“Canciones de Cuna” is the first album produced by the nonprofit organization Casa de la Cultura de la Calle. The organization, created by Gastón Pauls in 2004, provides vulnerable children with activities and art workshops such as theatre, music and visual arts. The album contains 17 songs co-written by children aged 7 to 21 who took part in the artistic proposals provided to them by the organization.
“The proposal was to write texts, songs, ideas and tales related to their dreams, the songs they remember being sung to them and those they would like to sing to their own children. Something simple, something short, a lullaby”, explains Nicolas Pauls, executive producer of the CD.
Damien was honored to be a part of the project, helping bring to life a poem called “Look At Me” by a young mother in Argentina named Nayeli A-Z.
Nayeli A-Z was 16 years old and lived together with her little son in the Eva Duarte Home of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was there that she began to participate in the Workshops of Artistic Expression, Theater and Music at Casa de la Cultura de la Calle.
In 2009, the NGO invited all the children and young people participating in its Art Workshops to write about what they felt or what they would like to hear when they went to sleep. All of the lyrics were presented to a group of Argentine and international musicians summoned by Nicolás and Gastón Pauls to help create an album of Lullabies.
Two of Nayeli A-Z’s poems would go on to be transformed into songs: “No me llore tanto”, chosen by Ricardo Mollo and “Look at me”, selected by Fito Páez and Damien Rice.
For Nayeli A-Z, writing is a necessary expression that has accompanied her since the age of 9. To this day, she continues participating in the Projects of House of the Culture of the Street as a collaborator and author.
The album was first released in 2011 and is now available digitally: