Lovely music, but very limited selection of "Asia"...mostly
Book Lovin' Mom | 02/21/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"It's a lovely, soothing night-time or calm-time cd, and we're a big fan of Putumayo in this house. My complaint about "Asian Dreamland" is that it should almost be called "Japanese Dreamland." The tally:
Japan: 6
Tartarstan: 1
Tibet: 1
India: 1
China: 1
The Japanese music is very pretty, and has some great world influences, but overall the cd gives a very imbalanced view of Asian languages and music. I would have liked to see more Chinese and Korean music, especially, given the large population of Korean- and Chinese-Americans in the US. It would be great if this cd gave my kids a window into Korean and Chinese culture...as it is, it's just a window into Japanese culture with a couple of other songs thrown in.
I'd like to see a volume II with a better, more well-rounded, selection of Asian lullabies and music.
"
Asian Dreamland
E. Anderson | 09/02/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"ASIAN DREAMLAND is the first Putumayo Kids collection I actually like. I didn't particularly care for the FRENCH PLAYGROUND collection which is why I have been hesitant to check out the other cds in the Putumayo Kids series. As a fan of Asian music, I decided to check out ASIAN DREAMLAND on a whim. I should not that only 3 out of 10 artists on this cd is NOT Japanese which led me to wonder why the people at Putumayo didn't include more non-Japanese artists from Asia. Go figure. The music on a whole is quite lovely. I like to end my night listening to the album. I find the music very soothing for my stressed out soul. I remember hearing the song "Moon Boat" on a Puffy (Amiyumi) cd years ago. It was interesting to hear this version slowed down a bit. I really like Emme's "Dokokade Yoruga Naita" as well. I find Emme's delicate vocals quite pretty. "Kokoro Ni Dakarete" by the Yoshida Brothers is a pretty instrumental. As I mentioned before, I wished the folks diversified the album a bit more but overall ASIAN DREAMLAND is quite a lovely album to listen to for anyone young or old."