If any musical artist has ever made a more radical change in style and image from one album to the next than the Mexican singer Tatiana did between Un Alma Desnuda (1994) and ¡Brinca! (1995), I'd like to know. Desnuda featured cover and CD-booklet pictures of Tatiana in an advanced stage of undress (though with the "naughty" parts just barely managing to be covered), and songs covering adult topics such as the distinction between love and sex. ¡Brinca!, on the other hand, is wholesome entertainment for children of all ages, and was the launching point of a new career that ultimately gave her a top-rated Spanish-language children's show.
I don't know exactly what made her decide on such a major change in direction, but it's likely the birth of her daughter Cassandra, during the period between these albums, had a lot to do with it. Perhaps, having a child herself now, she surveyed the music field for something suitable to entertain youngsters, and found it seriously wanting. The world is full of adult music unsuitable for children and children's music unsuitable for adults, with no place to meet in the middle. Some of the adult music is very good, but deals with topics that would raise too many embarrassing questions for younger kids whose innocence you'd like to preserve a little bit longer (Tatiana's own earlier works fall in this category). Other "adult" music is full of violence, racism, sexism, and other stuff that can be termed "adult" only because it's definitely not suitable for children -- its target market must be chronologically-adult people with much lower emotional ages. Meanwhile, the music aimed specifically at children is usually of the sort that drives anybody with a mental age over five bonkers if he has to hear it over and over again - purple dinosaurs singing "I Love You, You Love Me..." for instance.
If the situation is as bad for Spanish-language children's music as it is in English -- most likely it's worse, since so much of the world's pop culture is in English that us English-speakers usually get the best range of choices -- then I can see how she would look at it and say "I can do better than that!"
I don't think the record companies shared her vision at first. Her last adult album was released by mega-corporation Sony and given lavish production both on the music itself (with parts of the recording and mastering done in Mexico, Italy, and Spain) and on the CD packaging. Her first children's album was put out by the smaller Mexican label Paramusica, with simpler production and packaging; the U.S. release didn't come until a year later, and was licensed out to even-smaller label Fonovisa which put it out with even-cheaper packaging. Apparently the big-money people didn't give her career move much chance of succeeding. She surprised everybody by becoming the top-selling children's recording artist in Mexico, with popularity extending into the rest of Latin America. Eventually she was back on the major record labels (her current album was released by Universal) and given more lavish production and packaging again. By now she's achieved more gold, platinum, and diamond records for her children's music than for the "adult" pop that preceded it, even though she released more albums in her earlier career. And the Mexican Televisa TV network gave her a weekly TV show, which has been on the air over three years with steadily increasing ratings. So this direction worked out pretty well for her.
¡Brinca! (Jump!) is a collection of traditional Spanish-language kids' songs (nursery rhymes and the like), done in a modernized "pop" style. If you don't know the tunes and can't understand the words, you can't always tell that they're children's songs; the style is a lot like contemporary pop, and is very catchy. In her later children's albums, Tatiana did more new and original songs, but in her earlier ones she mostly used old traditional music (credited as "Public Domain"). Only one song ("El Gato Viudo") has songwriter credit given. Since her followup album after it was ¡Brinca! II, this one is often also referred to as ¡Brinca! I, though the Roman numeral didn't actually appear on it.
One further note is that there are some differences between the U.S. and Mexican versions of this album. Tracks 4 and 11 are transposed between the versions; the Mexican version has a better CD booklet with lyrics; and, most significantly, on the U.S. version, track 12 ("El Patio de Mi Casa: Versión World-Mix") is mysteriously replaced with a different song even though the booklet still lists the same track as the Mexican release. I'm also not sure if that "mystery song" is available on any of her other albums, or if this is the only place you can find it. It's actually a pretty good song. I'm not sure of the title; it sounds like it might be called "Yo Invito", and has lyrics that say something about a "museo de niños" (museum of children).
Here are the tracks (using the order of the original Mexican version):
1) El Patio de Mi Casa: (The Patio of My House) Kind of the "signature song" of her children's music career, this tune was redone later with different lyrics to serve as the theme song to her TV show, El Espacio de Tatiana. It's an old Spanish nursery rhyme, one which I've found many different sets of lyrics to when I've searched on the Web (no different in that regard from lots of nursery rhymes in English which exist in numerous variants). Tatiana's version of the lyrics are up on her official Web site (www.tatilandia.com), and I ran them through the Altavista Babelfish translator (babelfish.altavista.com) to find that they don't really make a lot of sense. The first line is about how the patio of her house is very special, but the second line - where there ought to be some explanation of why it's special, says something like "It gets wet and it gets dry, just like all the others." Later lines talk about pretty little girls bending and turning, and then the singer says that she's a lame cripple and her foot hurts. Maybe it loses something in the translation. Anyway, this song is really more enjoyable if you don't worry about what the words mean. It's pretty catchy.
2) El Calentamiento: (The Heating) This song has verses to the tune of the French song "Alouette", alternating with some sort of chant. It seems to be describing some sort of game.
3) Lindo Pescadito: (Beautiful Little Fish) A duet of sorts, with a childish-sounding voice representing the fish. Lindo Pescadito became one of the puppet characters on Tatiana's TV show.
