Charmaine Clamor’s Colorado concert was great — we’d love to see her again!

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Charmaine Clamor in Colorado Jan. 29, 2011

Charmaine Clamor was terrific in her first Colorado appearance Jan. 28 at the Broomfield Auditorium. The Philippines-born, US-raised jazz singer, who does a fine job singing the classic song catalog but adds a layer of unique talent by bringing her jazz singing chops to traditional Filipino songs as well as original music and lyrics in Tagalog. The 300-seat auditorium, one of the best rooms of its size in the metro area for sound and ambience, wasn’t quite full but I bet next time Clamor comes to the area, word of mouth will bring in a full house. Kudos to KUVO, the jazz public radio station, for supporting the show, and to the Filipino American Community of Colorado, which brought her here as much for her Pinay presence as for her music.

Clamor’s a natural entertainer, connecting effortlessly with her audience — even though many of us were new to her rich talent — and getting people to fuel her performance. Some audience members from the local Filipino community were familiar with her, because she’s an adopted daughter of every Filipino community across the country. She’s also an incredibly controlled vocalist who can stretch out or squeeze a note to suit her syncopation. I’m glad I got to know her music a little before she came to town, and I’ve since completed my library of all four of her albums.

Accompanied by a killer rhythm section aptly named “The Killin’ Sweethearts” that she brought from her home in LA, and filled out with tight local horn players, the music was flawless all evening. The highlights for us were the two songs below, the first her take on “My Funny Valentine,” “My Funny Brown Pinay,” an assertion of ethnic identity and pride, and Minamahal Kita,” a traditional song sung in Tagalog with a gentle swing, accompanied by stellar ukulele playing by Clamor’s Guam-born, Hawai’i-raised drummer and musical director, Abe Lagrimas.

Clamor’s off to play back home in LA in support of her new album, “Something Good” (and it is), and Boston in March. In between she’s off to Manila to play the Philippines International Jazz Festival. Sometime in the future, I hope she can return to Colorado.

Rush Limbaugh mocks Hu Jintao with racist “ching-chong ching-chong” routine, stereotyped accent

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From Huffington Post: Rush Limbaugh took the opportunity of Hu Jintao’s state visit to the U.S. to show off his “ching-chong” impression of the Chinese language. How mature… it’s so juvenile to make fun of a foreign language and foreign people by mocking how you think they sound. That’s third-grade stuff. Many Asian Americans have heard “ching chong” aimed at them growing up, and it was always by schoolyard bullies — ignorant schoolyard bullies who pull the stunt to make themselves feel superior.

I’ve felt the sting of this taunt, followed by crap like “Ah-so! Harro! Go home, chink/Jap! Ching-chong ching-chong!” The bullies always pulled back their eyes into slits and bared their lips to show buck teeth while they spat out their hatred.

It’s one thing for ignorant children to use racist taunts to put down others. It’s another thing entirely for an adult to do it, and especially shameful for someone with the public reach and potential impact of Limbaugh. He’s showing his ignorance for all the world to hear.
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Next up on visualizAsian: Ada Wong, inspirational finalist from “The Biggest Loser” Season 10

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Ada Wong, befor and after "The Biggest Loser"

We weren’t regular viewers of “The Biggest Loser” until last fall’s Season 10, because of Ada Wong. I read an interview with her in the Pacific Citizen and some blogs, and Erin tuned in to the show. She got me to watch On-Demand and we were hooked.

So we’re honored to be able to host Ada Wong as our next guest on visualizAsian.com. She made it to the finals of “The Biggest Loser,” and along the way lost 99 pounds and regained her relationship with her hard-ass Asian parents. She’s an incredible inspiration for Asian Americans.

Our one-hour live conversation with Ada will be on on Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 7 pm PT (10 pm ET) — just register for the call and you’ll receive the call-in information for our conference line, and the URL for the Webcast. As always, you can submit questions for Ada before and during the show via our Webcast page.

UPDATE: Sorry, you’ve missed the live Feb. 1 conversation with Ada Wong. But you can still register for the next 30 days to listen to the archived MP3 recording of the show!

