From Scotland: The Boy and the Bunnet

Neil is a boy who lives with his grandmother and their grey cat in a house by the sea. Behind the house, they have a garden, and then past the garden there's a forest, and beyond the forest a mountain, or ben. Neil also wears a blue cap (that’s the bunnet part).

The boy, his bunnet, the cat, his gran, and all manner of animals which live in the sea, forest, garden, and mountain come to have an adventure --several actually -- quite a lively time of it with both laughter and danger, a cranky crow and a brave stag, a quiet selkie who lives in the sea, and a urisk. What exactly is a urisk? You’ll have to listen to the story to find out.

What does all this have to do with music?

Each of the characters in the story has the voice of an instrument, so the melodies of their intertwining stories intertwine with and enhance the words of the tale, and tell stories of their own.

The instruments are all those found in Scottish traditional music -- fiddle, harp, cello, pipes, and more. Do you remember how Peter and the Wolf introduced the instruments of a classical orchestra? James Robertson, who wrote the story, and James Ross, who wrote the music, had the idea of introducing the instruments of Scottish traditional music this way, too, and they took things a step further. The story is told in Scots, so it helps people, child or adult, learn or relearn that language. There is a version of the narrative in Scottish Gaelic, as well. If you do not know either language, take a listen to the Scots version (you'll find bits of it through the links below so you may try that out). I think you'll enjoy following along and figuring out the words that are unfamiliar.

Side note: if you've read or sung any Robert Burns, you may already have a bit of Scots.

So, it is a fine learning tool, indeed, an engaging story and music which will hold your interest as well. Story and music weave together to bring the characters and events to life. All the main sorts of tunes in Scottish traditional music are included -- reel, strathspey, jig, waltz -- and many of Scotland's top musicians lend their imagination to the voices of the instruments. There’s Patsy Reid on fiddle, Angus Lyon on accordion, Corrina Hewat on harp, and Signy Jakobsdottir on percussion, among others. For the Scots version, actress Gerda Stevenson gives a lively narrative with just the right balance of drama and humour, while the same task is done by Wilma Kennedy for the version in Scottish Gaelic.

The Boy and the Bunnet has been offered as a live production at the Blas festival in Inverness and at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. Robertson and Ross have scored and written it in such a way that it’d be possible for school groups across Scotland to put on the show themselves, too, and that’s one of the things they hope will happen as a result.


It makes fine listening on record, a story to which you’ll want to return time and again, and share with the children and adults in your life.


You may hear the Scots language tracks here
The Boy and the Bunnet

and find out here about the Scottish Gaelic version, as well as illustrated books which tell the story



you may also wish to see
Music Road: Celtic Connections 2012: the music begins
Music Road: from Scotland: Emily Smith: Traiveller's Joy

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Music for parents & children: Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem

All of the four band members in Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem are parents. As they traveled around the world and as they played their music on the home front, that got them thinking about music kids and adults could share.

Most of the roots and folk music band offers would fit that category, with four distinctive lead singers who often engage in collaborative harmony and backing vocals and who are also creative acoustic musicians on fiddle, bass, percussion, and guitar, mixing original music with songs from across the range of international folk. When they decided to focus on doing shows specifically for kids, the band’s sense of fun came front and center -- and so will yours, as you listen to their latest release, Ranky Tanky..


Rani Arbo, Scott Kessel, Andrew Kinsey, and Anand Nayak rearrange and reinvent classics including The Green Grass Grows All Around, and Purple People Eater. They’ll have you up and dancing -- whatever age you are -- with the title track. There's a very funny excursion to the zoo on They All Ask’d for You. There are quieter bits too, including Wildflowers and the gorgeous lullabye written by Malvina Reynolds, Morningtown Ride.

It’s music of substance, and music of fun, offering natural ways to connect, to celebrate, to laugh, and to think. Good for listeners of any age.


you may also wish to see
Music Road: Mother: music celebrating mothers and motherhood from Susan McKeown, Cathie Ryan, & Robin Spielberg
Music Road: Road Trip Music visits Connecticut which features another album from Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem
Music Road: music for mothers and children a roundup of albums you may not have heard...

Also, folk music legend Pete Seeger celebrates a birthday today -- he turns 91. His next album will feature work he's been doing with children. More on that to come. Happy birthday Pete! and thanks for all the music, and all the inspiration.

-->If you'd like to support my creative work here at Music Road and elsewhere,
here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.

Music for parents and children to share

Here's a look back a several albums that children, and their parents and other adults in their lives, will be able to enjoy together.

Both parent an child will likely enjoy Down at the Sea Hotel. By turns as whimsical as the title cut, by Iowa singer songwriter Greg Brown, and as thoughtful as Steve Earle’s Nothing but a Child, which is sung together by many of the artists who contribute to this album, it’s a varied collection with top singers and songwriters offering familiar and less familiar songs by other top contemporary writers. Guy Davis singss a bluesy Midnight Lullaby, while Eliza Gilkyson delivers two of the really standout cuts on the disc, Midnight in Missoula and the Carole King classic Child of Mine. Other singers include Lucy Kaplansky, John Gorka, and Lynn Miles, on songs written by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tom Waits, and others.

Do kids themselves create songs that will hold up to repeated listening? Well, at the very least you know you’ll get a few topics adult writers might not at first choose. The Football Toad and Papaya People are two of those Rory Block helped the kids in her sons’ school classes bring to life on the album Color Me Wild. Block is known as an intense and powerful blues singer and guitarist, but she says “I also have a really off the wall sense of humor.” That probably came in really helpful when her children were small, which is when she put together this project.

A whole list of well known musicians ( and Grammy winning) from Darrell Scott to Amy Grant joined up with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and Paul Reisler’s Kid Pan Alley project to let kids see and experience what it’s like to create a song. The result: some lovely lullabyes, some funny stuff, and, well, a song about socks...

Tish Hinojosa offers a batch of songs both parents and children will enjoy on Cada Nino. Hinojosa is first generation Mexican American, and she draws on this background to remember in song trips to visit her grandmother back in Mexico and talk about some women of border history. Soon you and your kids will liklely be singing along with Hinojosa in both English and Spanish, especially on her hilarious imagining of what the vegetables get up to when we’re not looking, El Baile Vegetal/Vegetable Dance.

Jane Siberry offers a recording that’ll likely have you singing along too, although in a quieter way, as you might suspect from its title, Hush. This is Siberry in a relaxed folk mode, offering familiar songs including We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, All Through the Night, and The Water Is Wide. If you are in a lullaby frame of mind, you might want to look up Padraigin ni Uallachain's music, especially her recording Irish Lullaby. If you're looking more for humor, laughter, and challenge, then check out Celebrate the Difference, from Terri Hendrix.

In an upcoming post, a look at another fine and unusual album celebrating mothers, grandmothers, and motherhood, Mother, from Susan McKeown, Robin Spielberg, and Cathie Ryan.

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.