| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| wcerto |
Posted - 04/08/2010 : 05:24:56 AM
Mountain Apple has posted a tantalizing taste of an upcoming collaborative release of Keola Beamer and Raiatea. It is entitled Ina - Imagine. It is John Lennon's Imagine in Hawaiian language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC-KYMz55iw
I would be interested in comments on this. It is nice to be able to have a listen before the CD is released.
I'll put in my two cents after I decide if I like it or not. I've got to listen to it a few more times. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| wcerto |
Posted - 07/20/2010 : 06:39:30 AM
Well, Bill, tell your in-laws to come down next time we have a `ukulele workshop or for our hula workshop in January.
How cool is that for you that they listen to Hawaiian music! Indeed a good ice breaker. |
| hwnmusiclives |
Posted - 07/20/2010 : 06:12:40 AM
quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
How surprised was I to go to our local Borders in Solon, OH and hear this album playing over the PA in the store. They played the whole thing, including Hilo Hanakahi and Kimo Henderson Hula, etc. I was really stoked and kindea proud that at least of all the random times that I go to the bookstore (to get books to read on the plane & in airports for our hele fo da mele), they happened to be playing it at that exact time.
I tried in vain to hear if any patrons were commenting on it, but auwe, I heard nothing. People must not have even noticed. Well, no matter, at least I noticed.
Wanda, I was out your way last weekend (somewhere between Findlay and Tiffin) for my fiancée's family reunion. Naturally, we have to spend a day at Cedar Point. So seven of us get into the Mountaineer and when my new cousin-in-law starts it up, what is piping through the car stereo but Iz's "Alone In Iz World." This woman has never met me and was by no means "setting me up." But it turns out that she and her husband vacation on Maui every year and have an expansive collection of Hawaiian CDs. When Iz was through, cousin threw on some Keali'i Reichel.
I was not expecting this, but what a great ice breaker with new family!
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| wcerto |
Posted - 07/14/2010 : 3:23:35 PM
How surprised was I to go to our local Borders in Solon, OH and hear this album playing over the PA in the store. They played the whole thing, including Hilo Hanakahi and Kimo Henderson Hula, etc. I was really stoked and kindea proud that at least of all the random times that I go to the bookstore (to get books to read on the plane & in airports for our hele fo da mele), they happened to be playing it at that exact time.
I tried in vain to hear if any patrons were commenting on it, but auwe, I heard nothing. People must not have even noticed. Well, no matter, at least I noticed. |
| Retro |
Posted - 06/15/2010 : 4:51:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by noeau
I agree. i was even inspired to coin my own version of Hilo Hanakahi. Retro we will paractice it when you come back to Earth from Ioway.
Expecting to get back Wed. night, fwiw. |
| Lawrence |
Posted - 06/15/2010 : 06:22:03 AM
Gonna hav'ta buy that one soon for sure, from Mele.com of course.
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| noeau |
Posted - 06/14/2010 : 8:36:24 PM
I agree. i was even inspired to coin my own version of Hilo Hanakahi. Retro we will paractice it when you come back to Earth from Ioway. |
| Retro |
Posted - 05/25/2010 : 6:36:09 PM
Just finished listening to the entire CD, and I think it's beautiful. The album works as a coherent whole, with a weave of themes of loss and life throughout. It honors Auntie Nona as well as the library of mele connected to the Beamer `ohana; it has many tear-making moments, and the musicianship is superb - including jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer (mentioned earlier by Mark), and the sadness inducing Indonesian siter. Interpretations abound, including Sandy Denny's haunting "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" with breathtaking flute lines, and Kui Lee's "Days of My Youth." Most notably, there is a maturity in Raiatea's singing here that had only been hinted at before; her work with Mahi Beamer on phrasing has paid off, and she uses her vocal talents in service to the material, not as its own showcase. |
| Lawrence |
Posted - 04/19/2010 : 5:36:21 PM
quote:
But I sure as heck know a Carter Family gospel song when I hear it... even if it was sung in Hawaiian. Imagine that!
