In My Pajamas© Show via BlogTalkRadio proudly presents the soulful Charmaine Clamor in an interview that aired April 21, 2008 on BlogTalkRadio
Listen to the hour long Interview
Charmaine Clamor is the first Filipina jazz singer to find success on American radio, achieving the rare feat of simultaneously making the top-5 on both JazzWeek’s World (#2 ranking) and Traditional Jazz (#4) charts.
Her debut album, "Searching for the Soul" (2005), “announced the arrival of an impressive new vocal artist. When Charmaine Clamor’s warm, luscious contralto slips into a seductive rhythm or purrs through tender lyrics, there’s no doubt that a first-rate jazz talent is present" (Don Heckman, LOS ANGELES TIMES). Critics and disc jockeys have compared her “bedroom eyes voice" (ALL ABOUT JAZZ) to legendary vocalists like Sarah Vaughan and Cassandra Wilson, while recognizing her “amazingly individual instrument, which can be whisper-soft, grippingly forceful, earthy, romantic, and soulful” (JAZZ NEWS).
Charmaine's critically acclaimed second album, "Flippin’ Out" (2007), synthesizes the soul and swing of American jazz with traditional Filipino folk music, languages and instruments, instantly creating a new hybrid genre she calls jazzipino. Moving effortlessly from blues to bolero, "Flippin’ Out," a “mold-shattering breakthrough that will be claimed a classic in years to come” (URBAN NETWORK), introduces an imaginative singer daring to create a category all her own and “is the perfect bridge of two cultures… an asset to jazz music and a contributor to the continued traditions of women in jazz” (MUSIC FOR AMERICA).
Originally from the provincial town of Subic-Zambales, Charmaine Clamor began her singing career at age 3, entertaining passengers (whether they liked it or not!) in the back of buses traveling to Manila. As she grew, she began providing piano accompaniment while her mother sang kundiman (Filipino torch songs) and English language classics. From these early memories comes her love of the Great American Songbook.
Lauded by All About Jazz as "one of the finest singers to come around in a long time," Clamor uses her notoriety to aid other Filipino artists. One of the founding members of JazzPhil-USA, a nonprofit organization which promotes jazz artists of Filipino descent in the United States, Charmaine has been credited with introducing the Filipino culture to mainstream audiences, delighting music lovers with her “very honest stage presence” and vocal artistry that listeners describe as “a spiritual experience" and “utterly mesmerizing” (LA WEEKLY).
Thanks to her musical and cultural trailblazing, Charmaine was recently selected by The Filipino Women's Network as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the United States
In My Pajamas© Show is a brain-child of four women, who are wives, mothers, women with day-jobs who are venturing on this journey together in pursuant on the “Women’s American Dream” of independence, success and self-fulfillment. And like what the title suggests, the show was conceived from the idea while we were working “in our pajamas.” Our show, while trying not to be feministic, will interview and recognize women from all walks of life and find out the story of their own “American dream.” We believe that everyone has a back story behind how they achieved their life’s dream.BlogTalkRadio is the social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using a telephone and a computer, the host can create free, live, call-in talk shows with unlimited participants which are automatically archived and made available later as podcasts. There is no added software required to produce a show. Listeners can subscribe to shows via RSS into iTunes and other feed readers. BlogTalkRadio network has produced tens of thousands of episodes since it launched in August of 2006.
In My Pajamas© Show is hosted by Trina, Amy, Yani, and Shanica who are all working from home and loving it.
compiled by Jay Fermin
Charmaine photo by Albert Vargas