Alfa Garcia (born October 11, 1985 in the Philippines) is a singer-songwriter from North Jersey/NYC. Born and raised in a family of classically-trained musicians, Alfa is far more than that. Apart from having taught herself to play guitar 10 years ago, and also able to play the piano and the violin, she's got quite a voice, and has traveled to many big cities in North America to do her thing. She's got a lot of heart and soul for being a young musician, and now continues to share her passion with others!
How long have you been doing music for? Are you doing it professionally or independently?
I've been involved with music since I was 5, so basically my whole life. I started off playing classical violin and piano and eventually branched out and started writing my own material. I'm doing it independently and hope to become "professional" - i.e. do it as a job.
What style of music do you generally play?
I always dread this question! :) It's hard to say, and a little misleading to "brand" the style. I really started writing music because I just wanted to express thoughts and melodies that I had, never aiming to be any kind of sound. But I guess if people really wanted a classification, I'd go with pop/rock/acoustic/folk. That's the best I can do. :)
How did you first get involved in music?
My mom plopped me down on a piano bench and introduced me to my piano teacher when I was 5 years old. That really started the snowball into other instruments and eventually, songwriting. I'm thankful for it! :) But I come from a family of musicians, so it’s always been a part of my life.
What made you decide to starting YouTubing your musical talent?
- I really didn’t start doing it myself. It started when people posted my performances on their YouTube pages. Truthfully, I'm kind of old-fashioned in that I think nothing beats the live experience, and I'm most interested in improving the live show. But seeing how cool it was for people to think my performances were worthy of posting online, I realized it would be a good way for me to get my songs heard too. I am not as active on YouTube as I can be, but it’s DEFINITELY something I hope to change in the coming months, so stay tuned, k? :)
Who are your biggest musical influences?
Biggest? Hm, so hard to say! When I was younger, I got a lot of motivation from my grandfather. He’s got a knack for playing piano by ear – to this day, he’s still better than me at it. So he was probably one of the earliest influences to writing music, and trying out a non-classical style. When I started listening to popular music, I got very much into a grunge band called silverchair. They didn’t have much popularity in the States but were huge in Australia. Funny enough, the lead singer’s writing style really spoke to me back in the day despite the fact that his sound was so different from what I sound like. But like I said, I never intended to “sound” a certain way, and I think his sense of songwriting was what I picked up on and it motivated me to write introspectively. Later on I picked up a lot from Jewel’s earlier career and Fiona Apple. Now I kind of feel influenced by so many female singer-songwriters: Joni Mitchell, Billie Holiday, Regina Spektor, Sara Bereilles, Feist, etc. and also a lot of bands: Death Cab for Cutie, Stars, the Beatles.
How does it feel to be getting all this support from people for doing what you do?
I am honored and humbled at the same time! And it definitely pushes me to keep on becoming the best songwriter and performer I can be.
Is there ANY musician that you would like to do a collaboration with in the future?
I’d love to collaborate with any of the artists that just did Kollaboration Acoustic 3. I think they’re all excellent and I can learn a lot from each of them.
What has been your most popular cover on YouTube? Your most popular original song on YouTube?
Most popular cover is Feist’s “1,2,3,4.” I don’t do a lot of covers to begin with, and this was my only foray into covering songs on YouTube. It’s stunning to see how many hits a cover will get you. My most popular original song? I don’t really know that. The new album just came out, so I guess those songs haven’t been able to get as much face-time yet, per se, so we’ll see what happens. Of the older bunch, maybe songs like “The Lament” and “Better” were somewhat popular.
How did it feel to win Kollaboration Acoustic 3? And how was the event overall?
It was pretty shocking. I came into the event just hoping to sell a few CD’s and get some more people tuned into my music. I never imagined I would actually win. It was pretty much the “icing” on the cake, though. Just being there and connecting with all those artists for an entire day was more than enough for me.
I imagine you have a lot of music tastes; what do you normally play on your iPod and/or when you’re at home?
It totally depends on my mood. If you look at my iPod, you’ll probably scratch your head. I’ll listen to everything from Cypress Hill to Sara Bareilles to Devendra Banhart to Paramore to French rap. Go figure. :) Recently, I’ve been listening to Camille – my favorite French singer. Her first album is pretty low-production and a bit grittier than her second, but it’s got a great acoustic feel and her lyrics are really quirky.
Where’s the one place where you can go and get your creative flow going in order to write/create music?
Hm, my room.
Who is your closest musician friend, and how did you two meet?
This question’s a bit hard…having grown up with music I feel like a lot of people I’ve known through the years are musicians. The closest… definitely my sister. She plays flute and piano and was trained in classical singing.
What do you do in your spare time when you’re not playing music?
I have a day job, sadly. I’m a writer for a newspaper… aside from working and music, I try to travel whenever I can and I just enjoy hanging out with friends in the city (NYC).
What do you hope to accomplish while being involved in music?
I just hope my music has a positive impact on people. Whether they’re inspired to do music too, or if they can feel connected because of my lyrics, that’s really the best reward for me.
Do you have any final words for the readers?
Thanks for reading! Hope to meet you soon.
Huzzah! There it is folks! Thank you to Alfa for the interview, and I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did. Till next time, adios!
J~
Alfa Garcia
Alfa, you look SO much like Faye! It's gotta be the bangs. :-)
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