Recess! Media

Brief sound clip 

You’re hearing the Texas-based singer Tish Hinojosa, with her lovely cradle song, “A la nanita nana,” from “Latin Lullaby” — one of the remarkable series of lullaby CDs produced by Celestial Arts. This traditional Spanish lullaby tells of the crystal clear springs that will flow through the sleeping child’s dream-world; and of the song of the nightingale that will keep time with the rocking of the cradle.

There are gentle, playful, and moving songs from Brazil and Puerto Rico, Cuba and Venezuela, Mexico and Columbia — in almost every latin music style — from samba and son to tango and conjuncto — by some of the best performers working today, like Nelie Lebrun and Clara Alonso, Carolina Landaeta and Pepe Castillo, Mili Bermejo and Juan-Carlos Formel. And there are vintage performances by such musicians as the late greats Bola DeNieve from Cuba and Atahualpa Yupanqui from Argentina, who manages to stop the show by stopping time with his soulful, grandfatherly guitar in “Duermete Chanquito.” You’ll want to keep “Latin Lullabys” close by, for all the small and the grown-up kids in your household, and perhaps, most of all, for yourself.