Confetti Park

Tag: cajun

  • Music Medley: Pizza on Earth

    Music Medley: Pizza on Earth

    ‘Tis the season for holiday music!

    peace-on-earth-greeting

    More holiday music, stories and songs for you and your family to enjoy. I hope you enjoy the culture and holiday spirit I’m sharing from Louisiana, the Mississippi Delta, and beyond.

    The Confetti Park radio show is a weekly 30-minute program that streams online and airs in cities across the United States, made available for free to all community radio stations on the Pacifica Network. We’re going to enjoy the music of the season all this month—Christmas carols, and Hanukkah songs of light,  as well as sweet stories to make you smile. Thanks for joining me, your host, Katy Hobgood Ray!

    It’s Christmas – Imagination Movers
    Joke of the Day – Pizza on Earth
    Burn Little Candles – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
    Blue Christmas – Belton Richard
    Winter Wonderland – Vince Vance
    Sleigh Ride – Matt Perrine
    Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town – narrated by Louis Ray
    ‘Zat You, Santa Claus? – Louis Armstrong
    Jingle Bells – Harry Fontenot
    Deck the Halls – Robert Kingrob Harris

    “The holiday season is lots of fun, we celebrate when the year is done,
    Come together now everyone—It’s Christmas!
    An Hanukkah, too! Well, happy Kwanzaa! Season’s Greetings to you!”     —the Imagination Movers

    All about the music

    On this episode, “Pizza on Earth,”we start off with the high energy Imagination Movers, with some of their original Christmas music! “It’s Christmas!”—and Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and Children’s Day.

    This is followed by “Burn Little Candles,” a song of Hanukkah by Judy Caplan Ginsburgh of Alexandria, La. Judy is a rabbi, in addition to a prolific children’s musician and educator. 

    There is lots of Cajun Christmas music in this episode—enjoy Belton Richard, Harry Fontenot, and Robert Kingrob Harris, all with delightful performances of classics. 

    And you’ll also hear the inimitable Vince Vance and his Valiants, and their unique version of “Winter Wonderland,” sousaphonist Matt Perrine with a rousing “Sleigh Ride,” and the great Louis Armstrong with “‘Zat You, Santa Claus?”

    Also featured in this episode is Confetti Park Storytime with Justin Wilson, a beloved Cajun chef, comedian, and storyteller. This Louisiana legend, who passed away several years ago, is emerging for a new generation, as his music and stories have been digitized and re-released, and a new food products line of spices, pickles, and more is available in stores and online. Thank you to the estate of Justin Wilson for contributing to Confetti Park.

    The Confetti Park radio show and podcast is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Thanks for listening. Remember to look for the magic in every day!

  • Music Medley: Cows Go Moo

    Music Medley: Cows Go Moo

    cartoon cowWelcome to Confetti Park, a radio show out of New Orleans, Louisiana. We play lots of songs and stories from the Bayou State and from the Mississippi Delta region. This is a music medley of songs, poems, and jump rope jingles featured on a recent episode.

    This episode, “Cows Go Moo,” the show begins with a song showcasing the Louisiana state bird, the state insect, the state flower… and so on. This is “Louisiana’s Alphabet Song,” featuring Kristen Cole and Daniel Morgan. The old nursery rhyme favorite “Itsy Bitsy Spider” is performed by Jeremy Lyons, from his DeltaBilly style Silly Goose Music. And PhFred leads a group with Rock Paper Scissors. What a great song!

    Who doesn’t love a Silly Song performed by New Orleans kids’ favorite, Johnette Downing? Sing along and play along with “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” You’ll hear “Lovely Little Ladybug” performed by the Confetti Park Players, a kids chorus in New Orleans, and “Kukuriku, the Rooster’s Song,” sung by Judy Caplan Gibsburgh of Alexandria, La. Rabbi Judy has been performing music for kids since the 1980s! Check out her website at judymusic.com

    Other songs featured: a hand-clapping version of the Sunday school classic “This Little Light of Mine,” by New Orleans trumpeter Kermit Ruffins and his children; the Imagination Movers with “Warehouse Mouse” and “When You’re in Love, You’ll Understand” featuring Jim Cummings, who played Ray, the lightning bug of the Princess & the Frog…. a beautiful Disney movie set in the swamps of Louisiana.

    Sprinkled throughout are many terrific poems by Louisiana creators, of all ages. Also featured on this episode is a Music Memory from trombonist David Phy and a folk tale called the Beaver’s Tale of Greed, narrated by Iran Martin of Bossier City.

    The Confetti Park radio show streams online and airs in cities across the United States, made available to all community radio stations on the Pacifica Network. Check to see if your local community radio station carries it, and ask!  Support for Confetti Park comes from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University.

