JAMIE Rivera doesn?t hide her admiration for Fatima Soriano, the young blind singer made famous by Dr. Love?s radio show on dzMM.

?She?s an intelligent artist,? Jamie says of Fatima. ?She?s like a chameleon...a sponge. She grasps and absorbs musical concepts quickly. She?s very pure.?

As album producer, Jamie worked closely with Fatima and other artists like Erik Santos, Liezel Garcia and Chin-Chin Gutierrez, along with five choirs, in the new compilation CD entitled ?Sa ?Yo Lamang,? which also serves as soundtrack of the upcoming Star Cinema movie of the same title directed by Laurice Guillen.

?It?s like a reunion for Direk Laurice and (composer) Fr. Manoling Francisco,? noted Jamie who also recorded ?Tanging Yaman? in 2000.

With Annabelle Regalado of Star Records and personal manager Ming Tiñana, Jamie put together the CD?choosing the songs, artists and arrangements. ?Three of the choirs in the album?Hail Mary the Queen Children?s Choir, Ars Cantica Ensemble and the Heralds Choir?won in a chorale contest last February.?

She finds projects like ?Sa ?Yo Lamang? fulfilling, in more ways than one.

?Pop or secular singing is very different from liturgical music,? she explains. ?Inspirational music doesn?t call attention to itself. It?s about the melody and the message of the song. Not the singer.?

After having a taste of international fame in a West End production of ?Miss Saigon? in the early 1990s, Jamie has found renewed purpose.

Apart from devoting her career to inspirational music, she also lends her voice to a worthy cause, as spokesperson of SOS Children?s Villages.

?It?s a home for abandoned, orphaned and neglected children,? Jamie explains.

As a mother to 13-year-old Reine herself, Jamie was drawn to the concept of SOS.

?Each village is comprised of 8 to 14 homes, with 8 to 12 children and a house mother each,? Jamie says.

The center aims to let each child experience a normal home set-up?with a mother, siblings and a father in the village director, she says.

Since teaming up with the non-governmental organization four years ago, ?They?ve become part of my family, too,? Jamie asserts.

She spent her birthday week with them. ?I had a read-along activity with SOS kids at the Enchanted Kingdom on Aug. 28. I also attended the opening of a village in Balanga, Bataan, on Aug. 30.?

(On her actual birthday on Aug. 29, she sang at the Mount Carmel church as part of the ?Sa ?Yo Lamang? church tour.)

Jamie reports that there are SOS villages in Alabang, Lipa, Tacloban, Davao, Iloilo, among others.

She beams with pride: A lot of SOS kids have grown up and graduated in college?becoming pilots, teachers, social workers and other productive members of society.

?It?s not only I who help them; they also bless me in countless ways,? she says. ?Being given the chance to help is a rare privilege. Looking at the face of a happy child fills my heart with so much joy, too.?

E-mail: bayanisandiego@hotmail.com.