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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
 Posted - 08/26/2005 : 07:32:33 AM
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Ray Sowders was kind enough to send me his new CD "Ho'omalie" to pull tracks from for the upcoming Taropatch.net CD. I gave it a listen last night.
Very gentle and enjoyable. It is mostly vocals with slack key and steel guitar in the background. His voice is a warm (folky?) baritone with attention to detail and diction. He sings in both English and Hawaiian. His affection for Hawaiian music is evident in the way he delivers the story in each song.
My favorite cut is "Cowboy Medley" in which he pairs "Kilakila Na Roughriders" with an original cowboy tune. Although the interplay between Ray's slack key and Shawn's freeform accompaniment on another guitar is something I'd never heard before, the production keeps any distractions to a minimum so the vocals come through clearly and tell the story.
Nice work, Ray! The CD is available from Ray's website www.raysowders.com.
Jesse Tinsley
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Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2005 : 09:53:38 AM
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A small aside here:
One of my favorite songs that I have heard Ray sing (at least I was told that it was Ray peforming) is one that I do not know the title to and is not listed on Rays's site. I heard it played on the Radio (KKUP) several times over the last year. It contains the lyrics:
Watch the sunlight dance upon the water
like the hula of an island daughter.
(it is NOT the song Sunlite-Moonlight)
The melody is lovely (kind of has some Irish lilt) and I love the writing because the whole song appears to be about the wind, but only if you listen closely, because the wind is never directly named in the song. To me this seems to be nice way to achieve (in english text) the kind of kaona that is prevalent in traditional Hawaiian songs.
So did Ray write this song, and what is it's name, and where was it published?
(and congrats to Ray for such a lovely song... if he did write it)
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Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
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islandboo
Lokahi
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2005 : 10:03:35 AM
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quote:
The CD is available from Ray's website www.raysowders.com.
I have both of Ray Sowders' CDs and recommend them highly. However, I wanted to note that Ray sent out an email last week that indicated that he is discontinuing the commerce portion of his website by the end of this month and that he would like folks to order from Auntie Maria at mele.com (there will be a link)
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Ray Sowders
Akahai
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 12:49:20 PM
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Mahalo all for the nice words. A note to Lawrence, I think the song your are describing is Leon Siu. I think he may have wrote and sung the song. To all the taropatch members, thanks for making me feel welcome.
Aloha Pumehana,
Ray |
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Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 1:58:24 PM
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Thanks for the hint Ray. I yahooed it. Yes, the song is "Dance upon the Water" performed by Leon and Malia on their disk "Boat Days / Tropic Nights".
I think what confused me was that song is sung by another baritone (Leon) and is featured on a compilation disc that also has some of your work. The DJ on KKUP would play several cuts of the compilation CD and then "back announce" the material, sometimes incorrectly.
I was not sure about the voice, because I had already noticed that your singing is generally less inflected than the lead vocal on the above recording.
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Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
Edited by - Lawrence on 08/30/2005 1:59:16 PM |
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Ray Sowders
Akahai
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 08:52:22 AM
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Howzit Lawrence,
Yes, your correct...there is a disc called "Songs of Paradise" that is a compilation with several friends, released a while back. I think it's out of "print" now but was put out by a local producer. That CD also had some of my studio work on Lee Ann Colazo's contributions. I played slack key on some of her songs, and helped out in the musical arranging. Just some trivia for you!
A hui hou,
Ray |
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