And that is what we should strive for in these kind of discussions...
...to "Keep on the Sunny Side" 
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| alika207 |
Posted - 04/19/2010 : 3:53:59 PM
OK, my turn. I understand and appreciate everything you guys have said so far about this version of the song and respect the fact that it may be very controversial, but I think it's absolutely nani. My only little complaint which wasn't enough to stop me from liking it is the fact that I can't hear any techniques used in Hawaiian poetry writing in that at all. |
| alika207 |
Posted - 04/19/2010 : 3:50:27 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Retro
quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
You wouldn't dare ...
Sorry, my dear Wanda, but these are the kinds of words that make me a bit twitchy when anyone says them in regards to any form of creative expression, such as music.
Classical music is one of those worlds (as we have often discussed here) where diverging from the composer's written work is frowned upon. "You wouldn't dare" play classical music in a slack key guitar style - yet the artist whose name is first in this thread did just that, with marvelous results.
"You wouldn't dare" take a song about Nanakuli and instead substitute the town of Waimanalo, would you - like, say, "Nanakuli Blues"?
"You wouldn't dare" take a beloved traditional kahiko chant about one of the most revered of Hawaiian monarchs and fancy it up into a popular song, would you - like, say, "Kawika"?
Let a creative artist do what a creative artist "dares" to do, even if it shocks your personal sensibilities. If you don't like the finished product, no one forces you to buy it or listen to it, and it in no way diminishes an already-existing / more traditional sound.
Someone else might really enjoy the iconoclastic results, however, and "you wouldn't dare" to prevent that from happening, would you now?
"You wouldn't dare" is the kind of phrase that kills creativity.
Love this quote. |
| Russell Letson |
Posted - 04/17/2010 : 07:21:55 AM
I've always figured that "Hawaiian music" is any music that Hawaiians (defined broadly) make that isn't just a direct copy of some other brand of music. Just as "gypsy jazz" is whatever jazz the gypsy guys are playing this week, even if it includes more than echoes of Django. To repurpose a line from Scottish science fiction writer Ken MacLeod, "You are what you eat. And we eat everything."
And for what it's worth, I don't see art as evolving but adapting and absorbing. The spatial metaphor I find useful is not the staircase (even a spiral one) but some sort of multidimensional solid, viewable from any number of angles and not so much progressing (where is there to go?--though technique is certainly refinable) as constantly changing shape and size and colors and textures.
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| wcerto |
Posted - 04/12/2010 : 09:59:29 AM
Wots iPad? For pad my cell when I no take medicine???
Or is it like pad Thai? Iz ono. |
| noeau |
Posted - 04/12/2010 : 09:46:24 AM
YEAH! Like or no like das ok. But do um fo the reasons that allow one to be true to demselfs. Not errybdy going like erryting sumbody when try make. But dey make um awreddy so no ack! If you no like das cool if you like das cool too. but crticism is not necessary. Jus carryon an wait fo da next ting goin rankle your alaʻs. All new stuff not always accepted right away. How many of you ran out to get da iPad? See wot I mean? |
| Mark |
Posted - 04/12/2010 : 08:22:49 AM
Yesterday I played a gig for a local winery. The founder, Frank Ferreira, had died last year, and now his family were all helping to clean the place up and sell off the remaining stock -- proceeds to local charities!
Since Frank was from originally Maui, his large family came over to help out. I'd volunteered to help with some slack key, which brought a few smiles from the Maui guys.
Naturally, at the end of the day there was a lot of Hawaiian music played on a boombox while I was packing my gear.
OK, so what's the point? Just this: although I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention, I heard one song that made me think of this thread. Don't know the group, don't know the vintage, don't know the CD.
But I sure as heck know a Carter Family gospel song when I hear it... even if it was sung in Hawaiian.
Imagine that!  |
| thumbstruck |
Posted - 04/11/2010 : 1:19:47 PM
No worry, Aunty. One size does not fit all, not even most. I used to wonder why people made cookies that weren't chocolate chip. Now, to my detriment, I enjoy plenny kine cookies. |
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