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Artist News Releases
Ben Folds, Benjamin Francis Leftwich set songs to kids’ lyrics in new LP
By Aly Barchi | Published on Wednesday 13 November 2013
Oh, this is nice. Communion Records has joined with kids’ writing/mentoring charity Ministry Of Stories to release ‘Share More Air’, a compilation of original tracks by the likes of Ben Folds, Emily Barker, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Marcus Foster. The ‘cute’ bit is its lyrics, which were written by children aged eight to thirteen at Ministry Of Stories’ 2012 workshops, and which feature themes like dead pets, SATs and roller skating.
Representing Ministry Of Stories, author Nick Hornby says: “We wanted to give the kids the opportunity to see written work transformed. I suppose the very basic goal is to improve the literacy of inner-city children by teaching them that writing is fun and isn’t necessarily what they think it is”.
Communion Records’ Rich Engler and Jamie Emsell chime: “Even we were surprised by what a genuinely great record ended up getting made – it’s fun, and it’s moving, and it’s a testament to the great energy, care and creativity that went into it from both the children and the artists. We are proud to have been part of it”.
Master lyricist Bryan Mora Rodas, aged nine, adds: “How you write songs – you have to use your imagination. You have to think of raps, cool raps that rhyme, or sometimes just think of your emotions, or things about the world”.
Available digitally already, ‘Share More Air’ is released as a limited CD on 25 Nov. Info and order links here.
And to finish, this is Ben Folds and friends performing his song (with words by Zayd) ‘The Enemies’:
