Kanahele’s second
one of year’s bestKekuhi Kekuhi Kanahele (Mountain Apple Co.)
Kekuhi Kanahele's second album is every bit as impressive as her first. That makes it one of the year's best Hawaiian albums. 'Nuff said.
Twelve new Hawaiian songs display the spiritual depth and lyric inventiveness of Kanahele and her husband, Kapio Frias.
The liner-notes booklet provides the Hawaiian lyrics and English translations, but it's a safe bet the words are rich with kaona (hidden meanings), and that even the locations mentioned in the annotation are significant.
On some selections, Kanahele sings and growls with the unique primeval presence that made her debut album, "Hahani Mai" such a landmark in 1996. On others she sounds refined and sweet. The natural acoustic instruments of Kanahele's musicians add to the impact of her singing and chanting. Studio synthetics are kept to a minimum.
In a first-time experiment two versions have been released. A mainstream version with the English liner notes is available at the regular list price. A special "all-Hawaiian" version with no English annotation lists for $5 more.
The Voyage Home Daniel Ho (Aire Music)
This is prolific Daniel Ho's fourth instrumental album this year. Two songs are originals. Among the others are "Kanaka Wai Wai," "Hawaii Aloha," "Aloha 'Oe" and "Hawai'i Pono'i."
Ho plays ukulele, guitar, keyboards and percussion. Most of the arrangements are traditional, but he takes off on "Pearly Shells." This musical voyage is an enjoyable and relaxing one.
Melveen Leed's Hawaiian Country Melveen Leed (Lehua)
Charles Bud Dant hired Nashville studio musicians and came out a winner when he reinvented multifaceted Melveen Leed as a local-style country singer in 1975.
"Paniolo Country," "Walk Through Paradise/Jesu Me Ke Kanaka Waiwai" and "The Music of Hawaii" were the big local hits. No one ever sang them like Leed.
Leed enjoyed more than two more decades of popularity here before getting married and moving to Tahiti. This rerelease is welcome, but updating the liner notes with new information about her many accomplishments since 1975 would make this package more complete.
See Record Reviews for some of John Berger's past reviews.
See Aloha Worldwide for locals living away.
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.
