Thursday, March 11, 2010

English and Kannada Rhymes

Almost two years ago, a friend introduced me to a set of Kannada nursery rhymes from Buzzers. The music was excellent, the songs were mostly sung well and the animation was competent. I bought the other volume, and that didn't disappoint me either. I'd recommend it to everybody. It does have its faults, and some songs are downright unsuitable for young kids, but on the whole, both albums are very enjoyable, and well-made. The music - it's worth saying again - is very good. Puttachi enjoys them, and I can say that these songs have aided in her language development.

So when she grew a little older and started getting familiar with English, I decided to try out the English rhymes album from Buzzers. But what a shock! The animation was stilted and robot-like, the music was flat, and the accents were atrocious.

I was on the lookout for good English nursery rhymes. There were western albums available, but I thought that it would be silly to introduce Puttachi directly to American accents, when she doesn't even know the language yet!

Then unexpectedly, I found just what I was looking for. I was actually looking for the heritage collection of Karadi tales, as I thought it was the right time to introduce Puttachi to it, as she has just started showing an inclination to learn English. I then saw it - Karadi Rhymes, it said, Indian Rhymes for Indian Kids. I saw that they were sung by Usha Uthup, and that was enough for me. It was volume 2, though, and I looked for volume 1 (I am very systematic in such useless matters), but I didn't find it. So I bought Volume 2 - audio CD + 1 book.

Oh it is delightful. Very likeable songs, very Indian in both subject and music. The illustrations are particularly delightful. I don't even have to mention Usha Uthup's glorious, flawless, soaring voice bringing it all to life. I'm not sure who enjoys it more - Puttachi or me, but we have the loveliest times, sitting together with the book while the cd plays.

Of course, I had to go and buy Volume 1 too, after that. That is good too, but I prefer Volume 2. It could be because I discovered that first.

There are animated video CDs available too, of the same songs in Volume 1 and 2. I viewed a few samples on Youtube, and they look quite good, but I think the audio CD + book will be a better choice.

Hope you enjoy them! And please give me some suggestions too!

11 comments:

Abhipraya said...

Miss T, loves Karadi rhymes Vol 2 btw :) she claps and hums along for the chai chai song :D

charu said...

hi.I love them too. Saketh grew up with Karadi Rhymes especially Chai Chai.

Anonymous said...

Hi Shruthi,

Do you know of any good collection for the telugu rhymes.

Thanks
MB

Radhika said...

Try the kannada songs sung by B K Sumitra's children. I listened to them in my childhood and they are liked by my daughter too.

starry eyed said...

What a coincidence I just bought both the audio-book packs for both my kids. Chai-Chai is being sung with gusto as is madhavi from allepey! The videos are anyway there on youtube!

I like their Indianness and how the kids've picked up so much knowledge just by listening. Dhruv likes them better than the English rhymes!

Anonymous said...

Hi Shruthi,

Nice review as usual. I did check them out on youtube and wanted to buy them for my little son of 2.5 yrs. Can you let me know where did you buy them from in Bangalore? I tried a couple of places at Gandhi Bazaar and no luck! In fact one of the music store guys mentioned that anything to do with Karadi stuff wouldn't be available retail and may be I should try buying them online. Is that so?

Rams

starry eyed said...

@Rams: I got them last week from Landmark at Garuda Swagath mall Jayanagar, if they are out of stock, they will get it for you in a couple of weeks if you give a request.

Karadi Tales said...

Thanks for this. We're so glad you like our rhymes!

Abhipraya said...

Shruthi, you've been tagged!

parijata said...

Hi Shruti,
At Sapna, you can get books of children's poems by G.P.Rajaratnam. It is delightful. You can sing them in your own tune. Unfortunately they are not well-illustrated, but the quality of the poems make up for it.
Also, why don't you try oldies like "karaDi kuNita", "tirukana kanasu" - stuff like that? AkashavAni has brought out a CD called "chiNNara gItegaLu" which has a few good poems.

And about English - there is a book called "Children's Treasury" which has a wonderful collection of nursery rhymes and nonsense poems - almost all of them kid-suitable. But again, you have to tune them yourself.

Anonymous said...

Any idea where can I get the lyrics for this Kannada Nursery Rhymes in English

- -