If you’ve tuned in to a visualizAsian show before, you don’t need to register — you’ll receive the login info in an email reminder. If you’re new to visualizAsian, welcome to our 2011 season! We interview Asian American Pacific Islander leaders and newsmakers on a telephone conference call (long distance charges may apply) and Webcast (always free). Our goal is to inspire all AAPIs to find your voice and follow in or guests’ footsteps.

Ada was truly an inspiration during “The Biggest Loser.” Alone among the contestants, she didn’t have the support of her family. Several episodes of the series focused on her relationship with her immigrant parents, who were very critical of her growing up, and unlike every other contestant, refused to send in a video greeting urging her on. They criticized her weight and even blamed her for her brother’s drowning death when she was just a child.

Despite of these challenges, Ada excelled in the show, and worked hard to lose weight.
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A Chinese tiger mom explains why being a hard-ass Asian parent is better for your kids than Western coddling

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My mom, brother and me at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, eayly 1960sWow, the WSJ has a book excerpt today, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” written by Amy Chua, a Yale law school professor that boggles my mind and sends a chill down my spine. It’s her blunt declaration that the values of Chinese (and I’m telescoping it out to include all Asian) mothers are better for raising kids than “Western” parenting style.

She acknowledges the stereotype that Asian moms are hard-asses and then goes on to say that being tough on your kids is a Chinese mom’s way of showing they know the kids can a) get an A in the class, b) learn that difficult piece on the piano c) excel at everything the Chinese mom says is important. It’s just a different way of showing your children you love them, she says. She states her case so emphatically that this essay really just fortifies those American stereotypes. I can hear parents in conservative households murmuring their agreement: “See Martha, I knew there’s a reason why those Chinese are always so damned good at math and science!”

Here’s how the article starts:

A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it’s like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I’ve done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• have a playdate
• attend a sleepover
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin.

This has to be a joke, I thought, except the Wall Street Journal probably doesn’t have a sense of humor and doesn’t run satire pieces. Take this line, for instance: “If a Chinese child gets a B—which would never happen—there would first be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion.”

Nope, Chua, who was born in 1962 a year after her parents immigrated to the US, is serious. In fact, this essay is an excerpt from a book being published this week, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”
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Charmaine Clamor, “Queen of Jazzipino,” coming to Colorado Jan. 29

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Charmaine Clamor, Queen of JazzipinoThe music is straight ahead jazz — the classic, swingy stuff with lots of space between instruments and a smoky, sultry voice caressing the lyrics. It’s jazz, the classic American artform. But the words… aren’t… English. The words to the lovely “Dahil Sa Yo (Because of You)” are sung in Tagalog, the native language of the Philippines. It’s a jazz standard nonetheless, written for a Filipino movie in 1938 and better known for an English-Tagalog version recorded in 1964 that made the charts in the US.

The singer is Charmaine Clamor, the self-described “Queen of Jazzipino,” who sings with a lovely voice in both English and Tagalog, a range of songs from traditional jazz to a fine jazzy version of the U2 rock hit “With or Without You,” to traditional folksongs of the Philippines in her jazzipino style.

Clamor’s built a loyal following of Filipinos worldwide by bringing her jazz chops to songs in Tagalog, updating her cultural heritage with a modern sheen. She was born in the Philippines and started singing when she was just 3, entertaining bus riders. She later learned to play the piano and accompanied her mother, who sang Filipino torch songs called “kundiman.” Her family moved stateside when she was 16 and she retained her cultural ties to the Philippines.

She’s released four albums, including the wonderful, low-key “My Harana: A Filipino Serenade” that’s almost entirely in Tagalog, and mostly sparingly accompanied with just a guitar or percussion. For fans of Brazilian jazz and samba sung in Portuguese, sitting back with Clamor’s Tagalog songs has the same lilting, lulling effect.

Clamor kicks off her 2007 album “Flippin’ Out” with a wonderful take on “My Funny Valentine,” “My Funny Brown Pinay,” a powerful affirmation of her ethnic identity that starts out with a spoken poem backed by piano, bass and drums before she breaks into the melody:
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