Pahinui’s gifts
in full view
on ‘Night Moon’Night Moon: Cyril Pahinui (Dancing Cat)
CYRIL Pahinui's second album of the year is also his second for George Winston's magnificent Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters series. Any of these albums is a perfect introduction to slack key. "Night Moon" is a perfect introduction to one of the best of the best living slack- key artists.
As in his first Dancing Cat album, the Hoku Award-winning "6 & 12 String Guitar," Pahinui performs as a vocalist as well as an instrumentalist. The title song is presented once with lyrics and once without; a different tuning is used for each.
Pahinui also sings during his 7-1/2 minute rendition of "Mauna Loa." His skill at creating variations on a musical theme make this number an instrumental highlight as well. "Hi'ilawe" is best known as his father's musical signature, but to the extent that a song can be passed down from one generation to the next it is his musical signature as well. He sings it as a brief spiritual reunion with his father.
A 16-page booklet provides biographical and cultural information, explains the significance of each song, and gives the tunings. The cover art alone gives record store browsers a good idea of who Pahinui is and what makes slack key important.
Purgatory: J.B.O.C. (Shawboy Rek-urdz)
JB.O.C. arrived in 1996 with a 14-song album titled "The Music/The Message." The members were composer/producer Patrick "T-Rox" Shaw, and vocalists Kevin "K-Luv" and Sabriya "Joy" Shaw. The arrangements weren't elaborate but J.B.O.C. had an authenticity almost always missing in locally recorded rap and "urban" music.
J.B.O.C. is now "T-Rox" and "K-Love," and "Purgatory" has 18 tracks. Otherwise this album is a near clone of the first. Several songs are recycled with new titles and slightly different arrangements.
Once again the first cuts are simple aerobic exercise booty music. The next bunch are "slow jams" where an earnest-sounding man either promises to fulfill a prospective female partner's sexual needs more completely than any man has ever done in the history of sex, or wonders disconsolately how the love of his life could have left him.
J.O.B.C. again shows most promise addressing social issues. Topics include substance abuse, violence, gangsta attitudes, drug dealing, suicide prevention, spouse abuse and the importance of stable families. The duo tells gangsta wannabes that a real man doesn't need a weapon or a gang of backers to feel important, and that a real man doesn't hit his wife or girl friend. These message songs could be used by any group working to reduce the social damage caused by violence and substance abuse.
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John Berger, who has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings
produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Home Zone
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.
