A 20-meter tall Christmas tree made out of used plastic bottles marks Christmas celebrations at Ciputra Mall in West Jakarta. JP/P.J. Leo

Christmas carols are in the air, brightening the festive spirit in Jakarta’s shopping malls and playing on the radio, warming the hearts of listeners at home and sending out the message that the joyful festivity is around the corner.

Upon seeing a gigantic and colorful decoration in a shopping mall, many would directly aim for a picture-perfect shot with their mobile phone cameras. There’s no need to be shy about it as Christmas is in town.

The colorful attraction sends the message across but it is not enough to ring the Christmas bells in people’s hearts.

“I miss listening to Christmas carols in the malls. Many malls used to have a stage featuring choir competitions or other musical performances ahead of Christmas,” Ronny Rompas, a mall visitor, told The Jakarta Post.

He said he found it difficult to find a real festive atmosphere in the malls this year.

Listening to a Christmas choir, either live or pre-recorded, never failed to bring the true nuances of Christmas, he said.

“Music touches our souls. I believe mall visitors would be happy to listen to peaceful and joyous Christmas carols regardless of religion,” he said.

Clayton Bond, another regular mall visitor, said he enjoyed listening to Christmas carols when visiting Pacific Place in South Jakarta last weekend.

“It was very nice. People seemed to be interested. The audience, at different levels of the mall, looked down into the area where the carols were being performed,” he said.

“It’s just like Christmas back home, except that we’re in a tropical environment.”

Bond said he went to Grand Indonesia shopping mall on a recent weekday but didn’t hear any carols then. “I think I went at the wrong time,” he said.

When the Post visited Grand Indonesia on Tuesday evening, an English Christmas carol was playing, but softly.

Some malls adopt different style celebrations each year, with some featuring fewer live performances of Christmas carols than in previous years.

“This year, we didn’t hire a choir to sing Christmas carols since we are focusing on Cirque Polynesia,” said Teges Prita Soraya, Grand Indonesia’s senior marketing and communications manager.

She said the Christmas carols playing as background music matched the Tropical Christmas theme that highlighted the Hawaiian ambience at the mall.

“If we play the songs loudly, it will disturb visitors,” Teges said.

At Senayan City shopping mall, popular Christmas carols – from Jingle Bells and the popular White Christmas -- have been playing since mid-September, welcoming visitors right from the mall’s entrance and filling the air with exuberance.

Two female visitors in the rest room softly sang along with the recording while brushing their hair and touching up their makeup.

The mall’s public relations officer, Sri Ayu Ningsih, said the mall had not hired a choir like it did last year to anticipate tenants’ similar initiative.

“The tenants haven’t asked for permission, but they usually attract visitors with Christmas carols sung by children about three days before Christmas,” she said.

This year, the mall is breaking away from the traditional Christmas theme to stage jazz and live music performances to enliven Christmas celebrations on Dec. 24 to 26.

Another show, Dora the Explorer, will be staged at Senayan City from Dec. 7 to Jan. 2 as a Christmas holiday alternative.

Christmas carols have helped bring the festive spirit to other malls, like Plaza Senayan in South Jakarta, where a choir sings Christmas carols twice a day in the atrium, which has been decorated to resemble a paddy field.

In nearby FX shopping mall, a dozen people go around the mall’s seven levels singing Christmas carols.
Christmas carols brighten up every Sunday at Pejaten Village mall in South Jakarta.

“We work together with music schools for the performance. The choir will go around the mall and stop at crowded restaurants,” said Feby Syam, Pejaten’s marketing communication manager.

The Christmas spirit will soon reach the homes of radio listeners as more popular radio stations are set to ignite the Christmas mood this week.

The public relations officer of MRA broadcast media, Karina Soegarda, said Christmas carols had been playing on their four radio stations -- Hard Rock FM Group, Trax FM Group, I-Radio Network and Cosmopolitan FM – for the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

“Audio media like radio can only fea-ture flash information, unlike print media that can be read over and over again. That is why we choose to have an extensive period of Christmas carols for the two weeks before Christmas,” she said.

Karina said Christmas carols would account for 10 to 15 percent of the total songs played in the first two weeks on the four radio stations.

“During the Christmas week, we will raise the frequency to 30 percent, which means we will play a Christmas carol every hour,” she said.

She said there had been no pressure or complaints related to the frequency or choice of Christmas carols on the four radio stations.

A Christmas wish topic, Karina said, would be raised on the four stations along with Christmas greetings from local and international celebrities.

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