Putumayo Kids Expands with SiriusXM series, first time digital release with LeapFrog, plus a new calendar and World Sing-Along CD

New initiatives include the Digital Debut of 4 CDs with LeapFrog, a new Putumayo Kids radio series on SiriusXM, a Children of the World calendar (October 1^st) and a World Sing-Along CD (October 30^th)

Putumayo Kids builds on its award-winning collection of international media for kids with several new initiatives this fall. 
  

On September 16, SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live Show (channel 78) debuted a weekly children’s radio show, World Playground with Putumayo on Kids Place Live.  The series features music and cultural information from around the world including kid-oriented introductions to American genres such as jazz, folk and blues.  It airs Sunday mornings at 10 am EST.

Putumayo Kids is pleased to announce the first-ever digital launch of 4 of its award-winning Playground CDs, in partnership with LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc., the leader in educational entertainment for kids. European Playground, Jazz Playground and Cowboy Playground, plus a new release, European Playground, Jazz Playground and Cowboy Playground are now available as full albums exclusively from LeapFrog’s App Center (http://www.leapfrog.com/en/appcenter.html) for Leapfrog’s award-winning multimedia platforms, LeapPad1 and the recently launched LeapPad2 and LeapsterGS. The upcoming release, World Sing-Along, will be available on November 6^th.  After the exclusive LeapFrog launch this fall, these albums will be available from select digital retailers in 2013.

This new partnership marks the first time Putumayo Kids albums will be offered digitally, giving LeapFrog exclusive digital distribution rights through 2012. After the exclusive LeapFrog launch this fall, these songs will be available from other digital retailers in 2013.

Putumayo is also pleased to offer its first photography calendar, Children of the World, featuring images of children from Africa, Asia and Latin America by renowned photographer Jon Kaplan. Ten percent of Putumayo’s sales of the calendar (available October 1^st), will be contributed to Seva (www.seva.org), a nonprofit organization which builds sustainable health programs that serve vulnerable populations around the world and help end preventable blindness, that has restored eyesight to more than 3 million people.

On October 30^th, Putumayo Kids will release World Sing Along, a collection of songs by artists from around the world including Trinidadian Asheba, Cuban-American musician Jose Conde, Roland Zoss from Switzerland and Dan Zanes with African star Angelique Kidjo among others. The resonant voices of the Pihcintu Multicultural Children’s Choir, which features refugee girls mostly from war-torn regions, perform the moving original song “Around the World” to close the album.

Putumayo World Music will contribute $5,000 from sales of World Sing-Along during the period October 2012 through October 2014 to Population Services International (PSI) in support of its Five & Alive® campaign to ensure that all children have a healthy start to life, no matter where they are born. For more information about PSI, please visit www.psi.org.

“We’re entering one of our most exciting seasons since the launch of Putumayo Kids in 1999,” says Putumayo World Music co-founder Dan Storper. “The new releases, expanding our offerings with this beautiful global calendar, the debut of a Putumayo Kids radio show on SiriusXM and our partnership with LeapFrog, are new ways to introduce children to other cultures through music and other media.”

Putumayo Kids is committed to introducing children to the world through engaging international music, books and other media. For more information about Putumayo Kids releases and events, visit www.putumayokids.com.