Bitone are full of love. : Björk's song "All Is Full Of Love" is covered by Ugandan children and youths on an album by a organization called Bitone (meaning "talent"). Their mission is to restore the lives and hopes of children between 8 and 18 years old in Uganda, whom have been traumatized by the death of their parents or loss of their home due to disease, war, or economic hardship. [via]
posted by grapefruitmoon on Sep 14, 2008 - 16 comments

This is a story [audio] about how much I love you [audio]. [more inside]
posted by Airhen on Apr 30, 2008 - 2 comments

Jim Copp and Ed Brown "conjured a lunatic land" for children in the late 50s and early 60s using three Ampex mono recorders, a large group of instruments (music and singing by Copp), their own voices, and hundreds of pieces of recording tape spliced together. The albums were released through their own label, Playhouse Records, which is still selling them today. [more inside]
posted by sleepy pete on Mar 28, 2008 - 6 comments

Igor Falecki is a pretty rockin' four-year-old drummer. But his legacy may one day be undone by this little one. (First two links = YouTube)
posted by The Great Big Mulp on Nov 22, 2006 - 11 comments

Music makes you smarter if you get an early start. Certainly debatable given the incredibly small sample, but perhaps it's a prelude to an emerging 21st-century collaborative scientific suite or symphony that can explain why we love music so much.
posted by persona non grata on Sep 20, 2006 - 22 comments

Inner City Youth, London "In 2002, Simon Wheatley began photographing London's publich housing developments...and was able to obtain a level of intimacy with his subjects that provides a true picture of the daunting project of growing up in the intimate confines of drug use, societal neglect, and poverty." This (Flash-based) narrated slideshow features Wheatley's work, and is a look at the culture...and also the music (grime) "as an artistic response to the place and circumstance, an expression of the violence, bleakness, and neglect..." (via Future Feeder)
posted by tpl1212 on Jul 20, 2006 - 38 comments

Eine Kleine Naughtmusik [pdf]. Great article on music by nonmusicians from Dave Soldier - the guy that brought you People's Choice Music [a musical work that will be unavoidably and uncontrollably liked by 72 +/- 12% of listeners], the Tangerine Awkestra [These children met in a schoolroom, where they listened to records by Ornette Coleman and Roscoe Mitchell of the Art Ensemble of Chicago played by their teacher, Katie Down. The children said they could do that. Down said they could NOT. The kids said can TOO. Down said could NOT and brought her own collection of musical instruments to school. The kids immediately became Artists and formed a band.] and of course the now infamous Thai Elephant Orchestra.
posted by nylon on Jan 3, 2006 - 19 comments

Ringtones are a growing concern and not just when people don't shut them off. Jamster is a weekly ringtone subscription that advertises to kids on channels like Nick and MTV. Kids are attracted to crazy frogs like a magnet and are using the service without parental permission. Now Britain is launching a new inquiry into Jamster's business practices. And lawyers in California filed a class action lawsuit against the company. But Jamster isn't just some fly-by-night operation trying to milk as much money from kids as they can before regulators crack down. Jamster is owned by VeriSign.

It's also a fair question whether it's worth paying 3 bucks for a few seconds of a song that sounds like a player piano, when it costs less than a buck to get the whole thing on the web (especially now that that crazy frog is a single). Why can't you just pay the 99 cents or whatever to get the song on your phone?
posted by kenneth on Jun 29, 2005 - 77 comments

Jen's brother Liam made her son a DVD with music and videos, two of which are featured here: Arlo's Song and Picture Show. Dadalip dadalip dadalip!
posted by fandango_matt on Apr 29, 2005 - 10 comments

From the Top is a weekly radio show broadcast throughout the USA. It originates from Boston's New England Conservatory, but travels all over showcasing young classical musicians. The show can be heard (RealAudio) from the website, and there is an extensive library as well an archive of past shows (photos too)... the kids are very talented, and the show's hosts are great at bringing out their personalities.
posted by indices on Feb 26, 2005 - 2 comments

Schnappi! Contrary to popular belief in the rest of the world, the German pop charts are not dominated by over-the-hill American TV stars. In fact, the current #1 single, outselling even the usual imported subjects is a silly little ditty about a baby crocodile. (Think of it as the German version of SpongeBob Squarepants, kindasorta.)

I'm passing on the earworm to all of you via the four versions listed here. You're quite welcome.
posted by chicobangs on Jan 11, 2005 - 30 comments

Smoosh! • "Two Seattle sisters, Chloe (age 9) on drums and vocals and Asya (age 11) on keys and vocals, write and play pensive, pulsing indie pop rock." Audio interviews & live songs available from KEXP radio. Certainly more endearing than these little tykes.
posted by dhoyt on Dec 24, 2004 - 33 comments

Pancake Mountain presents Ian MacKaye performing "Vowel Movement" for the kiddies. As a friend said, this site has "pancakes and indie rock and bob mould as a corporate goon all in one package." [via sullivan]
posted by ifjuly on Apr 8, 2004 - 14 comments

Under eights give their opinions on classic rock - Bob Dylan (and others) get compared to Busted.
posted by Orange Goblin on Jan 31, 2004 - 31 comments

Yes, We're The Mini*Pops! For a few brief, shining years in the 80s the Mini*Pops were the ne plus ultra of every pre-adolescent's rock star fantasies. From the classic Mini*Pops, to the haunting Mini*Pops Let's Dance, to everyone's seasonal favourite Mini*Pops Christmas, the Mini*Pops embodied the hopes and dreams of pedophiles children everywhere. Of course, no retrospective of the Mini*Pops would be complete without listening to their bastardization of tribute to Abba.
posted by filmgoerjuan on Sep 28, 2003 - 12 comments

San Francisco Symphony's Kid Site. Parents, if you have not seen this, check it out. Are there any other sites that do a good job introducing music to kids?
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy on Apr 1, 2003 - 4 comments

Ever wondered what happens to kids who takes those "So you want to be a rockstar..." books seriously? Kcool 2002 - Move over Lil' Bow Wow, this 10 year old 'multi instrumental' musician is set to take over. He has the skills, the 'tude, and the um... songwriting abilities (scroll down) to take the world by storm.
posted by aki on Apr 7, 2002 - 3 comments

What does every kid want? What does every kid need? Kidz Bop! But what does everyone need to do? Watch the infomercial.
posted by Mark on Jul 15, 2001 - 23 comments

Drummer Tommy Lee Says Drowned Boy Left Alone The boy's father, James Veres, a television producer, told a local radio station on Sunday that more people should have been hired to supervise the children and called his son's death "inexcusable." I smell a lawsuit.
posted by a3matrix on Jun 19, 2001 - 35 comments