Do you want to really feel summer? Like one of those magical summer nights sitting around a campfire doing a sing-along? The very first bars of Singin’ Along, the first track on Hoots, Hollers, and Rooftop Serenades, the new CD by Pete Sinjin, made me feel that I had been transported to one. Pete’s voice definitely has the folk twang of Dylan or Guthrie—a comparison he does not shrink from as he includes an ode to Woody on the CD. But instead of singing of strikes and social justice, Pete weaves stories that spark the imagination of children anchored in the reality of our Brooklyn existence. From the Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island to the view of the skyline from a fourth floor walkup, the songs speak to the wonders of our urban landscape.
Pete is not only a one man band playing guitar, mandolin, accordion, banjo, lap steel, harmonic, and kazoo on the tracks but he also produced a beautiful hand drawn booklet and package for the CD. If you just buy a digital version of the tracks, you will be missing out! When he’s not busy being a one man-band or drawing, Pete is busy teaching Music Together classes at the fabulous Hootenanny Art House which he co-founded. (If you don’t know about Hootenanny, check it out. It’s umm.. a hoot!).
Hoots, Hollers, and Rooftop Serenades would be a great addition to any Brooklyn family’s collection particularly if you and your little ones are fans of the folk tradition of the 60’s. You can purchase the CD through the Hootenanny Art House or at Itunes.
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Our music reviewer and listings editor, Charles Mister is part of the dynamic duo Fati & Charles, called Abbasubi. They perform songs for children in Spanish from their original CD, El Baile del Sombrero. Fati, originally from Argentina & Charles, a native of Brooklyn, live in Midwood, Brooklyn with their two children who they are raising bilingually and who were the inspiration for the CD.