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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
 Posted - 07/30/2007 : 1:00:39 PM
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"Our Beloved Land" - R. Carlos Nakai and Keola Beamer
This album is a very special fusion of both Hawaiian and North American original peoples' cultures. It is outstanding in its emotional and spiritual depth. It restores the human voice to the slack key guitar with both Navajo and Hawaiian language chants and adds the native American flute (and Hawaiian nose flute) to its richness. Too often new age influences in recorded, slack key music seem to have banned the human touch added by the addition of a vocal element, transforming slack key music into a medium for those who have been artificially muted and appealing to those who enjoy the luxury of ears that need not respond to issues, either overtly stated or implied.
I previously enjoyed the work of the Paul Winter Consort, but always felt there was something somewhat artificial about their jazz based adaptions of the sound of native people's music to a genre inspired by influences rooted in other parts of the world and fused in America, though their work was cleverly done. The authenticity present in the sound of the music in this album distilled in my mind the value of music based upon full immersion in the culture of origin, and the related sense of relevance that is then evoked by its expression.
I can only hope more slack key albums restore the human voice and native chants (new or old) to their content in a broad manner (a factor that seems strangely absent in a large percentage of works found on slack key albums, even by native Hawaiians who have studied both oli and hula).
This body of work reinforces the relevance of ancient cultures in a present day world in which global forces vie and giant corporations and governments seem to diminish the relevence of anything wanting the power and related wealth of the political juggernauts they have spawned as exercised through complex bureaucracies that seem at times not only indifferent but obstructive to the protection of individual's and marginalized groups. What better way for the voice of native peoples, with their inherent concern for the land, family ties, and the relevance of individual rights and beliefs to seek to restore the importance of such issues in a world too often refocused on international conflict by the mass media?
I invite you to visit an on-line retailer and listen via the internet to excerpts from the tracks on this album as a collection of music with a unique cultural depth. This is probably the finest album I've heard this year, and that comes from a midwesterner, who spent his childhood surrounded by fields of corn rather than sandy beaches or mesas.
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Thank you. |
Edited by - Absolute on 07/31/2007 12:39:09 PM |
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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2007 : 5:31:13 PM
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| Just want to add that this CD is a collaboration between Keola Beamer and Carlos Nakai. It is by far Keola's most spiritual accomplishment. The flute playing of Carlos is beautiful and transcends the earthly plane. For those of you who have not heard it yet I strongly recommend listening to it. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2007 : 7:05:43 PM
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| I've enjoyed the works of both these artists for years, and was pleased to see them begin working together a couple years ago. They performed a few shows around here earlier this year, and it was a treat to speak with them both. |
Edited by - Retro on 07/31/2007 1:32:13 PM |
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2007 : 12:40:37 PM
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| Artists' names added via edit - sorry about the oversight. |
Thank you. |
Edited by - Absolute on 07/31/2007 12:41:07 PM |
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