SONNY Kamahele Jr. was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award last year by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts. "Beautiful Hawai'i" is a lovely musical portrait of the man - a frequent Waikiki performer - and his music.
Kamahele wrote or co-wrote every song but one. Among the selections are hapa-haole odes to the beauty of the Halekulani and Royal Hawaiian hotels, an instrumental ("Sonny's Hula") written for use in an episode of Hawaii Five-O, and a celebration of local camaraderie, "Howzit Brah."
Kamahele has been playing here or as a mainland "Hollywood Hawaiian" since the '30s. The album emphasizes that continuity in several ways. Two of the songs were co-written in the '50s by Kamahele and his father, the late Solomon Kamahele Sr.
Kamahele Jr. and producer Nick Kato present them here as recorded by Kamahele Jr. and his own son, Solomon "King" Kamahele III. Technology allows Kamahele Jr. to sing all the vocal parts and play most of the instruments; his son added bass and a second guitar.
FEW local recording artists draw on as wide a range of musical influences as George "Fiji" Veikoso. None surpasses his success in doing so. His second album blends rhythms, melodies, and cultural bits and pieces of Fijian, Hawaiian, African-American, Caucasian-American, Jamaican, West African and Zulu origin into a seamless tapestry. His voice - smooth, strong, soulful without affectation - is the common thread.
Half the songs were written by Fiji and his musical collaborator, keyboardist Michael Grande. Grande was a principal figure in the making of Fiji's debut album too. They make an imaginative and resourceful team.
"Stone Cold" should be a hit with local reggae fans; it utilizes that ever-popular Caribbean beat without lapsing into Jawaiian cultural plagiarism.
"Ku'u Aloha" is an exquisite easy-listening love song. "La'ie Boy" pulses with pride in Fiji's favorite 'hood - he's "proud to be from L-A-I-E!"
Fiji's power and vocal range when singing in contemporary "urban" style illuminates "Love," an original contributed by Dave Tucciarone.
A remake of Dr. Hook's 1978 hit, "Sharing the Night Together," is simply fodder for "island music" radio stations, but Fiji and Grande give "Into the Night" an inspired refurbishing.
Sean (The Man) Na'auao, Konrad (Big Foot) Kendricks and Bully Soares join Grande in providing instrumental support. Translations of the Fijian lyrics are all that's missing.