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Bill Campbell
Akahai
USA
90 Posts |
 Posted - 12/09/2005 : 4:11:58 PM
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Earlier this evening, on another thread, I made a comment to ‘jwn’ about a ‘washtub bass player’ who played with the Mango Brothers on Kauai. As I was surfing the Web to see if I could find out anything about the Mango Brothers, I came across this post by Doug and Sandy McMaster about them. However, it is a very sad one, because it reports the death of the man I just spoke of, Kachi Yokotake. It is a beautiful tribute by Doug and Sandy to a beautiful man.
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Friday, March 18th, 2005 9:21 PM HST
Pakini No More
Sunday nights at the Hanalei Gourmet will be very different without the reverberating bass of the pakini (washtub) bass played so smoothly by Kachi Yokotake... brother of Mitsu, the other half of the duo known as the Mango Brothers. Kachi was one of the last few that played this very cool instrument... a mango stick, a bass string, and a washtub... you wouldn't think it could make such beautiful and intricate sounds.
In the wee hours of Monday morning, Kachi passed on... now watching over from heavenly realms. One of our fondest memories... the day we met Kachi... after wandering around downtown Hanalei and visiting the Hanalei Surf Shop in the Old School building, we sat down on the bench outside, just talking story and enjoying people watching in Hanalei - one of our favorite things to do. This tall, broad Hawaiian-Japanese man in a red tank top, board shorts, and slippers stopped and asked Doug about his guitar (was in a
gig bag next to the bench). He wanted to know what kind of music Doug played. Slack key... the only answer. Ok, play some. Doug got out the guitar and played a song... Ok, play another... Doug played Punahele (Ray Kane). The man in the red tank top was beside himself... almost a 'happy dance' - just like a kid... or better yet... a Menehune. He said, "Wait here." and disappeared down the lanai of the old building. A few minutes later, he reappeared and said... "You've got a job... Monday nights... at the Gourmet." And that was that.
Kachi and Mitsu (and their wives Val and Vicky) have always been kind to us. They've always said 'Hey' with a bear hug and Hawaiian style handshake... even in public. That may not seem like much to some people... but here in Hawaii, whether socially or racially motivated, there are many people who will talk to you when no one can see them, but in public they act like they don't know you. Hurtful, silly, and so un-Hawaiian... so foreign... so without spirit.
When we all weren't taking on extra jobs to pay the rent, we got to share good times and music... in a better day. We miss those days. We did have fun... made a video of the guys at the Gourmet... did a test recording/CD for them... as we nagged them to make an official CD/Video. Sandy dreamed of making documentary recordings (both video and audio) to preserve and perpetuate gifts, knowledge, and talent... but so like musicians (including Doug)... it's the playing that seems important. And truly it is the moment and the magic that are what make the memories.
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Kachi was very unassuming, shy, but he had a beautiful Hawaiian tenor voice. When Doug met them, I was also performing at the Hanalei Gourmet on Wednesday nights, and I remember well the night that Sandy and Doug came over and met the boys outside the restaurant. Besides Kachi and his brother, Mitsu, there was a third Mango Brother, Sam Mahuiki, who played a 12 string Ovation. Doug said that he and Sandy were in the process of moving from the Big Island to Kauai. In fact, Doug used a small portable cassette recorder to record several cuts of the Mango Brothers, which he had planned to market for them, and I still have a copy of that master tape.
Anyway, I spent a few winters on Kauai in the late '90s, and I stayed at the Cliffs in Princeville, where Kachi worked as a night watchman. I used to practice at the Activities Center on nights when it wasn't being used for anything else, and, one night I noticed that Kachi was standing at the door observing me. He came up and asked me if I could play 'Pua Lilia'. I played it, and he began to sing, in Hawaiian, in such a beautiful voice that I gave me chickenskin. One night, he came up and said, 'Bill, let's do 'Pua Lilia'.' He had his back to the door, and he couldn't see the crowd that was forming at the back of the hall. When we were finished, they all started to applaud. Kachi turned around, very astonished, and he left hurriedly, because, as good as he was, he always felt inadequate about his voice.
I have a tendency to play songs faster than they should be played (sound familiar), and ‘Pua Lilia’ was no exception. Many times Kachi would stop me and say, ‘Bill, slow down, it is a love SONG’, with the accent on the SONG, in the manner of most native Hawaiians.
I play ‘Pua Lilia’ at nearly every public performance, but I can never play it without hearing Kachi’s words in my head, ‘Bill, slow down, it is a love SONG’.
I will miss him.
Bill C.
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