Claudia Gomez

Claudia was born in Medellin Colombia. She comes from a musical family. Her own musical inclinations led to guitar playing at the age of twelve. Her first performance took place at age 14 and by the time she was 18 she was touring her native country with an all female group called Cuarteto Ellas. After studying and performing in London and Colombia for some time, Claudia chose to settle in the Bay Area in 1983 and establish herself in the Brazilian music community where she continued to develop her "unique musical identity."

We set out in this project to deal with gender issues in music and composition. Key questions we sought answers to were related to gender  identity and success in the music industry. Questions such as: Is there a definite distinction between women composers and composers in general?  Are the artists we spoke to identified as "women composers?" If so does  this influence or affect their reception by others in their perceptions of  themselves? Is that impact positive or negative? Is it freeing or confining  to be identified specifically as a female composer? Their definition of  success and if they feel they have achieved it? What more they would like  to accomplish?

Claudia definitely feels she is identified as a woman composer, part of this she explains is due to the industry's desire to exploit possible themes for  promotional reasons.  She also stresses that she feels it is essential that  women express their views in every artistic manner possible. For  Claudia  identifying herself woman composer is not confining:"There are  issues and aspects of life that happen to women, and only women can  express them. It doesn't change my perception of myself as a musician,
  but it does empower me as a woman, or a better woman. Since I am a  woman...I express my beliefs through the act of doing."

Doing is a large part of Claudia's music. Being identified as a woman  composer is a freeing element in her artistic expression. Her own words define her feelings of freedom that stem from being a female composer/performer, as she explains, "...there is a tendency for the woman musician/composer to be less technical, more expressive and with less fear of letting go.

Freeing/non-confining perspectives blend with her introspective methods  of defining and measuring her success. For Claudia, there are different  levels of success. There are internal feelings of success, like knowledge  and maturity as a musician, as well as external expressions of success such as being known outside her community, knowing there is still a lot to learn and her feelings of committment to that learning process. What the  future holds is uncertain, but when asked what more she wants to
  achieve, Claudia hopes for an opportunity to travel the world for six  months of the year, singing to diverse audiences, and the chance to spend  the remaining six months composing new music.

For more information; Discography, Bibliography and additional Biographical information please see Claudia's Homepage