KidTunes: Jamie Broza - I Want a Dog!
For kids who need a lesson in begging there is no better teacher than Jamie Broza in his latest CD’s title track, I Want a Dog!. This blue-grass tinged opener teaches that it’s not how you ask, but how many times that just might be the key to getting what you want.
Not having read the press release that accompanies I Want a Dog!, I was pleasantly surprised by the second track. Is that really Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Waters of March”? It sure is, performed by Broza and his daughter, Carmen. The rest of the CD breezes along to a lovely, inviting Bossa Nova beat. Fans of Brazilian music will appreciate its integration into popular children’s music, in songs that reflect kids’ hopes, fears, and feelings. “Three Blind Mice” guest throughout the album, providing a little rodentia to the mix.
In a mini-Spanish lesson, “Guatemala,” Broza sings about the apprehension a kid might feel when visiting a foreign country but unfamiliar with the language. The happy twist is that he’s visiting a cousin who has the same apprehensions about his planned visit to New York. David Broza is featured, contributing vocals and lead classical guitar.
There are plenty of good excuses not to go to a “New School,” and Broza enumerates many of them in a song that anyone facing a new experience (school…job…[shudder] marriage) can appreciate. “Birthday Parties Always End in Tears” is a musical illustration of little neurotics’ fears of repeated birthday fiascos, and the eternal hope that this one will be more successful.
“I trust her with my life, but not with my favorite necklace…” sings Broza in this listener’s favorite track, “Sisters.” In a musical tribute to the love—punctuated by fights—that sisters share, Broza takes the part of a girl describing the relationship she enjoys with her sister. If you’ve always hated when the words of songs were changed to accommodate the sex of the singer, you will especially appreciate Broza not handing “Sisters” off to a female vocalist or choosing to write “Brothers” instead. Does it work? Of course it works—just as well as adult singers voicing the experiences and emotions of children in song.
I Want a Dog! is recommended for ages three through seven, although adults should listen to the plaintive “Turn that Phone Off;” there’s a lesson there for all of us. I Want a Dog! streets on March 15; 20% of its profits will go to the North Shore Animal League America.
Follow Technorati