Afternoon Melodies: Young Musician Plays the Ukulele in Prospect Park

In the dark of the tunnel between Grand Army Plaza and Long Meadow in Prospect Park, a light, sweet yet powerful voice sang out from a figure sitting on the bench.

The voice belongs to a Cara Salimando, a New Jersey native and Park Slope resident, who is a professional singer-songwriter for Glassnote Records, which is part of Universal Publishing.

Salimando, who is a piano player bu trade, is top lining at Glassnote, which means she writes the lyrics and melody for other artists. 

Her latest placement was for a UK pop star named Cheryl Cole-- who will be featured as a judge on show "The X Factor" next season Fox.

The 21-year-old has played the piano since she was seven, started writing songs when she was nine and has wrote professionally since she was 17.

She has one album out, which can be found on iTunes or her website. That album was created by writing two songs a month for a year-- 24 songs in total.

Her newest album comes out in July.

But on Thursday, Salimando wasn't playing the piano. She was in the park strumming a ukulele and singing.

"I play piano mainly, but I came out today because I'm poor," she said, only half kidding. "I didn't want to busk-- but I wanted to feel productive."

And why did she pick the tunnel? (If you remember the trumpet player who also like this spot.)

"Sitting in this tunnel is a great place to play for the acoustics are great," she said.

Make sure to watch the video above! If you want to check out other songs of hers, go to her website: carasalimando.com. If you want to contact her, e-mail: cara.salimando@gmail.com.