Aloha mai!January's a somewhat slow time in the Hawaiian music world. The studios have done their best to get their CDs out in time to qualify for the Na Hoku Hanohano awards, so there's only one new CD to preview (but it's a winner!). The concerts are slowly picking up, mostly due to a Mainland blitz by ki ho'alu (slack key) artists Cyril Pahinui, the Rev. Dennis Kamakahi, and George Kahumoku, Jr. (see schedule below). Tickets for the O`ahu Hawaiian immersion schools' annual Ho'omau concert will be on sale at the end of this month, with an interesting and diverse lineup, and the ever-popular Keali'i Reichel is going to be in the Bay Area.
I do have one sad piece of information to pass on, and that is the soon-to-occue demise of Honolulu radio stations KCCN 1420 AM. KCCN AM was the original Hawaiian music station, the channel that played Hawaiian music when, to steal a quote, "Hawaiian wasn't cool." All the oldies, all the classics, were played on KCCN AM -- from Lena Machado to Genoa Keawe, from Nina Keali'iwahamana to Mahi Beamer, from Sonny Chillingworth to the K Lake Trio. While KINE, and to a much lesser extent KCCN FM, cover a portion of this repetoire, loss of this station to a talk-news-sports format will be a real hardship to those who enjoy the old-timers. I understand that Harry B. Soria's Territorial Airwaves will be kept, but I don't think a lot else will be. Auwe no ho'i e!
How this page works: I list Hawaiian music concerts around the globe for the next two weeks, plus new concerts I hear of. If you have any concert info, please feel free to drop me a line at susanj@lava.net.
Recordings
Ohana `O Kaua`i, Ohana `O Kaua`i Vol. 2: Instrumentals from the Garden Isle.(Ohana `O Kaua`i PT 1997). I dunno. Maybe I'm a sucker for instrumentals. Maybe there've just been a number of good instrumental recordings lately (Slack and Steel, Slack Key Praise, the Uncle Harry CD I keep raving about). Or maybe instrumental musicians are just a tad less egocentric than some groups who think that , with studio prices so low, because they can cut a CD, they should cut a CD. Anyway, the folks over on Kaua'i, Paul Tokioka and Buddy Panaoke, who honchoed this CD, have the right to be proud of this small gem of a recording. Buddy and Paul play on every cut, and bring in guest artists on slack key guitar, 'ukulele, steel, and banjo to make up this delightful CD. Ken Emerson adds a bluegrass touch to "Kohala March," Ray Kane duets on "How'd Ya Do," and others, including Ernest Palmeira, Brent Eynon, Kaui Low, and Albert Genova, add beauty to "Hawaiian Interlude," "Star of Gladness," "Maunaloa," and "Lorrie-Lee Shuffle." The CD has a nice balance between the beautiful, rich, rolling slack key numbers, the twangy foot-stompin' banjo numbers, and the quintesstially liquid steel guitar sound. For some reason, John Hall's rock song "Dance with Me" made the CD, but actually, that comes out well. The only jarring number is "Ho'onani" with its string section. It's overkill and detracts from the beauty of the other instruments. However, that's a minor quibble (that's why God made programmable CD players, right? [g]). Overall, this is a beautiful, quite enjoyable CD.
--Susan
susanj@lava.netLike Hawaiian music? Find out the latest concerts and releases on Susan's Hawaiian Music Page, now at:
http://www.nahenahe.net/susanmusic/current.html or
http://www.interpac.net/~nahenahe/susanmusic/current.html
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