Appealing debut
album from NgumKawehi A Ku'u Kino: By Randol K. Ngum (Kawai)
RANDOL K. Ngum's debut album introduces him as an appealing vocalist and notable writer. He wrote or co-wrote every song. He blends Hawaiian and European-American folk music traditions with Hawaiian, French and English lyrics. His voice conveys romantic emotion throughout.
Ngum enlisted several friends as backing vocalists, but he and producer/arranger Kenneth Makuakane kept the instrumentation clean and acoustic.
Translations included in the liner notes make the sentiments in his Hawaiian lyrics accessible to the majority audience that doesn't speak Hawaiian.
Sons of Hawaii: By Sons of Hawaii (Panini)
THIS wasn't the first album by the Sons of Hawaii, nor the group's first to be rereleased on CD. (Gabby Pahinui, Eddie Kamae, Joe Marshall and David "Feet" Rogers recorded "Gabby Pahinui with The Sons of Hawaii" for Hula Records in the 1960s; Hula rereleased it on CD in 1993.) Even so, "Sons of Hawaii" is a treasure. It captures the group as it was in 1971 with Moe Keale.
The late Sammy Amalu described this beautiful music as "the crude verse of country people" but applauded it as the sound of his youth. Many of these Hawaiian language standards feature group harmonies. The distinctive voices of Keale and Pahinui are showcased on others.
A 26-page booklet provides English translations of the lyrics and biographies of the quintet as of 1971. Updating the bios would have completed the Sons' story, but this slice of the their legacy belongs in every 20th century Hawaiian music collection.
There's No Place Like Hawaii: George "Keoki" Matsushita (U'ilani Productions)
GEORGE Matsushita is one of the growing number of Japanese artists who come to Hawaii to record the Hawaiian music they love. He cherishes the Hawaiian and hapa-haole music of the Territorial Era, and producer S. Naluai backs him with an all-star squad of local studio musicians that include Allan Akaka, Mahi Beamer, Sonny Kamahele, Aaron Mahi and Byron Yasui.
Matsushita does best when singing falsetto. His "falsetto stylings" will make this album of interest to students of the genre.
See Record Reviews for some of John Berger's 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 Home Zone
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.
