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Auntie Maria
Ha`aha`a
USA
1918 Posts |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
 Posted - 03/12/2006 : 09:43:23 AM
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Thanks for pointing to that article. Brings up lots of thoughts and impressions. I would like to offer 2 of them, and a question.
For the good and bad, both mainland and island culture are very different now than 25 years ago. When Auntie Beamer wrote a song as a gift I doubt that she had much thought of it being played on the radio.(Maybe I'm wrong.) In fact, my understanding is that when you wrote a song for someone, they became "owners" of the song. While music was played for entertainment, it had a more significant function in the community - communication, exchange of aloha, social bonding. Today music is increasingly relegated to "entertainment," and airplay/recognition/sales has increasingly become the touchstone of value. To the level at which that occurs, the "power" is placed in the hands of those people who manipulate the mass markets and tastes. Not a great prospect for original Hawaiian music. Even at best, it is a small market. Perhaps a reviewing of the cultural context of music will be necessary.
I think one of the places where there is a lot of music being written is with (mostly teenaged) garage bands. I see lots of kids around us producing lots of new songs. (Sometimes I wish they didn't, but I'm becoming an old fogey.) It's possible that with the slow but steady gains in immersion schools, the growing popularity and quality of hula kahiko and hula in general, and the ability of current performers to get their music out in ways not just reliant on radio, that there is still hope.
So, I want to conclude with 2 questions to fellow TP'ers:
- How many songs have you written and given as gifts in the past year?
- How many albums by Frank Hewwett do you own? (One of the best haku mele writing today.) This question really is a form of how you do support the current composers.
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2006 : 12:29:41 PM
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Skylark talks asks "What is Hawaiian music?"
For me, it's music that reminds me of Hawai'i, makes me feel more Hawaiian, makes me glad to be Hawaiian. It could be reggae, traditional or chant. Although I listen to Hawaiian reggae, a lot of it doesn't do any of the above and is usually a cookie cutter synthesizer beat and cliche teenage love song lyrics.
Jesse Tinsley |
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Bwop
Lokahi
USA
244 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2006 : 2:24:21 PM
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Aloha e Raymond,
All my songs are gifts. I can't give enough. |
Bwop |
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sbar15
Lokahi
USA
151 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2006 : 01:00:12 AM
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Ray,
very well said |
Steve |
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tahitijack
Aloha
USA
43 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2006 : 1:20:43 PM
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| When I attend slack key concerts I always buy the cd's of the artist(s) that are playing. During a visit to the music stores I aways check the Hawaiian section and find new music to take home. As I struggle to learn to play slack key I have collected instruction books. In my small way I hope my money is helping to keep the music alive. Sadly, with the exception of Rap and Hip Hop most of the major sectors of the music industry (Country, Jazz and Blues) are seeing declining sales. I'm not there yet but one day my plinking will turn into a complete song and I'll give it away to my wife. |
Happy Sunsets |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2006 : 05:24:19 AM
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I've done a few tunes, also. Music is communication, but in the commercial culture of the bottom line it is treated like product. Because of this, most people only know what is sold to them. This can be good and bad. It inspires innovation, but musch that is good tradition-wise can be lost.
The conclusion: Keep jamming, sharing tunes and licks, and don't allow yourself to be squeezed into anyone else's mold. As long as you and your friends play the music it is alive. |
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