Island Mele: Hawaiian album is mastery

‘Kaunaloa’

Kuana Torres Kahele
(self-published)

Kuana Torres Kahele has contributed significantly to modern Hawaiian music — first as a member of the Hoku Award-winning trio Na Palapalai, and then performing as a duo with his Na Palapalai partner Kehau Tamure after Keao Costa left the group. He steps forward now as a solo artist with a beautifully crafted collection of traditionalist Hawaiian compositions. Almost all are originals, and they are presented as a unified body of work that celebrates his family heritage — ancestors, immediate family and friends, and places that have significance for them. From Kahele’s clear falsetto vocals and crisp instrumental arrangements to the lyrics, translations and background information in the liner notes booklet, the Hawaiian music album is everything it should be.

It is also a remarkable demonstration of Kahele’s talents as a vocalist, musician, arranger and songwriter. He plays almost all the instruments and sings almost all the vocal parts.

Snowbird Bento and Nani Lim-Yap join him on vocals on one song each, a string quartet adds a classical ambiance to “Pikake Anuhea,” and several other musicians contribute elsewhere. The guests’ work equates to seasonings judiciously applied to a gourmet dish by a master chef.

“Keanakolu,” with Ho’omanawanui Apo on piano, stands out as a platform for Kahele’s expressive lower-register voice. Na Palapalai has been known over the years for falsetto harmonizing. This song is one of several that show off his broader range.

“Ke Anu ‘O Waimea (2011),” an update of one of Kahele’s best-known compositions, is sung primarily as solo falsetto but with multitracking on the chorus. Listen further and Kahele applies his most delicate falsetto to “Lana’ikaula.” There are many other musical delights to enjoy in this labor of love.

In short, this is another superb, impeccably Hawaiian album that would have represented Hawaiian music perfectly as the winner of the Grammy for Best Hawaiian Music album in 2012. With that national showcase for Hawaiian music now eliminated, Kahele’s solo debut album should be a front-runner for local recognition in several major categories at the 2012 Hoku Awards.

www.napalapaliamusic.com

“‘Ulili E”

4 music styles blend well

‘Pegasis Rising’

Pegasis Rising
(self-published)

One group, four styles of music. That’s what you get with the debut album of this Wahiawa-based group. Guitarist Edward Suzui, the group’s resident songwriter, uses four vocalists — two men, two women — to interpret his work. It’s a composer’s showcase as well as a group project.

The lead-off song, “Wind On The Water,” has the fiddle and steel guitar of modern country music. It also has a man with a slight “country” delivery singing a mournful tale about a relationship that seems to be in peril. Is the unnamed problem “just the wind on the water” as the singer suggests, or something more substantive? Whatever ending you choose for the story, Suzui’s lyrics express the emotions of many tormented souls.

A female vocalist takes the lead on “The Islands of Hawaii Are Calling,” a lighter number, more pop than country, which describes the emotions many people feel when circumstances take them away from Hawaii.

“Grandpa Are You Watching Me Now?” reverses the premise of a classic country song and expresses the love of a woman for the grandfather she never knew.

Suzui is not exclusively a country writer, though. He takes the group into reggae-rock with “Jungle Music,” and successfully explores tropical rhythms with “Rio Nights.” The latter song, an ode to the romantic reputation of the Brazilian metropolis, would be an excellent choice as the title song of a movie. In the meantime, “Rio Nights” is one of the best all-around tracks on the album.

There are straightforward love songs, too. “Green Eyes” sounds like the kind of pop song the Carpenters might have recorded in the ’70s, but the joy of being in love is timeless.

Call (808) 341-5406

“Wind on the Water”

Definitely contemporary

‘Coconut Wireless’

Kepa Kruse
(Petroglyph Productions)

Krystilez, I feel your pain! This is the album that won Kepa Kruse the 2011 Na Hoku Hanohano Award in the hybrid R&B/hip-hop category. The music is imaginative and innovative, but there is no way that it can be described as R&B or hip-hop.

To put this ongoing debate in context: Hawaii resident artists have been performing and recording contemporary R&B and hip-hop for at least two decades, starting with pioneer acts Club Rox Rock and SKI-103 in the early ’90s, and continuing through the Hi-Town DJs (who hit #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Ding-A-Ling” in 1998) on up to the current work of the Angry Locals, I.A., Siaosi and Brysen G — the four other finalists this year in HARA’s hybrid R&B/hip-hop category. Going by HARA guidelines, Kruse’s imaginative work should have been in the Island Music Album category, the category for the “best contemporary performance of music of or about Hawai’i.” Although that would have put him up against three Hawaiian music heavyweights — all of whom are much more “Hawaiian” than “contemporary” — Kruse would have been the most “contemporary” of all of them and worthy of the award without a doubt. Oh well!

Kruse opens with a wistful song that describes the bittersweet feeling of living in Los Angeles and missing Hawaii. From that promising beginning he shares a series of engaging vignettes of life here — surfing, cruising in a pickup truck, smoking a “super fattie,” chasing women and drinking beer that comes in green bottles.

The title track is his magnum opus. In it he mocks a hapless fool whose “real mean truck” got stuck, whose mother wouldn’t bail him out when he got busted for drugs, and who grew a ‘stache “only to cover up your lip rash.” It is a beautiful piece of work — witty, rhythmic and nicely flavored with contemporary slang. Is there someone out there who knows that the song is about them? Ouch!

He sings in an easy, almost somnambulant, style that is the foundation of his work. Instrumentation is minimal, with ukulele giving several songs a contemporary island sound. Reggae-lite rhythms reinforce the local commercial appeal of several selections.

Kruse writes romantic soft pop as well. “Bust Out Your Moves” appears to be about dancing but is delivered in style more suggestive of a guy nodding off after a long night of partying. The aptly titled “Metaphors” is an imaginative bit of word play, and “Retox” is a change-of-pace account of searching for something he can use to “retoxify” himself.

www.kepakruse.com

“Coconut Wireless”

—John Berger / jberger@staradvertiser.com