COURTESY OF EVENTS INTERNATIONAL
Island Music MVPs are, back row from left, Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, Jack Ofuia, Ernie Cruz Jr., Sean Na'auao and Fiji. In the front row from left are Jamin Wong (Chief Ragga) and Robi Kahakalau.
At some point in time now forgotten, Irish guitarist Dave Evans became The Edge. A bass player named Michael Balzany redubbed himself as Flea. So it is that a local entertainer previously known as Jamin "the Chief Ragga" Wong is henceforth to be known simply as the Chief Ragga. And it's "the Chief" for short. The Usual Suspects
KCCN rounds up the Chief and
other regulars ready to rockBy John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com"The last metamorphosis," the Chief said, "is not only the rebirth of my music, but it's also the rebirth of my personal life, too. That side of me also (is) getting balanced out."
Although the Chief doesn't go into details, it seems that contractual liabilities have been a factor in his decision to sever the connection with his birth name. He says he was first called "the Chief Ragga," as in "raggamuffin," by famed Jamaican toaster Pato Banton, who was impressed by Wong's ability as a free-style rapper. In recent years, only the Chief's mother and music writers have referred to him by his birth name.
The Chief will be performing with the Island Music MVPs both nights of the 12th KCCN-FM 100 Birthday Bash. Fiji is again leading the all-star group that will close both shows. Fiji has invited at least three other Hoku Award winners -- Ernie Cruz Jr., Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom and Sean Na'auao -- to join him in the lineup.
This will be the third year KCCN is celebrating with a two-night concert. Separate tickets are required for each night, although two-night passes are available for the upper terrace and grass seats. The first 5,000 people through the gate each night will receive a free FM radio that will allow them to listen to the concert live over a special low-wattage frequency.
The two-night event comes at a busy time for the Chief. His self-titled solo album -- his third since the demise of Ho'aikane, the group he debuted with as a teenager -- marked a major creative breakthrough in the island-music evolution.
Instead of recycling the same tired concept of sticking a reggae-beat behind pop-chart oldies, he used credited interpolations of older songs to add hidden subtexts to original compositions. His use of Leo Anderson Akana's "Island Love," a hit for the Peter Moon Band in 1979, as a component of a new song, "Hawaiian Lover," was particularly impressive.
"What I wanted to do was give back to my inspirations," the Chief said, mentioning Bob Marley and Eddy Grant as two of his favorite non-Hawaiian artists. (A piece of Grant's "Latin Love Affair" was also incorporated into "Hawaiian Lover.") The Chief explored another fresh idea when he teamed up with O-Shen to record "Kilia." The two combined traditional Hawaiian percussion instruments, Hawaiian chant, New Guinea pidgin and the Chief's carefully honed style of reggae-nuanced rap.
"We actually incorporated all kine languages," the Chief said. "'Kilia' is a word from New Guinea, and then we have a chant in there from Tahiti, and in my rhymes I spit words like 'kanikapila' and 'pa'ina,' which are Hawaiian words, and then (when O-Shen) comes and does his verse, he's doing 'em Melanesian-style -- and the Pacific blows up that way.
"When I did this album, my ideas were nowhere near what we have now. We would be recording and coming up with ideas as we (went along), knowing we had a deadline. Honestly, God was guiding the whole thing. God was putting the ideas in our minds and made us not have conflict as we were going through the journey together. I really enjoyed this project. ... It's not what I had in mind but it came out exactly how I wanted it."
Where: Waikiki Shell 12th Annual KCCN-FM 100 Birthday Bash
When: 5 p.m. today and tomorrow
Tickets: $25 pool, $19.50 terrace, $18 grass; two-day passes are $32 for upper terrace and $30 grass
Call: 296-1003
Note: A different concert will be presented each night. Acts appearing tonight are Mana'o Company, Ke'ahiwai, Fiji, Kapena, O-Shen, 'Ekolu, Ko'auka, Norm and Reign. Tomorrow, the acts will be Three Plus, Sean Na'auao, Natural Vibrations, Darrell Labrado, Opihi Pickers, Pati and Native Blend. The Island Music MVPs will appear both nights.
The album, recorded recently at Hobo House on the Hill studios, is a big step forward for him, even for a guy who has spent half his life as a professional musician. The Chief became part of the early Jawaiian scene when his father, Jamieson "Wongie" Wong, invited him to sit in with Ho'aikane. By the time the group's second album for producer John Kahale Chang came out in 1990, he was a full-fledged member of the band.
"I was always into music. Ever since I was 5, I can remember getting on the drums or playing ukulele. I was always around music and I was always around plenty of old-timers when I was raised in Palolo. When I moved to Kona, when I was about 8, was when I started getting into Eddy Grant and hip-hop, and that changed my whole trip about music. I knew I wanted to do that. ... I was fortunate, just hanging out with my dad at the bar (that) he asked me if I wanted to do something."
The Chief recalls that members of Ho'aikane were shocked and then disappointed when their more imaginative work was largely ignored by local "kanakafarians" and Hawaii's island music radio stations.
"You take what you can get," he said, noting that one song got a little air play. Soon Ho'aikane would break up, and the Chief ended up recording two albums for another label. He spent "probably three or four months" in the Hobo House studios working on his third solo project. Justice Moon, "Princess Ilona" Irvine, and B.E.T. (J.D. and Papa T) also contributed on various tracks.
"The inspirations came from way back; 10 years ago, 15 years ago. All my life I've been working on this one project. Hook up with the right people, finally met the crew at Hobo House on the Hill, and the chemistry, we just had 'em. I get plenty, plenty, plenty props and respect to the boys from Hobo House 'cause them, too, helped open different doors in my mind of how I should (record)."
Now he's the one getting the steady radio airplay and ready to rock the Shell.
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