ESCONDIDO — Escondido woman Ruth Weber and her daughter, Emilia Lopez-Yañez, will release their latest music album this month with the goal of teaching children and their families about the environment.
The professional musicians gained a fanbase in recent years by telling the story of a young girl named Emilia as she encounters aliens. Lopez-Yañez plays the young girl while Weber plays an alien from the Planet Goopda. Their previous album, “The Spaceship That Fell in My Backyard,” was honored with 11 awards.
The duo have been performing live music together since Lopez-Yañez was just 3 years old.
Together, they have performed and recorded several award-winning, Billboard-charting albums in a variety of genres, including classical, new age and world music.
Lopez-Yañez and Weber’s latest album, titled “Kokowanda Bay,” tells the story of the duo reuniting as they encounter challenges facing the planet. The duo said they hope their 11 new songs teach families and their children about the importance of caring for the planet, and how each person can do that.
“Fans can expect a very upbeat album with positive messages taking care of our environment, and lots of new fun adventures for Emilia and her alien friend URR,” said Weber, a professional musician and teacher who said she has always enjoyed playing music with her children. “Our goal is to make the world a better place, and what better way to do that than inspiring the next generation with positive messages.”
The mother-daughter team unveil songs such as “We’re Goin’ Green,” “The Food Chain” and “Turn It into Something New” to encourage listeners to recycle, reduce and reuse products. Other songs such as “With My Snorkel On” and “Soaring Through the Galaxy” inspire adventure.
The album is complete with a rich production of saxophone, brass, drums, guitars, harmonica, trumpet, oboe and piano, according to the band. While Weber recruited the help of her son, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, who is always a professional musician, to help write the album.
Weber is the recipient of multiple awards for song-writing. Her work has also been performed by symphonies, choirs, solo artists and appear in print music and choral music collections and in award-winning films. Her song “We’re Gonna Be Legendary” is the San Diego Unified School District’s theme song for 2020.
Together, the family band has created an assortment of songs that cater to children.
“Parents said their children really liked dancing to our uptempo songs around the house, so we tried to include lots of catchy tunes that would get everyone movin’ and groovin’ on this album,” Weber said. “My very favorite song is ‘Like Magic’ because it really showcases the beauty and sensitivity of Emilia’s voice while teaching about the life cycles of plants, insects and animals. I also really like ‘Goin’ Green’ because it makes me want to be a pollution detective.”
Lopez-Yañez said she’s excited to share her passion for caring for the environment with her new album.
“With this new album I am so excited to be able to go into more depth about how we can use the four Rs — recycling, reducing, reusing and refusing — to get our hands dirty and make the world a better place,” Lopez-Yañez said. “I hope that this album gives grown-ups and children easy ways to improve the environment.”
The band hopes to tour the West Coast this year to promote their latest album.
“We hope to introduce the live show version of this album to lots more kids and families,” Weber said.
Kokowanda Bay is available at retail nationwide and online and at ruthandemilia.com.
For more information about Ruth and Emilia, go to www.ruthandemilia.com.