     

  • Music Medley: Candles Out

    Music Medley: Candles Out

    Confetti Park: A music medley of children’s songs from Louisiana

    Hi everybody! Enjoy this new medley of family friendly songs created by Louisianans (or transplants who will always call Louisiana home). This episode of Confetti Park, which airs in its entirety on the lucky radio stations listed below, has songs in the vein of Cajun, rock, blues, folk, jazz, and FUN! Listen up!

    cartoon candleSongs featured in this episode, in order:

    Jambalaya (On The Bayou) – Papillon
    Joke of the Day – Candle Out
    Chicken Strut – The Meters
    Feliciana LeRoux – Johnette Downing
    Sunny & Norah Sing
    Toulouse the Crawfish Hunter – Ron “Black” Guidry
    I Want My Mommy – Imagination Movers
    Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Lead Belly
    Backyard Camping- Jazzy Ash

    Also featured in this episode, a Music Memory from Ms. Chocolate and for Confetti Park Storytime, a reflective essay—”Coyotes at Night” by Katy Hobgood Ray.

    About Confetti Park

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    A full list of Confetti Park stations (and a map) is available at https://confettipark.com/podcast/

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

     

     

  • Storytime: Juju the Good Voodoo by Michelle Hirstius

    Storytime: Juju the Good Voodoo by Michelle Hirstius

    A book cover for JuJu the Bood Voodoo Doll

    Are you ready for the creation story of Juju the Good Voodoo Doll?

    In a cabin in a bayou one foggy night
    Marie the VooDoo Queen was casting spells
    on dolls that were good,
    and some that were a fright.

    One little doll she saw at a glance—
    purple hair, big black eyes
    and a gold dress.
    could this be the very one, by chance?

    “You are special…. you are the one!” and so Marie mixed the spell of good deeds for this doll.

    This is how the story of Juju the Good Voodoo doll begins her role casting spells of good deeds on others who need help. This is the very first in the adorable series by Michelle Hirstius.

    “Voodoo, Hoo Doo, You do! Juju knows voodoo, and I’ll put a good spell on you.” From here, you can follow her adventures in books both written and illustrated by the very talented and creative Michelle Hirstius, who lives in New Orleans.

    Confetti Park is so delighted to share some of Juju’s other adventures in our Storytime feature too! Listen along as Juju saves Christmas in da Bayou (and meets Cajun St. Nick) and as Juju Meets the Rougaroo—it’s a perfectly hair-raising tale spooky tale featuring the Louisiana swamp monster. All these books are ideal for young readers and impart lessons about being nice and doing good.

    From the author’s website: “Juju is adorable and will enter your hearts as she comes off the pages of this delightful tale. Children and adults will fall in love and enjoy reading the origin of where Juju came from and what she is set out to see and what “good deeds” are to come.  This book lets children learn something known a negative can be positive. Juju is also different and unique and that’s OK. You can be YOU!”

    Check out all the adventures of Juju at http://www.michellehirstius.com/

  • A Christmas Music Medley from Louisiana: Snow & Tell

    A Christmas Music Medley from Louisiana: Snow & Tell

    Snow falls over streetcars in New Orleans. Photo by Sally Asher.
    A rare snow falls over Saint Charles Avenue streetcars in New Orleans. Photo by Sally Asher.

    Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, inspired by life here Louisiana. This is a special Christmas medley of songs that kids of all ages will love…. it certainly showcases the diversity of our Louisiana sound!

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer –  Fats Domino
    Joke of the Day – Snow & Tell
    I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – Hadley Castille & The Louisiana Cajun Band
    Zat You, Santa Claus? – Louis Armstrong
    Sleigh Ride – Debbie Davis & Matt Perrine
    Mele Kalikimaka – Debbie Davis & Matt Perrine
    Winter Wonderland – Linnzi Zaorski
    It Came Upon a Midnight Clear – Michael Doucet 

    Also featured in this episode, Rosemary the Garden Fairy teaches us about the beautiful amaryllis. We hear “A Christmas Song” composed and performed by Zoey of the Confetti Park Players, a music memory from Crystal Thomas, and the story JuJu Saves Christmas in da Bayou, narrated by author Michelle Hirstius.

  • Storytime: Coming Up Cajun by Carrie Delatte

    Storytime: Coming Up Cajun by Carrie Delatte

    Coming Up Cajun by Carrie DelatteIt’s Confetti Park Storytime! In this episode, author Carrie Delatte narrates her children’s book Coming Up Cajun, which is based on the true tales of two little boys growing up in the heart of Cajun Country.

    Full of nature, this sweet tale told in rhyming verse captures some of the wholesome outdoor activities, daily chores, and good times of Carrie’s own children.

    “From the green of the land, to the blue of the bayous, they made the best of their time in the splendour of a Southern youth,” says Carrie.

