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LovinLK
Lokahi
USA
112 Posts |
 Posted - 07/15/2007 : 09:18:30 AM
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Is it my imagination or are there less and less traditional Hawaiian albums being released these days?
Whenever I read John Berger's CD column in the Star Bulletin, it seems like it's all this Jawaiian stuff.
I haven't seen anything new from a lot of my favourite artists in ages ... Olomana, Haunani Apoliona (or is she too busy at OHA), Ho'okena (I see Manu Boyd left OHA - what's he up to now?), Kawai Hewett, Makaha Sons, Pandanus Club, etc.
I've been totally immersed in Australian country music for the last couple of years, but do check Auntie Maria's site and the papers to see what's been happening and there doesn't seem to be that much of interest.
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Lovin' Lee is my favorite pasttime!!
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 09:29:13 AM
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| I don't think there are less traditional Hawaiian albums being released now, but others may feel differently. There are a lot of new Hawaiian acts coming onto the music scene, such as Kaukahi, Pilioha, Honu Kai, Tia Carrere, and others. Also, many singers and groups that have been around for at least five years are doing very well. For example, Raiatea Helm's new CD "Hawaiian Blossom" is just wonderful! Check it out. |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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Auntie Maria
Ha`aha`a
USA
1918 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 11:29:51 AM
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There will probably always be more non-Hawaiian releases, than Hawaiian -- and it's been that way for about the last 15-20 years. But thankfully, we do have many new and talented young musicians coming up in the ranks, releasing traditional Hawaiian albums. Whether they live in the islands, or on the mainland, musicians are perpetuating traditional Hawaiian music beautifully!
And many of them don't just play the tried-and-true tunes of yesteryear...they are creating new haku mele. Look at island artists like Lopaka Kanaka`ole, Kainani Kahaunaele, Keali`i Reichel, Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, Kenneth Makuakane, Leina`ala Kalima-Heine, Aaron J. Sala, Ku`uipo Kumukahi -- great composers of new haku mele. And where would we be without the marvelous, prolific works of Dennis Kamakahi, Puakea Nogelmeier, etc.?
No worries -- Hawaiian music is alive and well.  |
Auntie Maria
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My "Aloha Kaua`i" radio show streams FREE online every Thu & Fri 7-9am (HST)
www.kkcr.org - Kaua`i Community Radio
"Like" Aloha Kauai on Facebook, for playlists and news/info about island music and musicians!
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LovinLK
Lokahi
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 12:46:48 PM
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Dennis is a long-time friend of mine and I know he's awesome. Dennis is also funny. I remember laughing so hard I was crying at some of his escapades with George Kuo. Maybe it's the black nail polish.
Keali'i does some good Hawaiian language songs but is also doing songs I'm not too thrilled with. He's got a lot of talent. Ipo has done some really nice songs and the same with Ken.
When I get a CD, I look for all good songs. And even the artists I like do some lemons on their CDs. Kawai's Makalapua 'Oe is one of my favorite CDs. Nobody can do "Ka Wai Lehua" like he can. That is a magic song.
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Lovin' Lee is my favorite pasttime!!
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 5:09:33 PM
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Don't forget Led! He got the Grammy for his last album!
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2007 : 11:06:09 AM
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| I ran into Manu at a wedding here in Hilo this past Saturday. He is heading up a new Hawaiian cultural program at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, trying to bring more of a Hawaiian feel to the place. He sounded very excited about it and the future. It's OHA's loss that he left, but hopefully we will run again and make the board in the near future. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2007 : 1:26:13 PM
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| I think it is all market driven, no? If the buyers want traditional Hawaiian music, someone will feed that market. I'd buy more, but sometimes gotta pay the bills and buy grocerires and stuff like that. When we were talking to Martin Pahinui when we went our "Hele fo da Mele", I asked Martin what the younger generation of `Ohana Pahinui are up to. He said rock and roll, jawaiian and reggae. It tickled me when he said rock & roll. I said Martin, I have listened to Cane Fire. What I think is that when this younger generation ages for a few years, they will want the older stuff, too. Our oldest daughter who was crazy about Kurt Cobain and the Smashing Pumpkins and all kinds of the music that sounds like industrial sewinig machines loves Iz music and wants "'N Dis Life" played at her wedding. She likes when me & her daddy sing it and look lovingly into each others eyes and all that other kind of mushy stuff. Now I know that song is not traditional Hawaiian music, but it is a start on the road to lead her to the right place. You give the kids all kinds of values throughout their life and it is like you write the values down on a slip of paper and the kid puts them in a