Clamoring for more of Charmaine By Ruben V. Nepales Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 16:56:00 04/21/2008
LOS ANGELES, CA— Despite only two albums to her name, the Fil-Am singer Charmaine Clamor is a rising jazz star in the U.S. Critics can’t get enough of her.
LA Weekly’s Brick Wahl, for one, recommended her recent two-night gig at Hollywood’s Catalina Bar & Grill as his jazz event pick of the week this way: “She made a big splash with Flippin’ Out—its hip mix of beautifully arranged standards and jazzed-up Tagalog love songs took the ‘Filipina Singing Sensation’ into the upper reaches of the jazz and world charts. And no wonder: Her husky, sassy tone, languid moves and unpretentious Pinoy attitude that’s just a tad rebellious have the kind of natural appeal you can’t buy at any music school.”
This acclaim is typical of the critical plaudits that Charmaine, who grew in Zambales, has been getting since she released her first CD. “Her debut album, Searching for the Soul, announced the arrival of an impressive new vocal artist,” raved Don Heckman of the LA Times.
Striking while the iron is hot, Charmaine will simultaneously release two CDs later this year —one, an album of harana (serenades) songs, and the other, a follow-up to the very successful Flippin’ Out (available on www.charmaineclamor.com) showcasing jazzipino, her hybrid of jazz and Filipino music and lyrics. The concurrent release of these albums will make Charmaine the first Filipino artist to have two recordings climb the American charts at the same time.
Here’s more of the pioneering singer Charmaine in an e-mail interview:
Who are the Filipino singers that you admire?
Mon David, Grace Nono, Ryan Cayabyab and Asin, especially Lolita Carbon. I think a lot of the Apo Hiking Society songs are classic. I’m discovering Joey Ayala at the moment. I think Lani Misalucha’s vocal instrument is just divine, and Gary Valenciano is an exciting all-round performer.
Can you give us a quick timeline between the year you arrived in the US and the present? What were the highlights?
I graduated valedictorian in high school at Our Lady of Loretto-Bishop Conaty Memorial High School in Los Angeles. I got my Master’s degree in physical therapy, all the while singing for Top 40 bands, and as a backup vocalist, and then with the harmony group, Crescendo. I met lots of wonderful friends, including my amazing husband. Music-wise, I’ve released two solo albums, and the latest one, Flippin’ Out, has earned some lovely reviews and reached listeners all around the world.
You continue to practice physical therapy whenever you can. Have you had a chance to sing to some of your patients as supplemental therapy? Do most patients know that you are also a singer?
I continue to practice physical therapy once or twice a week. I find it very rewarding and I do get a chance to vocalize as much as I can with my patients. Sometimes I use music as a distraction from pain. Yes, most of my patients know that I am a singer and many of them come to my shows or buy my albums. In fact, the California Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association is a huge supporter of mine.
You still sing with Crescendo. What kind of fulfillment does singing with a vocal jazz quartet bring?
There is nothing like harmonizing and sounding like one voice with your friends! It is pure aural pleasure, quite different from singing solo. I also enjoy the “in the moment” experiences that we often have, when we do something dynamic or rhythmic because we all felt going there simultaneously.
How was your debut with The Vagina Monologues in San Francisco? What are you looking forward to in your next stop with the play in New York?
I am still high from my debut performance in San Francisco. It was a liberating experience, which I think helped with my singing. In New York, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my FWN (Filipina Women Network) sisters and performing two different characters this time. Most of all, I’m looking forward to touching people’s lives with the production. I’m hopeful that we can end domestic violence and support our lolas, the “comfort women.”
You must feel blessed that you are getting these breaks in the jazz world, including the honor of being the first Filipina vocalist to make the JazzWeek World and Traditional Jazz charts.
I feel blessed to have had these wonderful successes. All of these achievements would not be possible without my amazing management team, my loyal supporters, the media, my selfless family and friends, the inspiration I continue to receive from other artists (legendary and contemporary) and my passion to bring our sounds to the whole world. When you combine all that with determination and hard work, good things happen.
What can we expect from your coming harana album? How did you hook up with guitarist Richard Ickard?
I’m bursting with excitement to do the harana album. It will feature harana pieces from different regions in the Philippines, sung in different languages and dialects. We’ll be using indigenous Filipino musical instruments as well. I am collaborating on this project with my friend and colleague, Naxos recording artist Richard Ickard. He actually found me two years ago through JazzPhil-USA, and we’ve been collaborators since then. He lives in California but he grew up in the Philippines. He has recorded several albums on his own, including a fantastic collection of Filipino folk songs. Richard is a kind and generous person whom I enjoy working with. We have a deep musical connection, which I think you’ll hear on the record.
What are your most memorable, amusing and unusual experiences so far?
My most memorable performance so far was in January of this year, at a club called Anthology, in San Diego. It was my first show in that city, and I wasn’t sure how the reception would be. It turned out we were the “Pick of the Day” in the San Diego newspaper, and we had a full house that night. The club, which seats close to 300, had to turn away patrons. It was unbelievable! The crowd was extraordinarily warm and appreciative—and most of them were non-Filipinos.
The most amusing one was at the Iridium jazz club, in New York City, in September 2007. I was doing my second set when I thought I saw the legendary blues singer, Linda Hopkins, coming down the stairs and into the club. I said to myself, “This is impossible,” because Linda lives in LA, and what are the chances of the two of us being in New York at the same time? A few seconds later, the woman got down the stairs and walked into the light and, yes, it was indeed Linda Hopkins! I was so flabbergasted I almost forgot my lyrics.
As for the most unusual, I was performing a two-nighter at Cecil’s in New Jersey. Cecil’s is a straight-ahead jazz club and a real musician’s hang out. Herbie Hancock was just there the night before my show. I came down from the dressing room to perform and I saw that the crowd was almost entirely African-American. There were maybe two or three Filipinos. I thought to myself, “I’m in trouble. There’s no way this audience will dig my jazzipino songs.” I actually feared they might just stand up and walk out when I started singing in Tagalog. After doing a couple of songs in English, I got up the nerve to sing “Minamahal Kita” and “Dahil sa Iyo”—and they gave me a standing ovation. Unbelievable!
How cool was it to be interviewed by NPR?
It was the coolest of the cool being interviewed by Lianne Hansen, on NPR’s “Weekend Edition.” That was a strong validation of the value of my work, my art. It felt unreal, like in a dream, to know I was being heard by millions of people simultaneously. Wow! That was definitely one of my highlights last year.
Can you tell me one aspect of Charmaine Clamor that has not been brought up yet?
That I like getting food as gifts? I actually have some fans who started giving me delicious treats after shows, which I believe is a fine tradition to continue, at least until I can no longer fit in my dresses.
Seriously, one possibly-unknown aspect that hasn’t been covered is that I promote living “green.” I eat locally grown organic foods as much as I can. I walk, ride my bike, or take public transportation as much as I can. I purchase music digitally through iTunes or Amazon.com, and my household is getting greener every month. I love nature. In fact, during my birthdays, I take an annual journey to a wild place, like the jungles of South America, where I can enjoy animals in their natural habitat, where there is very little use of technology. I practice yoga as well.
E-mail Ruben Nepales at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
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