4) El Conejo: (The Rabbit) NOTE: This is track 11 on the U.S. version. This song features the rabbit talking in a childish voice (probably the same voice as the fish in track 3). Tatiana replies to it in both spoken and singing voices.
5) Los Diez Perritos: (The Ten Little Dogs) If you're not sure how to count backwards from ten in Spanish, this song will help you learn.
6) A La Vibora De La Mar: (To the Viper of the Sea) The opening of this song sounds a bit silly at first, like a lot of repeated nonsense syllables (Vi Vi Vi… Bo Bo Bo… Ra Ra Ra…), but then it settles down to a pretty nice tune. Even the "silly" opening gets catchy after a few listenings.
7) Las Mañanitas (Happy Birthday): This song has both Spanish and English portions. It's mostly in Spanish, with references to King David, and something about it being somebody's birthday (cumpleaños). Then it launches into "Happy Birthday to You" in English, in the familiar tune. Then it returns to Spanish to finish the song. As she's shown several times in her various albums, Tatiana can sing fine in English, and it's apparently by choice that she hasn't released an entire album of English songs to cash in on the periodic Latin-singer crazes in the United States.
8) Dale, Dale, Dale: That's pronounced something like "dolly," not "Dale" as in "Chip 'n Dale." It's a Spanish interjection meaning something like "There you go again." Some of the lyrics say "I don't want gold, I don't want silver, I just want to smash the piñata."
9) Pim Pon: The song is about a "muñeco" (doll or puppet) named "Pim Pon", who she's singing that she wants to be friends with. The song is in a "ding-dong" style with lots of bells. Pim Pon eventually became another of the puppet characters on Tatiana's show.
10) El Gato Viudo: (The Widowed Cat) This is the only song on the album not indicated as public domain; I don't know if it was written specifically for this album or if it's an older song but just not so old that the copyright is expired. Some "meow" sounds are used in the song. El Gato Viudo became yet another puppet character on Tatiana's show.
11) ¡Brinca! La Tablita: (Jump! The Little Table) NOTE: This is track 4 on the U.S. version. The "table" in question here is a mathematical one, not a dinner table (which would be "la mesa"). In this song she sings parts of the addition table, but manages to make it pretty catchy. The lyrics mention a "muñeca vestida en azul" (doll dressed in blue), which became the name of another puppet character on Tatiana's show. (She basically populated her show from the lyrics of her early children's songs.)
12) El Patio de Mi Casa (Versión World-Mix):NOTE: Replaced with a different song on the U.S. version, but the CD booklet doesn't reflect this. A version of "El Patio de Mi Casa" that removes most of the verses and melody, but adds some "rap" sections.
The music video of this song (based on the world mix rather than the version on track 1), which she sometimes shows on her TV show, is rather interesting. The plotline has a little girl wandering into what looks like a poor but happy neighborhood. Lots of people (both kids and adults) are playing games there, including Tatiana. The girl is shy at first, but Tatiana beckons her into joining them and she does. Very soon, though, the girl's mother bursts in and yells at her. You can't hear what she's saying, but it's probably something like "Didn't I tell you not to talk to strangers or go into strange neighborhoods? You're coming right home now, young lady, and you're grounded for a month!" She drags her into her car, but Tatiana tosses a small star-shaped object that adheres to the girl's face and seems to make her a little happier as they drive off.
That night, when the girl is sleeping, Tatiana comes in through her bedroom window, wakes her up, and takes her away back to the neighborhood, which has become even more festive by night. Everyone is in colorful costumes now, the place is brightly lit, the hand-chalked hopscotch board has turned into a nicely painted one, and the people are all singing and dancing wildly. This segment, with everybody dancing around the neighborhood, is reminiscent of various Janet Jackson videos from the '80s. But it doesn't last long - the girl's parents have followed and are soon there. (Well, if somebody came in through your kid's bedroom window and abducted them, wouldn't you go after them, too, probably with the police?) Tatiana throws another one of her stars now, a bigger one that adheres to Mom's mouth, muffling her yelling. (Dad is there too, but doesn't seem to yell as much.) Then Tatiana comes up to Mom and peels off the star, revealing a smile on Mom's face instead of the anger she had just seconds earlier. (So are those stars some sort of brainwashing device, or maybe a psychoactive drug?)
At the very end, they all hold hands -- Tatiana, the girl, and her mother -- and the mother is then transformed into a little girl too. This seems to be the actual theme, that adults ought to become kids again in order to think like them and have fun with them. Tatiana's own image is sort of that of a kid who never really grew up (her earlier "adult" albums notwithstanding).
So everybody's happy at the end, but I don't know exactly what lessons or morals one is supposed to get from this. I think in Tatiana's world, everybody (kids and grownups alike) just wants to have fun together in a clean, wholesome way, except for a few grouchy parents who just don't understand and need to be re-educated. Unfortunately, in the "real world," kids who follow this video's example and wander into strange neighborhoods where their parents don't want them going could get a lot of things done to them that wouldn't be suitable for showing on a kids' TV program. The real world stinks, doesn't it?
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.