Children’s Music Star Laurie Berkner Releases First Spanish-Language EP
Just in time for spring, children’s music superstar Laurie Berkner today released Cinco Canciones En Español, an EP of Spanish language versions of some of her most popular songs. And, yes, this EP includes a rousing rendition of “Somos Los Dinsaurios” (“We are The Dinosaurs”) that as charming enough to rival the original. Rockmommy recently caught up with Berkner, a musician mom, to learn more about this record, and the other music she’s bringing on tour this spring.
Rockmommy: What inspired this new record? Why now?
Laurie Berkner: A few years ago I recorded my song, “We Are The Dinosaurs” in Spanish. I don’t really speak Spanish so I was not at all sure that I could do it, but the process was so fun and rewarding that I wanted to record more. This past year, I finally had time to learn how to sing three more of my songs in Spanish (and I had already written a song about the Spanish alphabet) so once I had 5 songs, it made sense to release an EP!
Rockmommy: Which one of your originals was the hardest to sing and memorize?
Laurie Berkner: “Esperando El Elevador” (Waiting For The Elevator) was definitely the hardest. There are more words in that song, and many of the English phrases, once translated into Spanish, became MUCH longer. I had to sing some of the words faster than I thought I ever could, and many of them felt like tongue twisters because they contained the same letters, only in a different order.
Rockmommy: To what extent was it challenging to change lyrics to another language, given that different words flow and rhyme in a different way (in Spanish)?
Laurie Berkner: It was a real challenge to get the translations correct and still keep the song singable. Luckily, that was mostly not my job! I just had to ask my translator, Mariana Cardenas, for other options where the words didn’t fit the rhyme scheme or rhythm. I was also much more lax about where the rhymes happened (I love internal rhymes and none of them in these songs survived the translations), and had to change the melodies slightly or add more notes where the words no longer fit the original tune.
Rockmommy: Will you be taking a couple of these songs on tour with you?
Laurie Berkner: I would LOVE to do that, but I really don’t know if I could do them justice. It’s so easy for me to forget exactly which syllable should be stressed, how to correctly pronounce certain vowels, and the remember the (to me) subtle differences between sounds of certain consonants like “d” and “t.”
Rockmommy: If you had more time, would you consider doing more songs in other languages?
Laurie Berkner: YES! I am much more familiar with French than with Spanish and it would be so fun to sing more songs in French. And I’d love to try other languages as well! I love learning new sounds and I’d love to understand more languages.
