The music in Clara C's heart

The full name is Clara Chung but she is better known as Clara C. She has a Psychology degree from UC Irvine with a minor in Education. She works and teaches autistic children when not busy with her music. She is a singer, songwriter and guitarist. She also plays the piano, melodica, Glockenspiel, trumpet and flute and whose music is what we call acoustic. She got her big break when she won the Los Angeles Kollaboration 10, KAC Media Juice Night and ISA two years ago. She will be performing at the Music Museum on Dec. 1.

I have to admit I had not heard of Clara C. when I got the news that she will be in town for a show. But a lot of kids around here told me that she has been around for about a year or so and had in fact a lot of Filipino fans. Reason I had not heard of her must be the generation gap at work. I was looking for Clara C. in the places that I usually check out as in the Billboard charts or MYX or the entertainment news on TV or the newspapers. I didn’t know that if you want to listen to her or find out what she is up to, the place to go is the web, particularly YouTube.

Clara C. is one of the stars of YouTube where her videos and other uploads have been viewed by over eight million people. That is a lot and that is what accounts for her popularity in many parts of the world. That is the reason why she is now reaching out to her fans overseas. Clara’s Manila visit is part of her Asia Pacific Tour with Monsoon Productions this month and in December. In fact, she is the first female YouTube artist to headline a performing tour of the region.

She will kick off her tour with an appearance to an audience of 3,000 people at the United Nations International Volunteers’ Day Rock With Me event in Singapore on Nov. 25. This will be followed by her solo shows in Singapore on Nov. 28; Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 29; the Music Museum in Manila, Dec. 1; Melbourne, Dec. 3; and Sydney, Dec. 4. Clara will perform songs from her first album titled The Art In My Heart.

Of course, I checked out Clara C. on the Net. Her videos are all there on YouTube. The first thing that struck me was her voice. It is warm and husky with a wide range and a jazzy feel. You do not usually find those qualities in acoustic artists who are most times sweet and reedy. The things I noticed next are the videos. These are mostly bright with a light, childlike quality. Clara C. seems to be a happy person and she brings her innocence and optimism to everybody through her music. At a time when girl singers are trying to be fierce and looking trashy, she is fresh air and sunshine and a lot of similar things we can use more of in this world. She is a nice girl.

Bests out of The Art In My Heart are Heartstrings, Off-beat and The Camel Song. She composed all of her recordings and shows herself a capable musician with her with adept handling of the clever arrangements. I have a feeling she will be winning a lot of new fans when she comes to town including a lot from those who still watch music videos on TV and who buy physical CDs from music stores.

Bringing Clara C. to Manila is Monsoo Productions which also brought in acoustic artist David Choi from the US a few months ago. Tickets to the show are priced at P1,200, P950 and P750. These are available at National Book Stores; Robinsons Department Stores, the Cinema Lobby at Greenbelt 1, Glorietta 4, Trinoma; Ticketworld and the Music Museum. But then if you are like most of Clara’s fans, there is really no need for you to go to any of those places to buy your tickets. Ticketworld is also on the web and you can get your tickets with just a few clicks.

The times have really changed.