Kiwi singer-songwriter a parent's 'saviour'

(YouTube)
(YouTube)

APRA now recognises children's music with its own award ceremony, and parents are heralding one nominated album as "a saviour".

Anna van Riel has taken her adult songs around the world and she's even performed for Prince Albert of Monaco.

But she really wants to write for her kids and others who've missed out.

"There's a lot of children on the planet, there's a lot of children who love music," van Riel says.

"I think most children love music and they're not afraid to cut loose.

"I just got asked a lot to go and perform for the kids and they just responded heaps," van Riel says.

"And I just got that many songs that I always had music rolling around in my head, and I had that many songs stuck in my head - I couldn't make them stop, so I had to record some."

The musician lives with her kids in the tiny South Island town of Hawea but hopes her YouTube site Doodlebug will get her noticed wider afield.

She's up for awards on Tuesday night with her album Cooking up a Song and its title track.

"You can cook up a song like a recipe," van Riel says.

"You could make all sorts of silly noises, doesn't really matter what kind of noises, and throw them in a big mixing bowl and in the end come out with a song.

"I guess I was just trying to inspire imagination in children and get them singing."

And sing they have - in fact, frazzled parents keep telling her: "Your album is my saviour."

Newshub.