Jack de Mello
De Mello enriched
By John Berger
Hawaiian music
Special to the Star-BulletinHAWAIIAN music had been incorporating Western ideas for almost 200 years when Jack de Mello produced "Music of Hawaii: From the Missionaries to Statehood" in 1965. The four-album set -- a survey of Hawaiian music from pre-contact chant to the American pop of the mid-'60s - remains a
unique and unequaled accomplishment in Hawaiian music.
His unprecedented vision of island melodies expanded to full orchestral arrangements put the musical heritage of the islands in a fresh perspective. Much of what de Mello envisioned in 1965 was beyond the capabilities of the local recording industry. He produced the sessions in London and Los Angeles using world-class studio musicians and vocalists. Emma Veary and Nina Keali'iwahamana were brought in when proper pronunciation of Hawaiian lyrics was essential.
"I wanted to create a new art form based on Hawaiian music, and there were no studios here that were big enough," he said earlier this year.
De Mello did that and more. The original two-album boxed set did so well that de Mello was commissioned by Ala Moana Center and its parent companies, Hawaiian Land Inc. and Dillingham Corp., to continue the series. Volume 2 focused on the 20th century through the mid-'60s; volume 3 captured early stirrings of the Hawaiian Renaissance movement of the '70s.
De Mello's record label, Music of Polynesia, also launched the careers of the Brothers Cazimero, Keola and Kapono Beamer, and De Mello's son, record producer Jon, whose Mountain Apple label is heir to the Music of Polynesia catalog. Mountain Apple released a cross-section of music from the "Music of Hawaii" series on CD earlier this year.
Now in his 80s, De Mello is still active as a composer, producer and observer of the music scene, dividing his time between Las Vegas and Honolulu. He continues to work with his son on musical projects for the next millennium.
