Child singers set their hearts on popular game called fame
Child singers set their hearts on popular game called fame
By Amorita
JAKARTA (JP): Pint-sized Innez may look like she should be at
home arranging her doll collection, but she knows what she wants.
"I wanna be famous, and appear on TV," she belts out in her
tune Ingin Ngetop. "I wanna be famous and join a recording
studio."
She is not alone -- hundreds of Indonesian child singers, and
their parents, want their names in lights.
Call them cute and cuddly or sickening examples of parents
living failed dreams vicariously through their children, but they
are to be found everywhere on TV.
The phenomenon is also evident from the number of participants
in the Indonesian Children Appreciation Festivity, the first ever
of its kind organized by the music division of the Indonesian
Journalists' Association (PWI) early this month.
Despite the economic crisis, more than 200 participants aged
between two and 14 years old registered for the event, said Sari
Sofyan Ali, chairperson of the organizing committee.
It is not a contest for amateurs. To be eligible for
participation in the event, held at a reported cost of between Rp
600 million and Rp 1 billion, a kid must have at least one
recording album released or in the pipeline.
The boom in numbers of kid singers in Indonesia is inseparable
from the emergence of private television stations in the first
half of this decade. The reappearance of TV commercials -- banned
from state TV in the 1980s -- and the presence of regular shows
featuring child singers prompted recording producers to bank on
child singers, regardless of whether they could sing or not. This
followed a vacuum of almost two decades following the heyday of
Chicha Koeswoyo and her contemporaries in the 1970s.
After first only promoting kid singers in TV commercials,
recording producers have finally decided to establish cooperation
with private TV stations to run special programs on children's
songs. Unfortunately, such programs contain little of the kind
music education introduced by Bina Vokalia, formerly a program in
state-owned TV station TVRI, which later developed into a singing
course for kids.
Although one or two songs are modeled upon Sesame Street,
helping children to gain awareness of their surroundings through
music, the dominant impression is of the adult way in which the
children perform, which is emphasized by the choreography of
background dancers. Like it or not, this is their selling point,
and the reason more time is devoted to the shows.
On May 9, for example, Ci Luk Baa, a program of video clips
about children's songs run by SCTV every Sunday afternoon, marked
its 100th episode. The presenter is singer Maissy Pramaishella,
7, a second grader in elementary school. The program's producer
is her mother, Merry Daryono.
Ci Luk Baa once received the highest ratings of all SCTV
children's programs, said Haryanto, SCTV public relations
manager.
"This success has prompted the emergence of similar programs,"
he added.
Now, all five of the country's private TV stations run their
own programs of video clips of children's songs.
In addition to Ci Luk Baa, SCTV alone runs three more video
clip programs for kids; Dunia Anak (Children's World), Bintang
Cilik (Kid Stars) and Enno Ceria (Cheerful Enno).
Some of the programs' broadcasting slots are paid for by
producers of children cassettes, usually by establishing
cooperation with parents of the kid singers to take care of the
production and the materials for the shows. The TV station only
airs the finished package.
"This is one of SCTV's marketing strategies," Haryanto said.
"Of course, in exchange we allow them some kind of
compensation. They are given a commercial spot for their programs
during other programs aired by the station."
This is proof their commercial viability. Usually, six minutes
of commercials is allotted for a 30-minute time slot.
"A commercial spot of 30 seconds costs Rp 3 million to 5
million," said Haryanto, adding that to secure a 30-minute
program a producer had to spend some Rp 100 million.
The initial cost incurred by the producer and the parent of
the child singer is proportional to the popularity of the kid
singer.
Fame can bring legions of fans.
Chikita Meidy, the presenter of Bintang Cilik, now receives
about 1,000 letters daily, up from just 300 daily before she took
over the position. Chikita, now almost 8, has been performing
since the age of 3..
"Some one million copies of her first album, Kuku Kuku (Nails)
have been sold," said Meidy Emde, her father and the producer of
her first album.
"At first we forked out of our own pocket to cover the cost.
We spent some Rp 20 million to Rp 30 million for the raw
materials of the recording master, and some Rp 100 million for
promotion," added the foreign exchange businessman and husband of
a singer of Minangkabau songs.
"I compose some 90 percent of the songs that Chikita sings."
Now Chikita has to her name eight albums, including her latest
Ibu Pertiwi (Mother Earth), all selling quite well, even when the
country is feeling the pinch of the economic crisis now. "Only a
month after its launching, 20,000 copies of this latest album
have been sold," said Meidy, who has intensively promoted the
video clips of Chikita's new songs on private TV stations.
"Promotion is very important," said Isac Pudianto, director of
Supranada Records, a recording company specializing in producing
children's cassettes.
"Owing to the economic crisis, our sales volume is down by 50
percent. Without intensive promotion, things will get even
worse."
In its heyday, Supranada Records could sell 500,000 copies of
albums by Ria Enes, a ventriloquist who performs with doll
Suzanne.
"Children know nothing about the monetary crisis", Isac said,
but he added that "previously we produced 10 new albums but now
two will do".
He has also cut down on TV promotions.
The proliferation of malls and shopping centers in Jakarta
also helped kid singers gain more experience in performing.
Theodore KS, a music observer, said in Kompas, that the fees for
child singers per performance ranged from Rp 200,000 for a novice
to several millions of rupiah for stars like Geofanny (Rp 6
million), Joshua Suherman (Rp 5 million) and Dhea Ananda (Rp 4
million).
But a promoter who preferred to remain anonymous said Ria Enes
took home the most with Rp 10 million.
"That was her fee before the onset of the monetary crisis.
Today there must be a discount in view of the crisis."
The group receiving the most orders now is Trio Kwek-Kwek,
commanding a fee of about Rp 5 million. The average fee for kid
singers in the "middle group" for one appearance in malls and
shopping centers is Rp 750,000.
Lucky ones travel nationwide, or even abroad. Enno Lerian, now
an "old lady" of child singers at 15, often sang at the birthday
parties of the children of the royal family of Brunei.
The writer works for Jakarta Jakarta magazine.