    The story is educational for how it captures all the activities that are part of daily life for kids growing up in the country, such as gathering eggs, trapping, fishing, hunting, loading bales of hay, tending livestock, paddling in their pirogues…. In addition, Coming Up Cajun is chock full of Cajun French vocabulary, and Carrie includes a handy glossary for readers’ benefit.

    Carrie DelatteBorn and raised in quaint Gheens, Louisiana, Carrie Delatte is the proud mother of four young children. She was brought up on a small farm off of Central Bayou Lafourche, and she enjoys southern living and the beauty of nature.

    Carrie was diagnosed at the age of seven with the neurological disorder known as Tourette’s Syndrome. Carrie has vowed to donate 10% of proceeds from each title she releases to the Tourette’s Association of America (formerly called the National Tourette’s Syndrome Association) to further assist in the search for a cure, research and educational purposes. Her one outlet from the daily life of a “ticcer” is her writing.

    Thank you so much, Carrie, for sharing your stories with Confetti Park!

  • Storytime: The Girl Who Danced with the Devil

    Storytime: The Girl Who Danced with the Devil

    Dancing with devilsIn this episode of Confetti Park, we hear an old folk tale called, “The Girl Who Danced with the Devil.” It is narrated for you by Catherine Golden, an early childhood teacher living in New Orleans.

    This tale originates in French Acadia culture (you can find it in the delightful Danny Kaye’s Around the World Story Book) and has been adapted for a Louisiana locality.

    In the story, a young girl who loves to dance more than anything is heading off to the Mardi Gras Ball with her fiancé. She is warned by her mother not to dance past midnight, otherwise, something bad will happen. When midnight strikes, the breathless partiers are having so much fun in their whirlwind of dance that they don’t mind the chimes of the clock…. the door opens and a mysterious, handsome stranger enters the room.

    Enjoy this mysterious and frightening tale of”The Girl Who Danced with the Devil.”

  • Music Medley: Frogsy Wogsy

    Music Medley: Frogsy Wogsy

    Frog and flyConfetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana.This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    • Go to Camp – Ph Fred
    • Jambalaya (On the Bayou) – Papillon
    • Froggy Went a Courtin –  The Radiators
    • Little Red Caboose – Buckwheat  Zydeco
    • Hush Little Mockingbird – Nancy Tabb Marcantel

    Confetti Park is a children’s media workshop, podcast, and weekly radio program based out of New Orleans. We gather and tell stories, through music, art, puppetry, animations, and more. We are particularly inspired by the unique culture of Louisiana.

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

  • Storytime: Childhood in 1920s Cajun country

    Storytime: Childhood in 1920s Cajun country

    Storytime: Childhood in 1920s Cajun Country
    Vignettes from Annie Hardy Calais

    Annie Hardy Calais of Cecilia, La.
    Annie Hardy Calais of Cecilia, La.

    “My name is Annie Hardy Calais. I was born on July 26, 1927… The year of the great flood, the same day as St. Ann, that is the day of her feast.”

    So begins this lovely memoir of Annie Hardy Calais, who shares many true stories of her childhood growing up in Cajun Country in Louisiana.

    Annie, who lives in Cecilia today, was the youngest of 12 children of French descent. Deeply devoted Catholics, the family was large and loving, and the family remains close today. They extend throughout Acadiana.

    Annie shares memories of her beloved mother, her tante (Cajun term for aunt) who lived with them, and the adventures of her brothers and sisters growing up in rural Louisiana in the 1920s and 1930s. One memory brings a chuckle:

    “After our old house was flooded in 1927, the floorboards constricted. The planks were left with big cracks between each. When we looked down at this floor, we could see the chickens, the dogs, and the cats walk past. Mama gave each child a can of corn kernels, to drop the corn through the cracks and feed the chicks. The grandchildren loved it.”

    Annie has a remarkable memory, and clearly has always had a gift for recognizing the beauty in the mundane—even as a small child. Her childhood memories of life in rural Louisiana are endearing and enrich our own understanding of this unique place.

    Thank you, Annie, for sharing your wonderful stories on Confetti Park.

     

     

     

  • Music Medley: Counting Things

    Music Medley: Counting Things

    Let's count apples!1, 2, 3, 4, 5….10! Counting things!

    Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana.

This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians. Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Kick Rocks – Wardell Quezergue
    Twenty Bees –  Johnette Downing
    Ten Green Bottles – Jeremy Lyons
    Frere Jacques – Swing Setters
    Hey Little Girl – Jason & Layla
    Walking in the Woods with my Parrain – Cajun Ron Black Guidry

  • Music Medley: Stars & Stripes & Crabs

    Music Medley: Stars & Stripes & Crabs

    CrabConfetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of  Louisiana musicians. Songs featured in this episode, in order:

  • Music Medley: Pelican’s Bill

    Brown_PelicanConfetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana.

    This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians. Songs featured in this episode, in order:

     

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!