Music For School Lunches..., What are your picks? Options

[all ears]

Viohazard came home hopping mad that the rest of the school radio committee didn't share his enthusiasm for a violin/shamisen (Japanese banjo) arrangement of Monti's "Csardas" for the week's lunchtime music broadcasts.

So he quickly pulled out 10 CDs he thinks every kid in his primary school would enjoy and be the poorer for not hearing...and in case you fear for their ears, he's only responsible for the Monday programme, so sanity prevails for most of the week.

Take a look at Viohazard's current picks and tell us what your picks would be!

Bob Marley & The Wailers "Natty Dread" album
Roby Lakatos "Csardas" or maybe "Lakatos" album
Boys Air Choir "Blue Bird" album
Mozart "Requiem"
Groovemasters Vol. 1 Preston Reed & Laurence Juber (guitar)
Stanley Jordan "The Best of..." album (guitar)
Simon & Garfunkel "Sounds of Silence" album
Grieg "Peer Gynt" Suite No. 1 or "Lyric Suite"
W. Szpilman, one of his Chopin recordings
Great Museum of World Music Collection, Originator of Japanese Music IV Pacific "Yari-ko-e" from Papua New Guinea

P.S. The deficiencies of the school broadcasting system meant that he stayed away from things with really huge leaps in pitch or dynamics!

[stevensfo]

Oh come on! You must guess that we haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. Now you've got everyone interested!

So what is a 'school radio', 'Music for school lunches', 'Lunchtime music broadcast' etc?

I do hope you're not talking about banal piped music played over the loudspeaker system and which everyone has to hear whether they like it or not. I think we all have enough of that in the supermarkets!!

So what's it all about?

Steve

[all ears]

Sorry, I thought you guys could figure it out! :D

Japanese primary school kids do a lot of things at school themselves (including cleaning the toilets, but leaving that aside for the moment...). From around age 10-12 they split up into "committees" which do things such as look after the gardens or handle the school broadcasts. They do indeed use the banal piped stuff, and sometimes the tapes are stretched too, leading to protests from guess who, fortunately backed by the teacher who chairs the broadcasting committee.

Viohazard is on the broadcasting committee, so every Monday he goes early, and puts on the new-version of piped rubbish, makes the morning announcements. Then at lunchtime, he gets to choose what he wants to play while everybody eats lunch (they eat in their classrooms - the pupils are responsible for lugging the lunch containers to the classrooms and for serving it). Last year he subjected them to Egyptian 'oud music, Cat Stevens, and Caribbean steel band (they nearly dropped their chopsticks when THAT came over the loudspeakers, apparently...). Most of the other kids don't bother bringing their own music, but some bring recent "J-pops" (which is why Viohazard doesn't - he figures Japanese pop music is covered) ;) . The only requirements are that the rest of the committee have to approve the choice of music. Then after school, he puts on more piped stuff, and makes the final "time to go home now kiddies" announcement (kids are allowed to play in the school grounds for a while after school, and sports groups practice for about an hour).

So, what would you play at lunchtime if you had a choice?