A Pint-Sized
Phenomenon
The biggest thing on the Indonesian
showbiz scene is a 10-year-old who says she just loves to sing
By ARIF MUSTOLIH Jakarta
For little Sherina Munaf, it all started two years ago, when she finished first
in a karaoke talent contest at a Jakarta shopping mall. The next year, she won
another. Mom and dad were delighted. What a splendid idea it would be, they
thought, to record her voice so that she would later know what a clever little
thing she had been as a youngster. Two years on, 10-year-old Sherina is an
Indonesian showbiz phenomenon, the star of a movie that is setting box-office
records and with two hit albums to her name.
What came through on that "childhood" recording was a voice that was
strangely different from other children's. It had genuine musical coloring, a
tone and complexity that suggested Sherina could perform a lot more than simple
infant material. From that belief sprang the debut album, Andai Aku Besar Nanti
("When I Grow Up"), ostensibly for children, but featuring songs that
appealed to all members of the family. The album sold 300,000 and within months
had picked up a cluster of awards at Anugerah Musik Indonesia, the local
equivalent of the Grammys. Sherina won Best Child Singer, Best Child Song (Andai
Aku Besar Nanti), Best Children's Album and Best New Singer.
Lucky? Of course. But this is no simple story of a fortunate little girl.
Sherina's musical - and other - talents have been honed almost daily since the
age of five. A sampling of her weekly schedule: Monday: swimming at 5 a.m.,
school, singing classes in the afternoon. Tuesday afternoon: ballet followed by
English. Wednesday: more swimming, classical piano at lunchtime and jazz piano
in the afternoon. Thursday, Friday and Saturday: the same all over again. Says
one of her music teachers: "I'm amazed by what she can do. She's a master
at the piano and singing and even acting. No matter how difficult the material
she's given, she always tries to work on it and succeed."
Before musical stardom came her way, Sherina's nascent acting skills had already
attracted the attention of the Miles Production film company, which thought she
would fit nicely into a musical they were planning called Vera and Elmo's
Adventure. Producer Mira Lesmana recalls what she had in mind: "We set out
to make a film for Indonesian families. They don't want serious, heavy stuff.
The important thing was to produce something that was entertaining and would
make families feel good about the Indonesian cinema again." Shooting began
in November last year, with Sherina as the young lead.
As the storyline was being finalized, Andai Aku Besar Nanti hit the stores,
catapulting Sherina from a talented wannabe to an established name. She was now
bigger than the movie. Vera and Elmo's Adventure was retitled Sherina's
Adventure. Directed by Riri Riza, it tells the story of a musically gifted girl
very much like Sherina who moves with her family from Jakarta to Bandung (in
real life, Sherina's family went the other way). When a classmate is kidnapped
in a business dispute, our pint-sized heroine sets out to free him. The
simplicity of the story and the old-fashioned family entertainment it delivers
have struck a chord in a country direly in need of light relief. Released in
June, Sherina's Adventure has been seen by over a million people and has earned
an estimated $723,000 - a fortune by the standards of the Indonesian cinema. The
people at Miles Production are delighted with the way things have turned out for
them. They spent $241,000 on Sherina's Adventure.
Ten-year-old Novita Amalia is typical of the youngsters who have flocked to the
movie. She says she and her parents queued for hours twice in the hope of
getting tickets, but failed. She then took matters into her own hands and lined
up after school. It was a long wait and there was lots of pushing and shoving,
but she got what she wanted. What's the appeal? "The songs are good and the
girl is pretty," she says. "It would be nice to be like Sherina."
As for the star, she seems a little confused, but is taking it all in her
stride. "I had no idea. I had never imagined, never knew. What is this
popularity? The point is I like to sing."
The soundtrack of Sherina's Adventure
gave the youngster another hit album. According to the Ceepee Productions record
company, it had gone Platinum by the end of August, with sales of more than
200,000 copies and revenues of $387,000. Now the offers are flooding in, but mom
Lucky Ariani is making sure her child doesn't become a slave to showbiz. These
days, she limits her daughter's singing schedule to charity fundraisers and
special events. "I want Sherina to be able to learn something from every
performance she does," she says. "And you can't do that by appearing
in just any show." There will be no more albums for the time being while
the youngster concentrates on her studies - and on trying to stay as normal as
possible amid all the razzmatazz.
A fifth-grader at Harapan Ibu Islamic grammar school in Jakarta, Sherina still
likes nothing better than to jump on her bike and go for a spin with her
longtime best friend Danika. And then there is drawing, which she loves, and
fried beef, which she adores. When fame intrudes, she seems surprised. Her
mother says the youngster is taken aback when she attracts attention in public.
"What are all those people staring at?" the child asks. Derby Rumero,
the kidnapped boy in Sherina's Adventure, describes her as "a good girl,
very lively." Sherina thinks of herself as just an average kid, though she
admits to a short temper (intimations of showbiz things to come?). "Yes, I
often get mad. And I'm often a know-it-all." She laughs.
The new income has changed her middle-class family's lifestyle. They have toured
the cities of Europe, with visits to Paris (Euro Disney was a big hit) and
London, where they took in shows and the ballet. "I got to see Cats,"
says Sherina. "It's good, so cool." Maybe one day.