Songs on the Vanilla Trail

An homage to the rich cultural heritage of faraway communities featuring 25 traditional songs. An enchanting collection of 25 traditional songs that pay homage to the rich cultural heritage and multilingual communities of East and Southern Africa. Mixed musical styles unique to each region demonstrate how these communities embraced new cultures and horizons. A wide array of styles--skipping rope songs from Mozambique, lullabies from South Africa, counting songs from Réunion, and traditional dance tunes from Madagascar--are all performed exquisitely by local musicians in more than a dozen languages and dialects. Vibrant artwork and homegrown instruments, such as the tube zither, kayamb, bobre, segakordeon, and ravanne drums round off this wonderful celebration of history, language, and culture. Lyrics appear transcribed in their original language and translated to English, followed by a map of East and Southern Africa and extensive notes describing the cultural background of each song. The musical picture book is accompanied by a CD (and a unique digital download code) featuring 25 songs. A free teaching guide and activity sheets are available at www.thesecretmountain.com.