Alumnus Nacho Gonzlez and Club Mundo Kids Release Album Celebrating U.S. Latino Culture

Alumnus Nacho Gonz lez and Club Mundo Kids Release Album Celebrating U.S. Latino Culture The album, released during National Hispanic Heritage Month, is part of a growing body of content for U.S.-based Latinos.

By

Kimberly Ashton

September 29, 2021

Nacho Gonz lez

More than 40 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home, a number that has quadrupled since 1980 and is expected to continue to rise. However, despite this growing population, Theres not that much content developed targeting this audience yet, especially when you go to second-generation Hispanics or third-generation Hispanics, says Nacho Gonz lez '16, who's part of a new project for Latino children.

Romina Puga, host of Club Mundo Kids

Image courtesy of Exile Content Studio

This endeavor, Club Mundo Kids, is a U.S.-based program for Spanish- and Spanglish-dominant kids that gives them a sense of belonging on screen, according to Exile Content Studio, which creates the show as well as other content for Spanish- and English-speaking audiences.

The show launched earlier this year, with write-ups in the New York Times and other media. Gonz lez joined the project over the summer to write and produce an eight-song album, Club Mundo Kids, Vol. 1, that was released in conjunction with National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15.

The album, like the show, reflects the Latin experience as lived in the United States. For example, the first song, Trabalenguas, is about the different words used across the Spanish-speaking world for child, popcorn, and friend.

Watch the video for Trabalenguas:

Gonz lez said that he never thought about these linguistic differences when he was in his native Uruguay. When youre in Latin America, you think about your own country, but its harder sometimes to think about Latin America as whole culture...but when you come to the U.S. theres a moment as an immigrant where you start connecting the dots and you say, Okay, maybe I have so many things in common with Chile or with Mexico or with Brazil,' he said.

The music on Club Mundo Kids, Vol. 1 also reflects the pan-American theme. The track Cumbia de los Buenos H bitos ( Cumbia of the Good Habits ) is written in the eponymous Colombian genre. It follows the track Blues del Pulpo ( Blues of the Octopus ), which is composed in the distinctive American genre (and features Gonz lez's first turn as a vocalist). In addition to touching on commonalities of Latin American culture, the album aims to teach kids lessons that range from the importance of being in touch with one's emotions to the need to care for the planet.

Gonz lez got involved in the project after his former boss at Univision, Isaac Lee, who now runs Exile, reached out to him asking him to make the album. Gonz lez, based in Boston, then put together a band that includes Berklee undergraduate Adriana Corredor (vocals); graduate students Noam Tanzer B.M. '19 and Ricardo Guerra; alumni Juan Ruiz '16 and Patricia Ligia B.M. '21; and Zahili Gonz lez Zamora, assistant professor of piano.

After getting the green light for the album in early July, Gonz lez wrote all the music and lyrics in less than a month, and had the group in the recording studio by August 8. The record was mixed and mastered by August 20, in time for the Club Mundo Kids team to create a music video for Trabalenguas, to release with the album and during National Hispanic Heritage Month. But the project doesn't end at the close of the heritage month. A video for each track will come out every two weeks and will appear on the show and Gonz lez is in talks about future projects with the show. One of those projects, a second Club Mundo Kids album, has been confirmed and will be released by the end of the year.

Hispanic Heritage Month is one month but Hispanics are here to stay, and Latin America is way more than salsa and tacos. Music can be the secret weapon we have to start the conversation, he said. That's the beauty for musicians, that we have that superpower, which is music, and music can open those doors, and I think that's beautiful that we can use music to connect with people.

Club Mundo Kids airs on NBCUniverso and Amazon Prime in the U.S., Televisa in Mexico, Venevision in Venezuela, RTVC in Colombia, TCS in El Salvador, and Amazon Prime in the U.K.

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