Sonny Chillingworth brought the clave of Latin music into slack key with his Spanish bass, featured in a number of his songs. "Moe Uhane" might be the one known by most people, but it also featured in "Malasadas" and "Slack Key #2" and others. I've learned several of his songs and occasionally adapted this pattern for other songs.
When I decided to do a new clip of "Isa Lei" I set out to use the Spanish bass and it added quite a bit of time to the process of developing and learning the arrangement, but now I can't seem to get back to the straight bass pattern (grin).
I also learned along the way that "Isa Lei" is a borrowed melody, originally composed as a tribute to a Tongan princess then brought to Fiji where it was used for the famous farewell song we now know. The Tongan song is called "Si`i Lile Viola Lose Hina" and you can find both songs in several versions on YouTube.
I was kind of annoyed when I heard all the echo the sound guy used at the Freight & Salvage show, but now I've gotten used to it and I'm thinking I should have put _more_ echo on this version (grin).
"Isa Lei" and Spanish bass
Posted - 12/02/2022 : 2:22:36 PM
