On our travels this year, Jim and I have been writing lullabies. Jim studies the music of the cultures we visit, and I study their birthing and parenting practices. Then we write a song that joins these ideas with HUG Your Baby concepts. Our plan is to write a series of lullabies that celebrate babies and families around the world, that express and teach HUG Your Baby insights and strategies, and that make a record of our travels. Our working title is HUGs Around the World.
The first song in this collection, “HUG Hawaiian Lullaby,” is now finished! You can listen, and watch, at THIS LINK.
With permission, I used photos of my patients, and also purchased stock photos, to make the slide show that accompanies the song.
The creative efforts of the talented Tony Bowman were instrumental in bringing this Hawaiian-style song to life. Jim wrote the music, and Jim and I wrote the lyrics, but Tony recorded, arranged, and produced the song in Chatham County, North Carolina. Tony and Ronda Bowman are the vocalists. Brian Dennis of Carrboro, NC, played guitars and ukulele. Our son, Jonathan Henderson of Durham, NC, added the upright bass part. Credit Tony with all other instrumental performances—as well as engineering, mixing, and mastering the track.
Next up is the Australian lullaby. Songs based on Japanese and Korean melodies have already been written by Jim and me. In earlier stages of development are: a Malaysian “kroncong” song and a lullaby featuring gamelan instruments and highlighting Balinese ritual practices that surround childbirth and child development.
Jim and I are grateful to Tony for all his hard work, and we look forward to making other HUG lullabies available as soon as they are recorded. We hope you enjoy the fruits of this labor of love!