Amazon.com
Putumayo's Playground series consistently lives up to its name by sending far-flung cultures out to recess, freeing them to reveal their musical fun sides. The metaphor ends there, but the parallel to actual playgrounds doesn't: as any parent who's felt forlorn at times knows, nothing nullifies a dreary afternoon funk more effectively than a trip to the neighborhood playground. So it goes with the series. Animal Playground, the latest to swing, slide, and see-saw its way into agile imaginations of all ages, is a fine-tuned creature feature as playful as a giant-pawed puppy. Even if you don't know what forro is (North Brazilian dance music), or that "Cantigo do Sapo" has something to do with a little singing frog, you'll want to shake a tail feather in time to the beat; that holds for Quartetto Cetra's right-on Italian reworking of "Old McDonald," "Nella Vecchia Farroria." No disrespect to the other exotic offerings here ("Aves," from Honduras, for example), but the English-language songs are most winning of all: Canada's the Be Good Tanyas captivate with "The Littlest Birds," and you can't help but a love a man who cries crocodile tears from his puppy dog eyes, in this case Jon Langford who, when he's not a Wee Hairy Beastie belting out "Animal Crackers," leads the excellent punk/folk band the Mekons. --Tammy La Gorce