Jaime Jangles: Capturing the Wonder of the World Through Music and Adventure

Nothing broadens the mind like travel. But in the depths of pandemic-induced lockdowns, all of our worlds became smaller - our horizons limited to a set of walls whilst we waited for the worst to pass. For Jeff Lurie, a voice director and composer with TA2 Sound+Music, voice actor, and - most importantly - father to a then-four-year-old daughter, it was a particularly frustrating predicament. 

At precisely a moment where he wanted to share the wonders of the world with his daughter, Jaime, the world had shut down. With few options available, Jeff and Jaime leveraged the best tool they had at their disposal: Their imaginations. A small poem written by Jeff about imagining travel at home transformed into Jaime Jangles, a children’s book and video series telling the story of ‘The Stay-At-Home Adventure of Jaime, and her Zany Dad Jeff’, voice acted by the duo themselves. 

Across parts one and two of the series, the storytelling duo conjured up new worlds bright and big enough to dive into, from sailing the seven seas in their bathroom to inventing new sports in their kitchen stadium. The adventures captured the childlike wonder of discovery and imagination, in part through the sheer charm of the illustrations and animations provided by Bima Susila, and also thanks to the music and sound design recorded and composed by Jeff himself at his home studio.

Fast-forward to 2024, and part three (‘The World Tour’) has been released. This time, however, there’s something different about Jaime Jangles’ adventures. Her zany Dad Jeff still remains by her side, but this isn’t about creating fun at home anymore. This time, the father and daughter are heading out into the real world, for real adventure - all soundtracked by incredible contributions from 26 real musicians from diverse locales including Japan, South Africa, Peru, and many more besides.

Already, the response to ‘The World Tour’ has gone beyond its creators’ expectations. The video component will play across over thirty cities in America having been accepted into a number of kids’ film festivals, and it became Amazon’s #1 bestseller in Multicultural Stories for Children, and # 2 in Kid’s Travel categories. And Jeff tells LBB that work has already begun on part four… 

“I love to travel, and I’ve always loved the culture and music that comes along with it. I always try to get local instruments when I travel too, from vihuelas in Mexico to any percussion toys from around the world”, he reflects. “I really wanted to explore that more, and I knew that, being completely honest, me trying to communicate something about the culture of Japan with my Shakuhachi flute probably wasn’t going to cut it!”. 

As a result, Jeff was ambitious. The central idea was to have a different piece of bespoke music - each lasting ten seconds - for each and every country he and Jaime visited over the course of this third instalment. That amounted to 22 tracks, and each country needed an artist willing and capable of capturing some of their respective nations’ spirit in a ten-second piece of music. 

“The only thing I asked as part of the brief was for the initial three notes of the theme song to be included wherever they wanted to put it and however they wanted to play it, just as a musical motif in each page,” recalls Jeff. “Aside from that, I wanted to provide as much opportunity as possible for the artists to express themselves and compose something which felt right to them. It was so amazing to hear how that three-note motif could take on so many different cultures and meanings, simply through being interpreted by different musicians on different instruments around the world”. 

The results, as viewers can attest, offer a kaleidoscope of music and culture. The melodic backdrops lean into tradition and away from stereotypes, capturing a sense of a place and somehow transporting us there for a brief moment. Accompanied by the same charming style of animations as in parts one and two, it all adds up to a compelling experience. It’s the childlike joy of travel, combined with the sensitivity and awareness of dipping into different global cultures. 

Jeff explains that he found the team of international artists via word-of-mouth connections, trawling through Instagram, and using third-party apps. “I love learning about new cultures, and it’s so special how I get to do that with Jaime in this way”, he says. “We only know about Ghanaian Azonto music thanks to Dery Korbieh, and what a Nepalese sarangi is thanks to Aruna Gandharba, and other talented and incredible members of the ‘Jangles International Orchestra’, our rogue global team.

There’s a fittingly eclectic feel to the list of artists who collaborated on the project. “I’m so proud to have worked with Canadian kids folk legend Fred Penner - as well as Dan O’Brien from the Australian show Bluey, Spaniard Pablo Domínguez (the son of Chano Domínguez, the iconic flamenco pianist), shakuhachi player Seimo Yamaguchi from Japan - and shout out to Oliver Wickham, my colleague at TA2 for rocking on the Globetrotting Jangles Dancing page with some groovy disco!”, notes Jeff. 

Of course, that kind of multidisciplinary coordination is second nature to Jeff, whose role with TA2 frequently involves “quarterbacking” between composers and creative teams, as he puts it. But perhaps the real secret of Jaime Jangles’ success is how music pairs so effortlessly with travel and discovering new cultures. It’s transportive - whisking us away to a place, and all the memories we might associate with it, with little more than a few notes in a short melody. 

And for Jeff, this third instalment represents something of a personal landmark. “Jaime was four at the time we recorded the first edition, and she’s now seven”, he says. “The difference even in listening to her voice is incredible. It’s listening to a kid grow up and go through childhood in real time, and learning together at the same time”. 

Excitingly, Jaime’s younger sister - Casey - plays a supporting role in the latest edition, sending Jaime and Jeff off on their adventures, with her stuffed toy Foxy along for the ride (another breadcrumb for readers to find hidden on each page). Jeff is open in admitting that there’s more to come from the series. “There are so many other great countries to explore”, he says, “celebrating travel and growth through the eyes of two children, and the sounds of countless artists bringing it all to life”. 

But as well as travel and growth, Jaime Jangles is fundamentally still about imagination - whether that of a child, or Jeff’s own in finding an extracurricular outlet for his creativity. That is epitomised in the final line of part three, a reminder that the world beyond our horizons is never really all that far away: 

“The world and its cultures are so fun to explore / You can use your imagination to adventure some more”. 

Above: Casey, Jamie, and Jeff celebrate the launch of The World Tour.