For Filipino-American music artists in New England, it is time to join the revolution

CODE NAME NINA

BOSTON– Everything has a beginning. It only takes one spark to fuel a fire, one person to start a revolution, a seed to populate a forest. We have seen this happen in our Filipino-American music scene. It happened in New York and New Jersey. It happened in Washington DC and Maryland. It happened in LA and San Francisco. It is happening in Chicago. Soon it will happen it New England.

We can say so, because we were there. We were there and we have  seen the seeds. All it needs now is watering.

Abby Heredia and Fred Kendall Abong and are not from Boston, but from nearby Rhode Island, where, according to them, no Filipino-American music scene exists. They know of only two Filipino-American artists that are active in the area: Themselves.

The same is true for Boston and most of New England, they said. It is just not happening yet. However, it will not be the case for long.

Artist: Charmaine Clamor
Album: My Harana, a Filipino Serenade
Label: Freeham Records

CHARMAINE Clamor is perhaps the leading Fil-Am Jazz singer today. She is among the very few Asian Jazz artists to capture the meticulous sensibilities of Americans. Her landmark record, Flippin’ Out appeared on the JazzWeek World Music Charts for seven straight weeks, remarkable achievement for a mixed language release.

Charmaine’s latest work, My Harana, a Filipino Serenade is not a Jazz record but a traditional Filipino Kundiman record released here in the US.
The 12-track album is Charmaine’s homage to the roots of Filipino music.
She compiled her favorite regional serenade songs of the home country and sang it in her trademark warm and sultry vocal style.

Among the songs she recorded in this collection are:
O, Ilaw (Tagalog), Mekeni King Siping Ku (Kapampangan), Pamulinawen (Ilocano), Ay Kalisud (Ilonggo), Malinac Lay Labi (Pangasinan), Matud Nila (Visayan), and an English track, Labis (Too much).