through the e-book, reading a little here and there before getting out of bed one morning, Tristan randomly started talking about condors with his daddy later in the day! Here he is coloring the condor page from the e-book.
“A Child’s Life in The Andes” e-book consists of 35 colorful, fact-filled pages with amazing photos and illustrations. There are 3 activities for your child to do, 8 coloring pages, 2 language pages, and a word search with new vocabulary. Importantly, there is also lots of interesting information about life in the Andes: the responsibilities of a child, what they use for fuel, local animals, and some unique foods make for lots of opportunity for questions and further learning for your children. I love the way that the people of the Andes have used natural resources to create musical instruments, and Daria provides instructions on making two of these using items you most likely already have in your own home.
“Little Songs of The Andes” is available from Itunes and Amazon mp3. The “Little Songs of The Andes” cd plus “A Child’s Life in The Andes” e-book combination can be purchased from TPT or from DARIAs Little Village Store.
Daria has a contest running each month to win a multicultural musical prize. Click on through to her site, Dariamusic to find out more.
My only suggestion for this great combo of music and book is that there could be a bonus track with a pronunciation practice for the language lessons so that we can hear the correct pronunciation of the words in the book. But this certainly does not detract from a winning combo.
The music and e-book activities will surely be keeping our home busy for the next little while, and we’re all excited to be learning more about this great planet we share.
For more inspirations, see our music page, books and book activities page, or see our Multicultural Activities for Kids page where you’ll find all of our multicultural ideas in one place.
I have received a free download of the above cd and e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.