A young traditionalist
Inspired by the voice of
By John Berger
Amy Gilliom, 12-year-old Brittney
Anelaikalani Jennings is launching
her own recording career
Special to the Star-BulletinIt started with a wedding. Brittney Jennings heard Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom sing at her uncle's wedding and fell in love with the sound. She decided that she too would sing traditional-style Hawaiian music.
Less than two years later, 12-year-old Brittney is finishing her debut album. Signed by Tom Moffatt, she is recording her favorite Hawaiian falsetto standards for release later this year. George
Chun, a long-time Moffatt business associate and the guy who took Liz Damon's Orient Express to a national record deal and a national chart hit with "1900 Yesterday" in 1970, is producing the album. Kim Taylor Reece is doing the cover.
Chun is going for a clean acoustic traditional Hawaiian sound. Brittney -- who will be known professionally by her middle name, Anelaikalani -- doesn't want anything else.
AT A GLANCE
On Stage: Brittney Anelaikalani Jennings
"I want to do Hawaiian music like Auntie Genoa and Amy. The sound, the melodies, touch me, " she said over a weekday lunch at Ryan's. Brittney's mother and personal manager, Lani Jennings, says Brittney's teachers at King Intermediate support her career plans, but school comes first.
Old-time Hawaiian virtuosos often learned by listening and watching and
then trying to duplicate what they heard. Brittney followed a modern version of that tradition. She is a virtually self-taught vocalist who started out singing along to Gilliom's "Hawaiian Tradition" and "Hanaiali'i" albums, then branched out to Keawe's classic recordings. Brittney's mother discovered her singing "duets" in her bedroom and encouraged her to sing for others.
"I was kinda shame at first, I'd turn away and close my eyes when I sang. I'm still shy but now my friends are excited (about the album), " Jennings says.
Hawaii gets a preview of the album Thursday when Jennings helps represent King Intermediate School in performance at Windward Mall.
She has already been welcomed by Keawe and Gilliom in guest appearances. She's working on becoming more comfortable on stage, expanding her repertoire, and developing her own sound in Hawaiian falsetto. It's great to have people say "You sound like Amy" -- it's better to be unique, she said.
And although she wants to do her traditional Hawaiian music straight, she is interested in other styles as well. She grew up listening to Xtreme, I-94, pop artists like Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand, and reggae. Seeing UB40 in concert in the Blaisdell Arena was a priority this month; she went on Saturday.
Doing a Hawaiian-language reggae album intrigues her, and she is studying Hawaiian both to improve her interpretation of song lyrics and also to eventually become bilingual. At some point she'd like to write original old-style songs as well.
When she isn't singing, recording, or doing school work, she enjoys Hawaiian and Tahitian dance, surfing, volleyball, basketball, and playing a four-string Kamaka ukulele.
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