With all due respect to many of my favorite singers of the Philippines this collection of classic harana songs from the Philippines is the album I have been waiting for a Filipino to record. Ms. Charmaine Clamor seems like the perfect singer to do this. She has very fine pronunciation of many languages and her famous voice goes down so smooth! She is nice for the ears and nice for the eyes. :) I find "My Harana" to be relaxing and beautiful for the most part. The "Pamulinawen" is more innovation than relaxation for instance. :)I listen to her sing "Matud Nila" and I am back in a very old place long ago when it was all right to express these powerful emotions to your love. My ears like it and so does my soul.
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A lovely album of romantic music. A little formulaic at times but hey, it's a good formula. Nice to have in the background when I'm with my beloved and sipping a good red wine.
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With this new CD Charmaine Clamor maybe establishes that she is the best singer of the Philippines? Her voice is not high. It is low and soothing and you can feel every emotion, which is what the very best singers (the likes of Pilita, Nora) do for a song. Charmaine Clamor is second to none for the kundiman. Listen to her "Matud Nila" and I think you will agree with me this is something special. I am thankful that I could afford this recording which is not available for cheap in the Philippines!
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Interested in uniquely cool new music? Charmaine Clamor's second album, "My Harana: A Filipino Serenade," (Free Ham Records) is exactly that. Clamor's intimate, timeless "jazzipino" vocal is simply accompanied by subtle percussion from Gustavo Garcia, delicate strumming of a guitar or bandurria from Richard Ickard and/or the plucking of a bass from Dominic Thiroux. This seamless composition instantly lifts the listener to a relaxed café in a foreign land, thousands of miles away from the clamor (no pun intended) of American city life. Recorded in eight different dialects of the Filipino languages Tagalog and Bisaya, the album showcases songs of the ancient native tradition of Harana. (In brief: At night, men, accompanied by a musician or two, courted women by singing songs to them outside their windows, hoping the object of their affection would eventually allow them inside.) Previously, only men had recorded songs like the ones on Clamor's album; now, the young Charmaine becomes the first woman to record them. The album's closing song, "Labis" ("Too Much"), is sung in English, but I think you'll barely notice the difference; that is how good she is at communicating emotion through music. If you're up for a world-jazz cultural and educational seduction, "My Harana" is a must-have.
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