Courtesy of Milton Lau
The Native Hawaiian Band, from left, Bla Pahinui,
Rev. Dennis Kamakahi, Milton Lau, Michael Kaawa,
Kawika Kahiapo and Martin Pahinui play Sunday.
Songs from the heart
By Malia Rulon
Star-BulletinSome music promoters are in the business to promote the size of their bank accounts. Others are trying to promote a music that they love -- and not go broke doing it. Fans of ethnic music are in a for a double-barrelled weekend coming up, with the "Reggae on the Move Concert" Saturday at the Waikiki Shell, and the Bankoh Ki-ho'alu '97 Gabby Pahinui Slack Key Guitar Festival Sunday at Bishop Museum.
Scott Nunotani of Crucial Runnings is a relative newcomer to the promotion game, and he was drawn into it by the critical mass at the heart of reggae.
"I think my biggest education came from listening to Bob Marley, not from school," said Nunotani. "I mean, Marley died in 1981, and his music still lives on. Hs message lives on.
"There are universal truths in reggae, then and now. You can preach to people about love and hope, but the people won't listen. But music -- music gets through. You could say the music caught me, but the words hold me."
Nunotani's concert features Black Uhuru, Eek-A-Mouse and the Mighty Diamonds.
Black Uhuru has been cooing lyrics for 25 years.
"Black Uhuru. When you're talking about reggae, that name is like Bob Marley, it's a house-hold name," Nunotani said.
Standing 6 feet 6 inches tall from Kingston, Jamaica, Eek-A-Mouse cuts a startling figure, and is a one-of-a-kind artist.
"He has his own style, a really strange style," Nunotani said. "He does all kind of sound effects with his voice."
Mesa
Garth Dennis, Duckie Simpson and Don Carlos,
Black Uhuru, are featured in Saturday's
reggae concert.
Eek-A-Mouse first came on the reggae scene in 1981 at Jamaica's "Reggae Sunsplash" when he asked the organizers if he could play for free."The crowd went wild ... he stole the show," Nunotani said.
Since they started playing reggae in 1969, the Mighty Diamonds have managed to stay together, a difficult task for many in the '60s and '70s.
"They're really a sweet harmony group," Nunotani said. "It's a privilege to see the original members perform."
All together, these groups represent reggae history in the making, said Nunotani.
"I've been here watching reggae concerts in Hawaii for the last 10 to 15 years and I've never seen anything like this," Nunotani said, excited. "It's going to be something to remember."
Milton Lau has been masterminding the Bankoh Ki-ho'alu Gabby Pahinui Slack-Key Music Festival virtually from the get-go, a decade and a half ago. "I was lucky enough to play with Gabby way back, and when he passed away, it was a big loss for everyone," said Lau. "We decided to put on a memorial concert as a tribute when they dedicated the pavilion with his name at Waimanalo, and there was such a big turn-out that it became an annual thing."
This year is also the 100th anniversary of Bank of Hawaii, which has underwritten the festival from the start.
This year's line-up knows more secret tunings than McDonald's has burgers. It includes the Ki-ho'alu Kid (Matthew Swalinkavich), John Cruz, Brother Noland, George Kahumoko Jr., Ikaika Brown and Imua Garza, Martin Pahinui, Ozzie Kotani, Pekelo Cosma, Rev. Dennis Kamakahi, George Kuo, Cyril Pahinui, Raymond Kane, Randy Lorenzo, Bla Pahinui, Nedward Ka'apana, Kuuipo Kumukahi with Haunani Apoliona and Helene Woodward, David Kahiapo, and Milton Lau/Michael Kaawa and the Native Hawaiian Band.
"It never gets easier. The easier it looks on stage, the harder to set up! I just love the music, that's why I stick at it," said Lau. "It's so simple in concept, and so complex and interesting in the way it's played. It touches a chord in my own soul."
The sound of slack-key is "distinctive to Hawaii," said Lau. "People play with open tuning everywhere in the world, but here, where it's done from the soul and the heart, helps relate the sound of slack-key to the Hawaii experience."
Making music
What: Reggae on the Move
Making music
Star-Bulletin staff writer Burl Burlingame
contributed to this report.
