VARIOUS ARTISTS – SOOTHING SONGS FOR BABIES (BERCEUSES DU MONDE) [MENTAL GROOVE RECORDS / MUSÉE D’ETHNOGRAPHIE DE GENÈVE]

Morning Mari*‘s album of the week for this week is “Soothing Songs For Babies (Berceuses du Monde)” by Various Artists, out on Mental Groove Records / Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève, on the 26th of April.

Here is something that will please both young parents and their children, as well as (world) music enthusiastic looking for a peaceful, captivating and inspiring collection of carefully chosen lullabies from all over the world:

Third collaboration between Mental Groove Records x Musée d’ethnographie de Genève curated by Madeleine Leclair, head of the MEG’s department of Ethnomusicology and Olivier Ducret, head of Mental Groove and also both WRWTFWW and WE RELEASE JAZZ labels.

Lullabies exist in almost every culture in the world. While they relate to the world of childhood, they also evoke the privileged relationship established through music between an adult and an infant. The lullabies presented here were recorded at different times and come from eighteen countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America. They share certain musical characteristics that can be identified from one piece to another: simple melodies, a sequence of short patterns repeated several times in succession, an overall melodic contour following a descending line.

All the lullabies presented here come from records published with a copy kept in the Archives internationales de musique populaire (AIMP) of the MEG.

This is ideal for fans of labels like Ocora, Smithsonian Folkways Records, Buda Music, Nonesuch and traditional forms of music, ambient, ethnomusicology, and of course children, and their parents! And without a doubt a relaxing listening!

Tracklist:

1. Ukraine Lullaby 01:51
2. Taiwan Lullaby 00:44
3. Armenia Lullaby 03:03
4. Lithuania a-a a-a mažulyte (“ah, ah! My little girl”) 01:05
5. Ireland An Irish Lullaby 00:57
6. Spain Songs For Cradle 02:43
7. Solomon Islands Lullaby 01:42
8. Algeria Lullaby 03:19
9. Haiti Lullaby 03:26
10. Canada loving song composed for a child 00:44
11. Greece Come Now And Sleep My Child 06:05
12. Canada Ho Ho Ho Watanay 00:31
13. Rwanda Kamananga 03:03
14. United States Go To Sleep 00:42
15. France nelli monti di Cuscione (“in the Cuscione Mountains”) 02:36
16. Georgia Lullaby 03:15
17. Balkans a la nana y a la buba (“to the grandfather and the grandmother”) 01:56
18. Romania Cradle Song 03:56