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Pauline Leland
`Olu`olu
USA
783 Posts |
 Posted - 09/06/2004 : 12:28:19 PM
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I went to Bumbershoot today, Seattle's taste of the arts festival with a heavy emphasis on music. The draw was billed as Ka Liko “The Rising Stars of Hawaii” featuring Makana, Jake Shimabukuro & Raiatea Helm.
This was the first year to offer Hawaiian music at Bumbershoot. The crowd was large and enthusiastic, so I expect more next year. They performed separately and then jammed together at the end, about a 3-hour performance in one of the very good venues at Seattle Center.
Raiatea was surprisingly (to me) good, a teenager who sings falsetto, and she has a strong, lovely voice when singing straight. She didn't convert me to a falsetto fan when a woman sings it, but that’s just personal taste. She danced 3 or 4 graceful hulas over the afternoon, too. She's only a teenager but has great stage presence when she sings and accompanies herself on uke. When she's not singing, she is often the teen. In very few years, with an even smoother presence between songs, she'll be formidable with her singing, dancing, and playing talents. Her dad and a female relative, mom?, accompanied her with vocals and on guitar and stand-up bass. Her dad has a good falsetto as well.
Jake was Jake, youthful and energetic. He has consummate skill on the uke and focuses on showmanship. He was standing, walking and jumping around, sitting in a chair but seldom still, even sitting on stage, feet dangling over the edge. He made funny faces at the audience, kicked his feet up, standing or sitting, and tried hard to make a one-man show playing instrumental uke entertaining. He succeeded hugely, very likable as well as entertaining. I didn't get a CD partly because I thought he wouldn't translate too well to sound track without the visuals, but mainly because the after-concert crowd was so dense around the CD tables! He's a highly skilled musician who presents himself as an entertainer first. It makes his complex music appear shallow.
I'm already a fan of Makana, the slack key player. He is much more serious than Jake, seemed more wrapped up in his music, more an introvert, and his music was often moving, thrilling, not just entertainment. His first piece was flash, fretting with his palm, his forearm, his ankle, but that was the only one. It doesn’t suit him and he didn’t draw much applause for the gimmicks. The rest was straightforward playing and some singing with his lovely tenor. One piece was a rock-slack key fusion, very good. Since he doesn't have Jake's gift of gab, he dresses in costume, today in a short, bright print kimono cut jacket and loose black pants, both looking silky, and barefoot. In contrast, Jake wore a pair of jeans with holes in them, an almost sleeveless T-shirt, and boots.
Both Jake and Makana had a bad electric tone, but then I think anyone using a pickup is likely to have bad tone. Jake was not too loud, but when he strummed hard, and he did, frequently, his piezo pickup quacked and quacked. Makana didn't quack, he just had his volume set too loud. There was a baby that cried every time he got loud. I finally realized my own hearing was distorting, put in earplugs, and the baby vanished. Raiatea’s combo played at a comfortable level.
If you have a chance to see any of them then GO, ignore my negative quibbles - it was a wonderful concert. The rare opportunity to see these artists together made it very special.
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Kapila Kane
Ha`aha`a
USA
1051 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2004 : 03:01:37 AM
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I didn't realize Makana had just hit the Northwest...wish he'd come back through Denver!
Actually saw him at Maui slack key festival in June, so if my other post didn't make sense--well...
Makana's voice is like a cross between Roy Orbison and a close songwriter friend we lost recently. So it probably strikes a couple extra neuro-associations for me, but I'd like his music anyway.
I've heard of Bumbershoot from our friends at the Kerrville Folks festival, but haven't made it yet. The Hawaiian addition makes it REALLY climb the "to do" list.
Of course there's always "Burning Man", but I think I'll head for the cooler of the two! |
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