I don’t have a problem or much of an opinion one way or another with it, I just was mildly surprised that SiriusXM had a whole channel devoted to it. (I mean, I guess if not there, where?, but . . .). So – other than Don Ho and what I assumed was for-tourists-only, how many serious ukulele-toting bands, clubs, radio stations are there that are devoted, in a non-gimmicky way, to this genre? New stuff is still coming out?
Anyone a devotee?
(Sirius wasn’t my immediate impetus for this post – Pandora just served up Israel Kamakawi-I-give-up, and it was kind of catchy).
While Iz is awesome, he’s been dead awhile. There is certainly new Hawaiian music being made.
I just went to a HAPA concert. (I’d link to their website, but it plays unstoppable music.) Jake Shimabukuro is reinventing how to play the ukulele. Willie K is still making music out on Maui. Justin Kawika Young is a newcomer and doing the style-blending thing. Plenty of others, too.
It’s no different than any other sub-genre of what’s grouped together as “World Music.”
There is a long history of Hawaiian music, though it isn’t really known much outside of the islands. Don Ho was crap for tourists. There are some really good artists, but I just don’t know the names. Think melodic acoustical for the most part. At least that’s the stuff I’ve heard my friends play when I was there.
There’s a lot of Hawaiian music. If you have access to the iTunes music store, check out the artists there. Heck, you can even look on Amazon for an idea.
Depends on your definition. A lot of the “pop” Hawaiian music now is just covers of much more popular songs, e.g. Iz’s versions (2 that I know of) of “What a Wonderful World.” Personally, these artists don’t bring anything original to the table. In essence, Iz would basically be considered a “traditional” tenor.
Another type of Hawaiian music is original songs performed by a group formed of people from Hawaii (not expats, like Joe Johnson.) The most famous of these groups would be Cecilio and Kapono, who made the cover of Billboard magazine in the 70’s. However, you could also include Kalapana.
The “original” Hawaiian music is an ethnic music sung in Hawaiian, often using traditional instruments. Afaik, very few artists are putting out songs in Hawaiian, because, quite simply, not enough people understand the language to profit at it. A few “pop” musicians from the first group will package Hawaiian language songs on their CD’s, but the covers generally sell better.
So, to answer your question, there is definitely a genre of Hawaiian music, but the commercial stuff is rather embarrassing. The peak is long gone, and the new groups today can’t write an original lyric to save their lives. Traditional Hawaiian music is still around, but there’s almost zero commercial artists making a living at it.
I enjoy John Keawe’s slack key guitar.
And when we visited Hawaii we also enjoyed the “Jawaiian” fusion stuff we heard (Hawaiian rhythms infused with reggae beat.)
There is way more to Hawaiian music than Don Ho. I really like slack key, some of these pickers are awesome. There is an all afternoon free slack key festival on Maui and some of the other islands every year. You should try to take one in if you’re on the islands during the summer. It’s a good way to hang out with the locals.
One of my favorite performers is Makana, he plays quite frequently on the west coast, but never in the mid-west, damnit.
While there is genuine Hawaiian music, I would imagine they could also include Ukelele covers of popular songs (this is a big thing on youtube), some Elvis tunes, and ‘surfer’ style music.
I think Hawaiian music is quite nice, in small doses - just as I think Irish music, or Mariachi music and other types of culturally identified music is nice for a few minutes.
However, the key word is “small doses”.
I have had to leave Irish bars when they play that “diddly diddly dee” crap endlessly, or have refused to sit in any restaurant with a group of Mariachi roaming from table to table, driving you nuts. On our flight to Hawaii, the airlines played Hawaiian music for the last hour before landing - I guess to get us all “in the mood” for our arrival in Honolulu, and by the time we landed, I was about ready to smash the next ukulele I saw.
