Regular Columnists

Artist: The Banana Plant
Album: Gulf Alive
Website: http://www.thebananaplant.com
Genre: Children's (ages 5-13)
Technical Grade: 9/10
Production/Musicianship Grade: 9/10
CD Review: The Banana Plant, a children’s entertainment group from New Orleans, has released a CD of children’s songs called Gulf Alive. This esoteric collection of songs hopes to raise awareness about the diverse life that exists in the gulf region. The Banana Plant consists of Gwen Torres and Sid Berger. The songs they’ve created for this CD range from lilting Cajun waltzes to growling New Orleans funk. Accessible melodies make it easy to sing along pretty quickly and the lyrics are both fun and informative. Titles like Everything Starts With Plankton and Every Drop of Water let you know that there is some teaching going on but Torres and Berger manage to avoid sounding pedantic with their lively performances and catchy melodies. Gulf Alive is a fun and entertaining way to introduce the diversity of life to primary age students and it’s also a pleasant listening experience for parents, win/win. Its release is timely with the gulf area under increasing pressure from oil and commercial development.