Island Mele
Like 'Ale'a? Then welcome Kahua! The trio's debut album features prime Hawaiian music; no imitation Jamaican stuff here and one of the three English-language songs comes from the Ka'apana family collection. Another song, "I Want You Back," is written by Kahua's Kevin Morikone. It's written in catchy early-1960s teen-pop style and owes nothing to the Jackson 5 hit of the same name. "Meli'o e"
Kahua
Poki RecordsOtherwise, from "Na Ka Pueo" through "Green Rose Hula," the songs are Hawaiian standards performed by staunch young traditionalists. And, with Puakea Nogelmeier as their mentor, the trio -- Morikone, Gavan Miyashita and Nakana Wong -- can be counted on to uphold the indigenous language of Hawaii as well. Nogelmeier wrote "Kahua O Mali'o" as their name song. "Papalina Lahilahi" and "Pua Hone" are among the older gems than help make Kahua's debut album one of the year's best.
Write: Tropical Music, P.O. Box 1494, Honolulu, HI 96806
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Na Ka Pueo
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Record producer George Ching began bringing Japanese bands to Hawaii after World War II when it was again acceptable for Japanese-Americans here to publicly reaffirm their ties to Japan. He released this imaginative album, originally titled "A Far East Fantasy In Latin Dance Rhythm," on his 49th State Hawaii label sometime in the late 1950s. The songs had been popular in the pre-1945 Japanese Empire or in areas occupied by Japanese forces during World War II. The arrangements reflected the Latin dance craze back then. "Ultra Vibe"
Exotica Hawaii
HanaOla RecordsThe juxtaposition of Latin rhythms and East Asian melodies played by a group of musicians from Japan (Ching dubbed them The All-Star Orchestra) makes these digitally restored recordings of interest to Latin dancers, lounge music fans, elderly local Japanese-Americans and curiosity seekers in general. Producer Billy Rose's annotation adds all available information on these long-lost recordings.
www.cordinternational.com
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Ellsworth "Ells" Simeona marks time between his last album and his next one with this commercial collection of pop chart remakes done Ells style. Jawaiian/island music fans, and all others who prefer remakes to new music, will love almost all of it. Ells is strong enough as a song stylist that most of the arrangements offer a degree of freshness, although the rehashes of "Groovin'" and "When A Man Loves A Woman" are on the low end of the scale. The title song featuring Ilona Irvine, however, is one of his best recycling projects. "Let's Do It Again"
Ells
Twin Waters RecordsElls steps outside the generic local remake formula but keeps the concept intact as he reintroduces the Japanese oldie "I Love You" to local listeners with an assist from Ryozo Ariyoshi (who translated the lyrics). Other local artists should follow Ells' example and look beyond the American pop charts when the urge to recycle a pop tune strikes. He's done a fine job here with this Japanese song.
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See Record Reviews for some 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 Today
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.
