Album Notes

Julia Soto Lebentritt began her vanguard work in urban lullabies in New York City in 1981, recording the songs people sing to put their children to sleep. NEW YORK CITY LULLABIES CD, Twentieth Anniversary 2004, features these personal experiences.

Throughout the world, there is a rich and ancient tradition of lullabies -- the songs that people sing to soothe and please children and to lull them to sleep. Even in our modern cities, lullabies continue to function as one of the oldest and most intimate forms of human interaction. Many of us remember with happiness going to sleep with a bedtime ritual. But lullabies are not just for children; we all respond to the universal language of lulling.

New York City Lullabies Project is conceived to meet a growing interest in the collecting and sharing of the rich folklore found throughout the world. Under the direction of Julia Soto Lebentritt, the Lullaby Project received funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, New York and Vermont Councils for the Humanities, and National Public Radio.

Julia Soto Lebentritt and Karen Pearlman produced this recording with engineer Gerald Lindahl. Project Consultants are Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, and Dr. Nancy Groce.