Miami, FL. (Top40 Charts/ Asap Productions) - FUNKY KIDZ is an award-winning musical compilation, featuring covers of classic children's songs (think "Zip a Dee Doo Dah" and "Yellow Submarine"), stylized and performed by a dozen of New Orleans' stellar artists. Featured musicians include Ivan Neville of the Neville Brothers; The Radiators;
George Porter Jr. of The Meters; Bonerama, (featured on Late Show with
David Letterman and 2008 Sugar Bowl) and more.
This recording is about family fun, and the special bond that great music creates between people. It is meant to serve as a conduit between the adult ear and the newly exposed listener.
The songs are familiar to kids today and parents of any age. Songs are concise, upbeat and fun for the young listener combined with rich sophisticated instrumentation appealing to the adult ear. It invokes happy memories of childhood, while exposing children to the rhythmic sound that could only come out of the Crescent City.
Studies have shown that similarly to language, the earlier an infant is exposed to various instrumentation and music, the greater the aptitude and appreciation he/she will have as an adult.
A portion of the proceeds will go to fostering music education in classrooms throughout the country. We are working with the Grammy Foundation and other non-profits in working toward this goal.
As a progressive mother of two, executive producer Lauren Busch Singer was disappointed by the offerings of children's music and set out to expose her kids to a variety of musical genres. From the time they were in her belly, she played everything from hard rock to classical ballads. Her sons, Jake, 9 (assistant producer) and Aidan, 6, took a love to the upbeat New Orleans sound and so the concept was born: "Take kids songs and just make them funky."
The consulting producer is grammy winner Tracey Freeman, most noted for producing over a dozen Harry Connick Jr. albums since the early 90's. The compilation project consultant is award-winning producer Steve Alaimo, co-writer and producer of the Allman Brothers "Melissa", and producer of Stephen Sills, Jimmy Cliff, Inner Circle and others.
Featured Artists and tracks follow:
1) "You've Got A Friend In Me" - Bonerama (2006 Comic Relief house band)
2) "Hokey Pokey" - Big Sam's Funky Nation (toured with Elvis Costello)
3) "Zip A Dee Doo Dah" - Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk
4) "Yellow Submarine" - Papa Grows Funk
5) "If I Only Had a Brain" - Paul Sanchez, formerly of Cowboy Mouth
6) "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" - George Porter Jr. of The Meters
7) "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - Theresa Andersson
8) "Froggy Went a Courtin" - The Radiators
9) "This Land is Your Land" - Walter Wolfman Washington
10) "When I See an Elephant Fly" - Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes
11) "This Little Light of Mine" - Ingrid Lucia
12) "The Garden Song" - Amanda Shaw
FUNKY KIDZ is now available for purchase online at WWW.FUNKYKIDZMUSIC.COM, as well as various local retailers and on Itunes and Amazon.
