THIS IS AMERICA - Music for Little People

THIS IS AMERICA - Music for Little People
By Paul Thompson

Broadcast: Monday, January 24, 2005

(THEME)

ANNOUNCER:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English.

Songs for big people are easier to find than songs for little people. But the market in children's music is growing. Today, Faith Lapidus and Steve Ember tell about one company that is helping¹ to meet the increasing demand.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

That's BB King, the great blues² musician, and his famous black guitar he calls Lucille. The song is "Rainy Day Blues." Later in the song, he asks children to play a game called "BB Says." It is a little like a game that a parent would play with a small child.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

 
Graphic³ Image
Babies learn about music from the simple songs that their mothers and fathers sing to them. When the children are older, their parents might teach them songs as part of a game. BB King's recording⁴ of "Rainy Day Blues" follows this tradition.

Most of his fans, though, may not know about his recordings⁵ for children. They only know that he makes very popular blues recordings for adults.

BB King recorded "Rainy Day Blues" for a company called Music for Little People.

VOICE ONE:

It all began when a man named Leib Ostrow was looking for music for his children. He searched in stores, looked through books and phoned toy companies. He could not find anything he really liked.

So Mister Ostrow decided⁶ to begin a recording company of his own. He went to a bank and borrowed some money. He began the company in his home. He used the part of the house where most people keep their automobile⁷.

Soon he was recording music for children. Many parents thought it was a great idea. So did many recording artists.

 
 
Music for Little People is located in northern California. It started as a mail-order business in nineteen-eighty-five. Today it is one of the largest children's musical and educational companies in the United States.

It has released more than eighty-five recordings. And it has won many awards.

VOICE TWO:

BB King is only one of the performers on Music for Little People. Others include country music stars Faith Hill and Charlie Daniels. There are also recordings by Taj Mahal, Maria Muldaur, Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt, and the rock groups Red Hot Chili⁸ Peppers and Los Lobos.

The members of Los Lobos are from Los Angeles and are of Mexican ancestry⁹. Their songs on Music for Little People are in both Spanish and English. In one recording they had the help of Lalo Guerrero, a Mexican-American singer.

Listen for a moment as Lalo Guerrero and Los Lobos perform "La Bamba," a traditional Mexican song. You may have heard it before. It was a very famous song in the nineteen-fifties.

"La Bamba for Little People" begins with Lalo Guerrero telling everyone -- not just children -- to dance!

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

 
 
Leib Ostrow, the man who started Music for Little People, says he wants children to hear good music by great performers from around the world. The company sells many different kinds of music. If a parent thinks a child might like rock music, they have it. If a parent wants music in French, Spanish, Swedish or Zulu -- they have that, too.

There are religious songs, dance songs, slow songs, fast songs, songs from movies -- just about anything a child might like.

Taj Mahal is another artist well known to fans of blues music. Here, he and Linda Tillery sing "Shake a Tail Feather." This song won several awards, and was a nineteen-ninety-eight nominee¹⁰ for a Grammy Award for Best Children's Recording.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Dan and Kiley McMichael have a two-year-old daughter named Fiona. Fiona likes music. And, like most little children, Fiona wants to hear the same recordings over and over again. Her mother does not mind. She says she likes the Music for Little People as much as Fiona does.

Here is one of the songs that Fiona likes. It tells a story about the power of music to calm the fears of a little boy. The group singing is Ladysmith Black Mambazo, from South Africa. The song is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Paul Thompson and produced by Caty Weaver¹¹. Our studio engineer was Suleiman Tarawali. Music For Little People can be found on the Internet at m-f-l-p dot com (mflp.com). I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for the VOA Special English program THIS IS AMERICA. We leave you now with a song called "Three Sisters: Corn, Beans and Squash¹²." It's performed by Native American singer Joanne Shenandoah.

(MUSIC)

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

3 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

4 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

5 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

8 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

9 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

10 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

11 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

12 squash   

n.壁球，摺皱不堪，拥挤嘈杂的人群，浓缩果汁，美国南瓜；vt.压扁，压制；vi.变扁，压榨

参考例句：

• He is drinking lemon squash.他正在喝柠檬露。
• She sprained her ankle playing squash.她在打软式墙网球时扭伤了脚踝。