Shukla's Latest a Preschool Delight, New Vids from Andy Z and Laurie Berkner

Two hundred million views can't be wrong. No, I'm not talking about the latest video from Psy (the Korean rap star behind Gangnam Style). It's of course children's music entrepreneur Patty Shukla, who returns this month with her latest CD, I LIKE TO DANCE AND SING!

As you can surmise from the title, Patty aims for the smallest of the fry, the littlest of the tots, the youngest of the 'sters. Her music promotes positive values, simple lessons, and spontaneous emotion reactions. You know the target audience from charming songs like "Mommy's Got a Baby in Her Belly" and "Potty TIme." Older kids may find it too basic, but there's always One Direction for them.

Shukla Enterprises is a family affair, with husband Neel and their kids helping on instruments, vocals, and production. And the band takes it on the road for live appearances as well. When not  using her own progeny as a live petri dish for material, Patty turns to the core curriculum for preschool and elementary students and gets inspiration from development milestones. Hence "Be Responsible" and "Pop the Bubbles," which I can almost picture being performed before scads of elated school kids as bubble blowers are deployed.

I LIKE TO DANCE AND SING! is available from Patty's website, Amazon, and iTunes.

Looking past Halloween and straight on to Thanksgiving, Andy Z has released a new video for "Turkey in the Straw" to promote his CD, CLASSIC SONGS & TRADITIONAL TUNES.



Lord of the children's music rings Laurie Berkner and her band are releasing FAVORITE CLASSIC  KIDS' SONGS on October 23. You don't have to wait for the first video, as "Mahalo" is now live, complete with sign language accompaniment.

Patty Shukla Keeps It Simple for the Li'l Ones

Stefan Shepherd of Zooglobble said it best. Basically a statement to the effect that "Kids music is just that and it isn't for US." In other words, I get to write about children's music, but I'm not the target audience. And if I find myself listening with adult ears, I'm only going to disappoint myself.

Patty Shukla hits that sweet spot in my reviewing prowess. She boasts close to 100 million views of YouTube videos of her songs. Yet her average "audience member" would appear to be 3-6 years old. A year ago, I'd never think that kids that young could drive that much traffic. But now my three-year-old knows what the YouTube app looks like on the iPad and can effortlessly find Wiggles songs.

Patty is going for the real young set. I'm talking parallel to Sesame Street and prepping for Laura Berkner. Patty's most recent CD, WIGGLE IT! is the first one to feature cover songs. In short, it's not the best representative example of her work, unless you want reggae-fied versions of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Row Row Row Your Boat."

Her previous (of four) CDs, I CAN DO IT! has a more well-rounded collection of basic thoughts, such as "Saturday's My Favorite Day" and "Let's Plant a Tree." We're talking about simple children's tunes, with a beat and easy-to-repeat choruses. Patty cleanly and professionally delineates her ideas and takes her audience exactly where she needs them to go. What to expect from "Vroom, Goes the Red Race Car" and "Let's Plant a Tree."

At first listen to Miss Nina, we were convinced that our younger son would not "get it." To our amazement, when we made the CD available to him, he proceeded to sit there and study it, then play guitar along with it, for the next month (until he moved on to another CD). Patty Shukla may just be the next artist he gets into. As Stefan pointed out, this is not music for US (i.e., adults). And we'll deal with it. It's just cool that he's getting into music, like his brother. (END NOTE: Patty just gave birth, like, last week. So she'll deal with it, too.)

Patty Shukla's CDs and DVDs are available at her website, iTunes, and Amazon.

Here is the video for her song, "I Like to Dance":