A young Irmgard Aluli graces
her new album cover.
Aunty’s sweet songs
"From Irmgard With Love" Auntie Irmgard & Puamana (Mountain Apple Company)
Hawaiian and hapa-haole music doesn't get any prettier than this collection of classic compositions by Irmgard Farden 'Aluli.
Irmgard and her "girls" -- daughters Mihana Souza and 'A'ima McManus, and niece Luana McKenny -- play these beautiful songs as she intended them to be done when she wrote them years ago. The rhythms of these songs -- the newest from the 1960s, older ones from the 1930s -- are gentle, the harmonies float, the emotions are timeless. This may be one of 1998's most significant Hawaiian albums.
"Puamana," co-written with her father, Charles Kekua Farden, is one of several signature songs, telling of the Farden family home in Lahaina. "One More Round" displays a kolohe side of her personality that may surprise those who know of her only as a "living treasure," recipient of the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, first living inductee in the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame, or as "the most important female composer since Queen Lili'uokalani."
Executive producer Jon de Mello and annotator Hailama Farden, 'Aluli's grand-nephew, include song lyrics and English translations. More information on 'Aluli and the events that inspired her would add to it. For instance, "One Little Dream Of You" was written while Irmgard and her husband were apart during World War II, and "For A Peaceful World" was chosen by the United Nations Hawai'i Committee as the official song for a UN Week celebration of the International Year Of The Child. Exactly when these recordings were made is also unclear; Fernandes, heard on "For A Peaceful World," died several years ago.
The final selection, "At The Copacabana," is presented with a bit of drama. The recording is 50 years old and was not electronically restored. The scratchy, old-time sound hints at the span of Irmgard's musical career; she'd been writing music for almost 20 years when she recorded it.
Fans of classic hapa-haole music have another must-buy album to anticipate. HanaOla Records has announced a mid-summer release date for "Alfred Aholo Apaka: The Lost Recordings of Hawaii's Golden Voice." The 16-song album will contain restored and digitally remastered recordings of Apaka's early work for Bell Records and the Aloha Recording Co. in the late 1940s. Coming up
By John Berger
Special to the Star-Bulletin
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