Lyodra Ginting

Lyodra Margareta Ginting (born 21 June 2003), also known mononymously as Lyodra, is an Indonesian singer and actress.

Lyodra was born Lyodra Margareta Ginting on 21 June 2003 in Medan, North Sumatra.

She was raised in a Catholic family and was given the baptismal name Margareta.

Her first name, Lyodra, itself is a modification or another form of the female name in Hebrew, Liora, which means "Light".

Lyodra is the eldest of two children, from entrepreneur Simar Ginting and psychiatric nurse Natalia Johanna Tarigan.

She has a younger brother named Igyralo Ginting, who is two years her junior.

Lyodra's singing talents had already began to show since she was as young as 2 years old.

When she was 4 years old, she had already been participating in local singing competitions in Medan City.

According to her father, Lyodra was able to sing the song "Ibu Kita Kartini" with a better vibrato technique than her peers, even better than those who had taken vocal lessons before.

In 2013, Lyodra studied under Derta Purba, who was also the vocal teacher of the classical singer Putri Ayu Silaen.

She also studied playing the organ while serving as a psalmist at mass at the Catholic Church of St. Francis of Assisi, Medan.

Lyodra's ability to sing with the whistle register was found to be self-taught.

When she was still a seventh grader in junior high school, Lyodra imitated Mariah Carey's use of the whistle register in the song "O Holy Night".

Lyodra started her career as a national child singer at the Kirana Semen Indonesia 2014 event, which was organized by the BUMN PT Semen Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.

After winning the regional round which was held in Medan City, she advanced to the final in Jakarta, along with 28 other finalists from 28 cities in Indonesia.

In the final round at the national level which was held on 31 March 2014, at Djakarta Theater XXI, Central Jakarta, Lyodra took the top four positions and took home the first prize in the form of cash worth 25 million rupiah.

On 1 August 2014, Lyodra appeared as a participant in season 4 of Indonesia Mencari Bakat, which aired on the national television station Trans TV.

On 19 October 2014, after going through various stages of competition and eliminating down to 19 contestants, Lyodra was eliminated in the sixth major round.

After her elimination, Lyodra was signed by the record label GUT Records, which hosted musicians Erwin Gutawa and his daughter Gita Gutawa.

Together with six other children who were considered to have special talents in the field of music, she was chosen as one of the members of a music group project called Di Atas Rata-Rata 2 (DARR 2).

Lyodra's joining of DARR 2 has made her involved in various large-scale musical performances.

She has admitted experiencing damage to her vocal cords in 2016 due to excessive singing using the whistle register.

Apart from singing, Lyodra is also studying acting.

She was a member of the theater extracurricular while studying at St. Ignasius Junior High School, Medan.

Lyodra also took piano extracurriculars while there.

After graduating from junior high school, Lyodra continued to Santo Thomas 2 Senior High School, Medan.

On the sidelines of her busy singing career, Lyodra continued her education at Pelita Harapan University and majored in communication science.

One such of which was the Java Jazz Festival 2016 which was held throughout the 4–6 March at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta.

On 2 April 2016, Lyodra alongside with six other DARR 2 members performed at a concert, "Di Atas Rata-Rata 2: Bikin Konser", located in Ciputra Artpreneur, South Jakarta, which included the attendance of the former Governor of DKI Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.

On 17 August 2016, Lyodra and the six other DARR 2 personnel performed at the Merdeka Palace for the commemoration of on the 71st Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia, performing for President Joko Widodo and a number of state guests.

She was the winner of the A3 category (aged 13–15 years) at the 2017 Sanremo Junior children's international solo singing competition in Sanremo, Italy, and the winner of the tenth season of Indonesian Idol.

In both competitions, Lyodra practiced the use of the whistle register, which is the highest range of the human voice.

She was listed as the youngest Indonesian Idol champion, at the age of 16 years and 256 days.

She was awarded "Best Children Female Solo Artist" from 20th Anugerah Musik Indonesia Awards, and "Best New Asian Artist in Indonesia" from 2021 Mnet Asian Music Award.

In addition, Lyodra was nominated for "Best Southeast Asian Act" from 2021 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Less than a year later, Lyodra, who was 13 years old at the time, took part in an international solo singing competition for children aged 6 - 15 years, entitled Sanremo Junior 2017, in Sanremo, Italy.

Under the direct direction of the DARR 2 vocal coach and choreographer team, she trained intensively every weekend in Jakarta, resulting in Lyodra having to go back and forth from Medan to Jakarta for nearly two months.

After completing the pre-competition process, she left for Italy accompanied by Gita Gutawa and sponsored by the Creative Economy Agency of the Republic of Indonesia.

On 3 May 2017, at the Ariston Cinema Building, Sanremo, Lyodra performed the song "Dear Dream" by Gita Gutawa, which is the English translation of its original Indonesian language version, "Janji Untuk Mimpi", translated by Ria Leimena.

She became the winner in the competition category she participated in, Category A3 (aged 13 - 15 years), beating nine participants from nine other countries.