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Keisha loves to sing and dance. Once in a while, the 4-year-old impersonates dangdut queen Ayu Ting Ting, mimicking some of her dance moves and singing along to her songs by heart, much to the amusement of her parents.

But as funny, inspired and impressive as Keisha’s dangdut “performances” may be, her father, Russell Sahusilawane, said he and his wife made sure their daughter was exposed to children’s songs as well.

“She learns child-appropriate songs in her English-speaking preschool, and we also often ask her to sing and dance with us at home,” he said.

Nowadays, he said, most Indonesian children are influenced by television, including his own daughter.

“Keisha’s favorite singers at the moment are [Indonesian boy band] SM*SH and [girl group] Cherry Belle,” he said. “She even knows all the band members’ names. How come? She is only 4 years old.”

In an effort to counter the trend of children prematurely latching onto a popular culture intended for a much older audience, a group has launched a project called Marinyanyi (Let’s Sing).

The founder of the group is Djito “Ayah” Kasilo. In the late 1980s and ’90s Ayah composed scores for a number of TV shows, and now works as a marketing and communications consultant.

“In the last decade or so, hardly any new Indonesian children’s songs have come out,” Ayah said. “As a result, children nowadays listen to popular music that is actually meant for adults. They can sing along and know all the lyrics, and they will use those words in their daily conversation, even though they may not understand their full meaning.”

Young children, Ayah said, tend to indiscriminately absorb everything they see and hear around them. That’s why he was so concerned about their being exposed to “adult” topics, which could lead them to grow up too fast.

So he joined forces with a group of college students to found Marinyanyi and set about making child-friendly songs.

“I am not too tech-savvy,” he said. “That’s why I asked for the help of some young students; they know a lot more than me about creating a Web site.”

Marinyanyi.com was officially launched on Dec. 21. It is a colorful Internet portal where parents can download Indonesian children’s songs for free. So far, Marinyanyi features more than 60 new songs, all written by Ayah.

“None of the songs are longer than three minutes,” he said. “And many of them are only around two minutes long, because we have to remember that children are easily distracted and their attention span isn’t very long.”

Ayah said it didn’t take him too long to write new songs. “Normally I work on new material after I get home from work,” he said, adding that it rarely takes him more than two or three hours to come up with a melody.

Lyrics, however, can be more difficult. Ayah said his main goal was for children to have fun while listening to his music, and that they pick up on the educational message he is trying to convey. Since he aims to write the songs from a child’s perspective, he said, getting that point across can sometimes be difficult.

“My own childhood and the lives of today’s children are very different,” he said. “That’s why it’s sometimes not very easy to get it right.”

Despite the age of his target audience, Ayah doesn’t shy away from troublesome topics such as corruption.

“In my songs, I tell the children that corruption is a sin,” Ayah said. He added that children were curious by nature and would be smart enough to ask their parents questions about the why and how.

But Marinyanyi does more than just provide songs. The people behind the project hope for active participation from the site’s users.

“We encourage them to send in their ideas for songs,” Ayah said. “Then I will write a song about the suggested topic, and we’ll upload it to the Web site.

“So, you could send an e-mail and say, ‘I would like to hear a song about drinking milk.’ And I will try my very best to come up with one.”

In addition to songs, the Web site also offers other fun and educational tools for free download, such as drawing books, class schedules and calendars.

Ayah said he was happy with the support and encouragement he had received since the official launch of Marinyanyi. There have been more than 600 downloads already, and the number is quickly increasing, he said.

“It’s interesting to see that the most downloaded song so far is the one about eating vegetables and fruits,” he said, laughing. “Maybe that shows that many parents have problems getting their children to eat healthy food.”

During the launch in December, the founders of Marinyanyi introduced their project to the public and organized a talk show about the current state of children’s songs in Indonesia. The event was attended by numerous parents, teachers and children’s rights activists, as well as popular Indonesian singer Tere.

Utie Respani, Marinyanyi’s communications officer, said they chose Dec. 21 for the launch date because it was one day before Indonesian Mother’s Day.

“Children’s songs are an important tool for education that should be used by parents when they interact with their kids,” Utie said. “Therefore, our songs are a special gift from Marinyanyi to celebrate Mother’s Day.”

The long-term goal of Marinyanyi is to work with schools and parent groups in order to expand its network and reach more people.

Ayah said he hoped people would make good use of the fact that all the songs on the Web site were free and easy to distribute.

“I believe our children are the future of this country, so they should have strong character,” he said.

He added that he knew it took more to form and educate children than providing them with appropriate songs. “But I am doing my part simply by doing what I know best: music.”

For more information, visit www.marinyanyi.com
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