Música amiga: El son del sol

~A guest post by F. Isabel Campoy


EL SON DEL SOL. VOLUME 10

We wanted for this volume to be an anthology of poems from well known Latin-American and Latino poets. It is never too early to expose children to the best voices in our culture. Through them, children will open their imagination to boats made out of paper while sailing the seas from Jamaica to Portobello in the words of Nicolás Guillén. Juan Ramón Jimenez reminds us that waves will dress in sunrise to reach the coast. José Martí tells us the story of the Pink Shoes to encourage us to be generous and learn to share with those in need. Mirta Aguirre brings us the joy of seahorses in their submerged worlds. Las gacelas, a poem by Jaime Ferrán, is evocative and hauntingly beautiful, and Alma Flor’s classic Canción de todos los niños del mundo reminds us of how similarly we smile, sing, learn, and play in every country in the world, no matter how far our countries might be from each other. I exhort us all to take care of life in Cuida la vida, and offer a poignant song about the importance of retaining our own language in No te olvides, no. ¡Qué cosa divertida es pensar! is a reflexion about what it is to think, and the joy of its discovery. Finally in La maestra tampoco lo sabe gives us all an opportunity to join in the path of learning by saying “I don’t know the answer, but we will learn it together.”

Suni Paz has turned these lyrics into parent and teacher favorites, as they will be sung by the entire family with fun.

The twelve poems con­tained in the book and the twelve songs con­tained in the CD are:

* Un son para niños antillanos – Nicolás Guillén
* Cigarras – Fernando Luján
* Doraba la luna el río – Juan Ramón Jiménez
* Baile de la caña – David Chericián
* Las gacelas – Jaime Ferrán
* Caballito – Mirta Aguirre
* Los zapaticos de rosa – José Martí
* Canción de todos los niños del mundo – Alma Flor Ada
* Cuida la vida — F. Isabel Campoy
* No te olvides, no — F. Isabel Campoy
* ¡Qué cosa divertida es pensar! — F. Isabel Campoy
* La maestra tampoco lo sabe — F. Isabel Campoy