Beautiful Creatures - Big Music For Little People - 20 Years Later

Beautiful Creatures is a pioneering South African children’s music project created by musicians and writers Ed Jordan and Alan Glass. Born from a desire to create children’s music that parents could genuinely enjoy too, the project began in 2004 with a simple but ambitious idea: to make music that entertained, educated and celebrated the natural world without talking down to children. Today, over 20 years later, the songs are as relevant as ever, while artwork and characters get a modernised look-and-feel to appeal to children of today.

Jordan and Glass, who knew each other from their time at the University of the Witwatersrand’s drama school, combined their talents as composer, songwriter, musician and lyricist to create a distinctly South African sound. Their songs brought African animals to life through memorable characters including Imvubu the Happiest Hippo, Lucas the Lazy Lion, Zee Bee Dee Bee Dee the Zebra, Lorenzo the Luckiest Lizard and Wallace the Wondrous Warthog, amongst many, many others.

The original Beautiful Creatures album was released was followed by a growing catalogue that explored African wildlife, the ocean, bedtime, lullabies and children’s emotional development. Albums including More Beautiful Creatures, Even More Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Creatures of the Sea, Beautiful Bedtime, Beautiful Lullabies and Beautiful Me expanded the world and introduced new characters, stories and themes.

The project has always placed a strong emphasis on quality, working with leading South African musicians, singers and performers. Musicians include TK, Shaluza Max Mntambo, Bongani Maseko, Kurt Darren, Frank Opperman, Ronell Erasmus and others. Its music combines playful storytelling with African rhythms and positive messages around nature, conservation, diversity, confidence and emotional development.

More than two decades after its creation, Beautiful Creatures continues to introduce a new generation to its music and characters, demonstrating the enduring appeal of songs that can be enjoyed by children and parents together. Its legacy is one of imagination, education, African identity and a belief that children’s music can be both meaningful and musically sophisticated.

Beautiful Creatures is available to stream on Spotify, Apply, Deezer, Tidal, YouTube, Musicafricadirect.com and more. Find them here: https://linktr.ee/beautifulcreaturesalbums?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=a70f1811-c1af-4873-abdb-b1c1e38b235e