A wet launch for Servants of All Kids, Sing!

It was a wet and windy afternoon at Enchanted Kingdom last Aug. 18, but that did not dampen the spirit of those who turned up to celebrate the launch of Servant of All Kids, Sing! the latest in a series of inspirational albums from Viva Records. The children, represented by the UP Cherubim and the EDSA Shrine Kids came to sing about the beauty and the goodness of the Lord and to later take on the rides in the amusement park. So did the former children like Cocoy Laurel and Rannie Raymundo who performed inspirational songs for those present.

As the title says, Servant of All Kids, Sing! was produced with children in mind. The album is made up of songs they can sing along with, prayers they can recite and even lullabyes to say goodnight with. Just as the other albums of the Servant of All series can take listeners peacefully and joyfully through the hectic grind of everyday life, Kids Sing! puts all children in an excellent frame of mind through their sometimes also difficult days.

The album is often joyful and exuberant, capturing the glee of children at play as in the rousing medley of God is Good All the Time, God with Us and Father Abraham by Miss Saigon star Cocoy Laurel with his teen-aged niece, Denise Laurel and the Edsa Shrine Kids and in the rollicking tunes Sunday School Rock, The Lord is My Tower and The Name of the Lord by actor and Who Wants to be a Millionaire host Christopher de Leon.

It can also lull active little souls to rest and this is what TV personality Christine Bersola does when she sings Someone’s Waiting for You, from the Disney flick Rescuers and Vernie Varga with her heartfelt rendition of the old spiritual Jesus Loves Me (This I Know). And not to forget this album also teaches and reminds children to say their prayers like The Lord’s Prayer with Julius Babao and Isaac Tambunting and with Sandy Andolong’s I Said a Prayer for You Today.

Now that we are only 115 days to Christmas and you have began racking your brains for affordable presents for the kids on your list, Kids Sing presents a great solution. This is an album that can be shared by brothers and sisters and even an entire family because they will only be too glad to be together as they sing and dance along with the selections. It is in fact more fun that way. And this is made easier by the free VCD of the songs that comes with every CD copy of the album.

Local record producers have all these years been very neglectful of the kiddie market. "How can you compete with Disney?" they say. Well, that kind of battle is in truth like Goliath against a cockroach but Kids, Sing! is proof that we can if we put our hearts into it. The album teaches joy in loving the Lord and everybody, introduces them to songs and prayers they will surely turn to in many points in their lives and even fast disappearing Filipino habits like saying po and opo.

Kids Sing was produced by well-known singer/actress and television personality Jeanne Young, who also came up with the idea for the hugely successful series, Servant of All series. There are now two Servant of All albums, a Mother of All album dedicated to the Blessed Mother and a Christmas for All album. Like its predecessors, Kids, Sing! promises to be another big seller. In fact no child around should miss out on the chance to enjoy this album, which I am sure they will play over and over.

The other selections included in Kids Sing! are Lani Misalucha’s rendition of Sing with The Edsa Shrine Kids, Paggalang (Po, Opo) by Adrian Panganiban and CJ & Chevy Mercado, a medley of Buhay, Buhay, I’m Free and Ang Buhay ng Kristiyano also by The Edsa Shrine Kids with Bishop Soc Villegas, If You’re Happy and You Know It by PG-13. Ramon Christopher, wife Lotlot and daughter Janine with mamita Pilita Corrales do Beautiful, All Day Song and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. Jeanne Young does May All Your Dreams Come True, The UP Cherubim perform Evening Prayer, Seek Ye First, Prayer of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and Kum Ba Yah and Bro. Bo Sanchez and Ida Marie Bernasconi read The Art of Rearing a Child.