Search - Juanita Newland-Ulloa :: Mariposa: Canta Conmigo (Sing With Me) Vol.3 CD

Native Spanish speakers concerned about a dwindling sense of cultural heritage in their Americanized kids are most apt to be enchanted by Mariposa, the third release in former opera singer Juanita Newland Ulloa's Canta Conmigo (Sing with Me) series. Of the 17 tracks comprising Mariposa, seven represent Ulloa's mining of Latin-leaning regions from the Caribbean to Chile for traditional, remember-thy-roots material. The rest are original compositions that, for the most part, cascade gently on willing ears--those belonging to bilingual listeners or not--in Ulloa's smooth, deeply confident, and lilting Latin American style. Standouts on this album, largely a one-woman affair (Ulloa, who produced the album, plays piano and sings), include the instrumental "Para Cristina" (written for Ulloa's daughter) as well as the title track. In "Mariposa," which is delivered first in English and later in Spanish, a rainbow-winged butterfly inspires a human urge to break free from the ground-dwelling ranks. "Arrurra Mi Niño Chiquito (Sleep My Little Child)," a guitar-centered, castanet-spiked salute to old-school Latin lullabies, soothes by way of melodic lyrics--with "arrurra" as the cooing, maternal sound Spanish-speaking mothers use to calm their babies. Two brief tracks, readings of Pulitzer Prize winner Gabriela Mistral's Chilean poetry, will be lost on non-Spanish speakers, but musically this tranquil record leaves no listener behind. In some, it may even spark the surfacing of a previously untapped passion for Hispanic culture. --Tammy La Gorce