Australian performer Claudia Robin Gunn has introduced a new series of seasonal videos from her 2020 CD, Sing Through the Year. While summer is coming to a close in the U.S., it’s just around the corner in the southern hemisphere. With COVID restrictions depending on circumstances and government preferences, the great outdoors is still the best place to be.
The animated videos, made possible through the support of NZ On Air Music, were created by Kitty and Simon Wade. Starting with “Summertime and Sunshine,” they feature a blue penguin family living in the style of a pop-up book as they find fun group activities that change along with the seasons:
Children’s musician Joanie Leeds has chosen her spots since her Grammy-winning CD, All The Ladies. Her latest project is “Under the Same Stars,” a collaboration with Mista Cookie Jar (CJ Pizarro) to celebrate National Just One Human Family Day (yes it really exists, on September 12).
An update of the same theme covered in “Somewhere Out There,” the famous duet from Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, there’s nary a European Jewish mouse featured in this tune. The premise of universal humanism came to the forefront during the BLM and Defund the Police movements during the summer of 2020. As Joanie and CJ remind listeners, we all look up and see the same stars. Click through and hear for yourself.
The “King of the Family House Party” Father Goose continues to flex his musical muscle. Shortly after the release of his new EP, Invisible, he’s back with a new video for his song “I TESTIFY,” featuring Drsya. The song investigates how people need to have good self-esteem before they move forward to build a better world (shades of ‘Same Stars,’ indeed):
I’m living the dream
my self-esteem is very intense
just let me vent
I want a better world
FG and Drsya make their case and insist kids must also be part of the solution. Here’s the video for “I Testify”:
