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CÉLINEDEE MATAHARI'S BIOGRAPHY
CÉLINEDEE MATAHARI
WHEN MUSIC CALLS YOU EARLY...
Célinedee Matahari (light of the day, translated from Bahasa Indonesia) was born in Dubai to an Indonesian music-loving mother and French keyboard-playing father, Frédéric. Her first name came from Purwanti, her mother, meeting Celine Dion at a press conference in Dubai in 2008. Celine Dion, who was having fertility treatment at the time, noticed then heavily-pregnant Purwanti and stopped her to enquire about how the baby (then unborn Celine) was doing. Straight after that encounter, a name was obviously found for the baby!
THE FIRST UKULELE
When Célinedee was 8 years old, she was transfixed watching Grace Vanderwaal perform at and win America’s got Talent that year. Immediately, she begged her mum to go shopping for a toy ukulele! Célinedee learnt to play that instrument in 3 hours, at the amazement of her parents. Still, fed up with the noise generated by the out-of-tune toy ukulele, her mum asked her guitarist friend to give Celine a basic course with a proper ukulele. She complemented ballet classes with a few piano lessons, which stopped after she noticed that she was able to play practically any song by ear…
TALENT SHOWS WINNER
After taking part in quite a few performances at the request of her music school, she mustered up the courage to participate in her French school’s talent competition, at which she won first prize for ukulele and vocals.
Straight after that, a demo cover of ‘dear future husband’ by Meghan Trainor was sent to Virgin Radio Dubai’s Redfest School Star competition. Her song was picked up and played on the radio as one of the finalists. What a thrill it for her to listen to her own performance on the radio at such a young age! Later that year, she performed songs in English, French and Chinese at the Climate Control Awards ceremony in Dubai, unfazed to perform in front of a mostly male executive audience dancing around to her rendition of ‘I will survive’ by Gloria Gaynor.
THE FIRST SONG 'SUPERMAN'
Still, not content with playing covers, she decided to give, with her mother’s help, song composing a go and wrote music and lyrics for her first song ‘Superman’ about her father which she unveiled at his birthday party, and a song which would later move the jury to tears at her school audition. She even won the heart of her dentist who refused to get paid in cash for her work, and instead, insisted for Célinedee to bring her ukulele and sing for her!
2019 YAS KIDS' FESTIVAL NATIONAL TALENT COMPETITION FIRST PRIZE
In 2019, she, along with hundreds of participants, sent her demos to the Yas Kids’ festival national talent competition, where she was shocked to receive the first prize at the massive Du Arena, her biggest audience so far, among tough competition, and where judges praised her ‘organic, original tone’ and her early ability to sing and play without being able to read music.
EXPO 2020 DUBAI
She was a regular feature at the Indonesian Pavilion – Expo2020 Dubai, and an incredible moment was to perform an Indonesian song on the biggest (Jubilee) stage as part of the New 7 Wonders of Nature celebration, in partnership with the UN, highlighting the wonderful culture of Indonesia, for which she received a trophy at the 2023 Climate Control Awards during COP28, from the hands of Dr Rajendra Shende, the Former Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Coordinating Lead Author of IPCC-2007, which won the Nobel Peace Prize for its impact-filled work on mitigating climate change.
Since then, Célinedee performed at iconic venues such as the Armani Hotel/Burj Khalifa and QE2 anchored in Dubai, and most recently at the Indonesia Night.
Célinedee truly reflects the UAE's multicultural environment by being able to sing by heart in more than 15 languages (including Korean and Chinese)
SINGING FOR THE INDONESIAN PRESIDENT, HE JOKO WIDODO AT COP28
Célinedee's proudest moment was to welcome and sing for the Indonesian President on his arrival at the COP28 in Dubai, and for Mr Erick Tohir, Minister of State Owned Enterprises, who both autographed Célinedee's ukulele.
The video shot by the Presidential Press office went viral with more than 7 million views, and was widely covered in the Indonesian press. That very special moment was documented on the Presidency's official website.
SINGING FOR THE LEGENDARY AR RAHMAN
A month after performing AR Rahman's 'Vande Mataram' Indian anthem at the Climate Control Awards during COP28, Célinedee unexpectedly found herself singing the same song, but this time in front of the Master himself. The multiple Oscar/Grammy winner, and 'The Voice' judge, even recorded her impromptu performance of his own song and reposted the story on his Instagram account.
The clip went viral with more than 55 million views and 5 million likes (and growing, just on her own social media channels) Her performance received acclaim in the global press and made multiple headlines in several countries. See press section
POPCON FESTIVAL, DUBAI, FEBRUARY 2024
Célinedee performed for 2 days at the POPCON festival, in front of Hollywood stars including Manu Bennett and Lexi Rabe, with an impressive mix of original, Korean, Japanese and English songs
2024 FORBES 30/50 SUMMIT
Célinedee was invited by FORBES USA magazine to sing at the opening of their FORBES 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi, which gathered global influential female leaders, and she also sang her original song 'STAY' for the amazing Shania Twain, who called it 'fabulous',