basket. When they get to be teenagers, they dump that basket out on the ground, values and all. The miracle is that one by one they start picking up those values and putting them back into the basket. They will come back to what they were taught; back to that which they experienced in their family. The best thing to do, then, is expose the younger generation to the traditional music just by playing it whenever they are around. You get in the car, put on a good Hawaiian CD. They come over for dinner or to borrow the washing machine or something, make sure Hawaiian music is playing on the stereo. They may think it is old tutu kine music, but they will later on remember the good feelings they had at home when they heard the music and they will want to feel that way again. It will happen. Just takes time. Not too many 20-something girls living in Cleveland know who Pete Seeger is and Israel Kamakwiwo`ole or even Marx Brothers or Red Skelton or Joe Mabus from Michigan, and dat kolohe buggah Ledward; not too many know that the kitty is not real happy whem mom dances "Pua Mana" with kitty in her arms, but at least they know the mele is Pua Mana...that's a start. They hear us speaking words and they know what pono means; they know what aloha means. Teach by example. If you have it, they will come...some day. That is why it is so important to make sure the traditional music gets documented and talked about and written about and recorded. Someday the tutu's wont be here to tell us stories like Eddie Kamae or Uncle Ray and Aunty Elodia. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 07/16/2007 2:33:43 PM |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2007 : 4:19:37 PM
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| We get too soon old and too late smart. I was weird, I always hung around my kupuna and learned the obscure stuff. Now I have to recount it to my cousins. Being human takes time, building appreciation takes time. |
Edited by - thumbstruck on 07/16/2007 4:20:28 PM |
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Auntie Maria
Ha`aha`a
USA
1918 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2007 : 5:27:10 PM
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Sorry thumbstruck, Led didn't win the Grammy.
But he was one of the artists who was on the 2007 Grammy-winning CD -- LEGENDS OF HAWAIIAN SLACK KEY GUITAR: LIVE FROM MAUI. The Grammy went to the CD's producers. |
Auntie Maria
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My "Aloha Kaua`i" radio show streams FREE online every Thu & Fri 7-9am (HST)
www.kkcr.org - Kaua`i Community Radio
"Like" Aloha Kauai on Facebook, for playlists and news/info about island music and musicians!
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2007 : 4:49:02 PM
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But there's a hole in the basket, dear Wanda, a hole.
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Ray Sowders
Akahai
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 09:52:16 AM
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I think there is something to be said about what is "market driven". Unfortunately when someone puts their time, energy and money into a recording... they need to have a market, or they end up with a garage full of CDs. There is so much to consider, (more than can be defined here) and so many opinions on what someone should do, when you seek advise from those you respect, and/or have more experience in this. Things like, playing the slack key style that includes pa'ani in your songs...or hula style,(that most dancers prefer) that do not have solos, and have certain predictable vamps, and things that appeal to hula. Instrumental selections, or vocal? Should songs in English, Spanish etc. be included? If you record Hawaiian music, will you put your image on the CD? (That one usually brings up strong opinions!) Will you have traditional distribution, and try to prepare your "product" to appeal to them? How will you "support" the recording? Meaning.. will you be playing regularly in places where folks would buy your CDs, or become a mall/craft show/etc. performer, doing all the countless free promotional gigs? Or can you find a way to actually be included with the touring musicians who do the concert venues...who typically don't like "new" faces in their ventures...There really is a lot to consider. Most folks end up with a mix or combination of the above and more...I think decisions like this seriously effect folks who want to record Hawaiian music. Or any other style for that matter. I have to play a lot of pop music (in Waikiki gigs) just to stay working. So, I try hard to pick songs that mean something to me, try to get this type of audience attention, and then share some Hawaiian music with them. Maybe we can increase the potential market by cultivating the listeners this way? It is certainly not a new idea, but it's the one that seems to work the best for me. How about it? Do the other performers out there have a better mousetrap?
Aloha
Ray
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 10:53:29 AM
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Funny you should say that, Ray, about whether to play with a style that includes pa`ani or play hula style. Last night Paul was playing Radio Hula and I was in the kitchen trying to dance to it. That is when I discovered that here and there he would drop a beat and play only 3/4 instead of 4/4. When someone plays by themself, hard to keep the time. But, of course, the recordings that do have pa`ani, you would be tuckered out trying to dance and keep up a vamp over and over during the solo. And it is not telling a story, then. It is just movement for movement's sake.
It has got to be very hard to decide what type of music to put on a recording. I have many times thought I should be someone's manager or producer so I could tell them that what they did could have been better if they just did so-an-so. I like a CD that has a mixture of music -- fast and slow; sweet and lively; serious and kolohe;new and old; OK to mix in other languages, like Sonny did. How about that one with Uncle Dennis and David, with Around the World or the one when they do a Cajun song. Maybe an instrumental here and there, but mostly I like stuff that has words to it. How you going to hula without words? I understand that you have to tailor your live playing to the audience. I remember when Paul first joined his dulcimer club and they would play for retirement homes and such, they crowd was just not into it sometimes because the songs they did were so obscure. They wanted to hear something they recognized. If the dulcimer club did Tennessee Waltz, you could see the audience perk up and they clapped vigorously after the song was done. I know that some of you guys have complained that the tourists in Waikiki want to hear Iz songs, but instead of being grumpy at them, maybe realize that the audience is asking for the only Hawaiian stuff they know, but at least they are making an attempt to get into the music and to show interest in the player by requesting something they are familiar with. How to balance it is a way hard conundrum. Me personally, I would be bummed if I went Hawai`i and heard all kind of Barry Manilow or similar stuff. I have seen Willie K. doing traditional Hawaiian music, oli, yodeling, rock and roll, blues, do-wop, even the Ink Spots stuff. I wonder if he learned that stuff because he liked it or because he needed to learn it to supply his customers with the product they wanted to buy.
It is a puzzlement...hard to sell a product when you are not sure what product the customer wants. I don't know how you guys do it. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 12:06:13 PM
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But honey dear, that was the Appalachian "crooked" version of Radio Hula. Wait 'till I learn it on the BANJO! Might lose whole measures!
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2007 : 12:01:34 PM
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One thing about Willie K. He grew up in California therefore his exposure to music was broader because of his life experience being different. Now we have all the music in the world in Hawaii too. But Willie probably had a chance to jam with people that played more varieties of music. He also has an uncanny talent to play any style he chooses. Have you ever seen him reproduce a Japanese samurai movie in song. It is hilarious.
most of the time a CD is produced for the sake of making a living so the cuts should have appeal to a wider audience. But sometimes a musician is so good that people don't care what that person plays just as long as that person is playing something.
Someday I am going to record something because friends and fans keep asking me to do just that. I am not going to produce a commercially successful product. I just want an anthology of all my favorite songs. At least the ones that I can play with my limited skill. My grandchildren will know at that part of me after I am long gone from this world.
I usually play whatever I like when I perform and sometimes I can answer a request or two. I have never had a negative reaction from my audience unless that person was so pela that I hoped he wasn't driving home later.
Professionals who record for a living must always package their product for the audience. But that is why musicians must rely on a good producer. Think about most of Iz's stuff was compiled after he passed away by someone with more smarts in the field than us mere musicians. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2007 : 5:03:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by noeau
One thing about Willie K. He grew up in California...
As far as I know Willie grew up in Lahaina. He's a year or two younger than me and went to Lahaina Luna (I went to St. Anthony in Wailuku). I didn't meet him until we were both out of high school, so it is possible he lived in CA for some time before that. I never heard about it.
He gigged all over the island, a lot on Front Street in Lahaina with a number of groups playing a lot of different styles of music. One name that comes to mind is Da Buggas, though I'm not positive he was in that band. I remember engineering a demo session for a friend of his where he was doing some screaming metal. I do recall when he came back after spending a lot of time in the bay area (mid-late 80s) and he certainly did grow as musician, this was a few years before his debut CD.
The music scene in the 80s in Lahaina were incredible. Stevie Wonder, Michael McDonald, George Benson and the members of Fleetwood Mac (just a few that I remember) would walk into bars and just jam with whoever was playing that night. Barry Flanagan was in a number of bands besides his gig with Keali‘i as Hapa. He was in a great band called "The Penetrators" that did a lot of blues rock. I was a bit surprised, albeit pleasantly, when Hapa hit it with their debut CD before he made it with them. |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2007 : 10:49:13 PM
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Hi there,
No mention here of either George or Keoki Kahumoku. Keoki especially has released some excellent CDs recently. Although many of the songs are "new", they are slack key and very much in the Hawaiian tradition.
Uncle Dennis Kamakahi was at George Kahumoku's slack key workshop in June, and I believe will be at Keoki's in December. He didn't have his black fingernails, but he had some wonderful stories.
Also, check out John Keawe's music. He's written much of it, including Kona Sunset which is gorgeous. And it's slack key as well. and he'll be at Keoki's workshop too. There is so much good music out there that I'm going broke buying CDs. Borders in Kahului has a huge section, and here in our area of the mainland some of the artists perform at the big bookstores and are featured in the rather extensive Hawaiian music sections. And if you're no longer close to any, just go to Mele.com and Auntie Maria will fix you right up!
I don't think the most recent HAPA release is what I think of when I think of Hawaiian music.
Ah well, just some thoughts. There's still too much out there for me to absorb.
n |
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