Pros: Wonderful for listening, wonderful for dancing. Classic Hawaiian music!
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: Great CD to listen to any time, but escpecially good for hula because so many of the songs are sung straight through with no musical breaks.
If you are looking for a CD to toss in your bag so you always have hula music on hand when visiting friends, this is it!
Of course it is an emminantly listenable CD to enjoy purely on its own. But there are so many wonderful listenable Hawaiian CDs that it just makes a find addition to the collection. In my opinion, where it truly shines is as a hula CD. Thus, I will review it from that perspective.
Each mele (song) combines good strong rhythm with enticing melody to lay down a solid platform for a hula dancer's feet. The intros and outros are well-defined and clean. The traditional beats are so precise that your wawae and kikala (feet and hips) just know exactly what to do.
The lyrics are clearly enunciated, so even if you are not that familiar with the mele, if you have some knowledge of Hawaiian Language, you can still tell that story with your hands. And in many of the mele, the story is sung all the way through.
The mele are an average of around 3 minutes long, which is long enough to be interesting, but not so long a beginning dancer will get tired and out of breath before the ha`ina (final verse).
As Aunty Nona always taught, "Dahling, if there is no story, there is no hula!" and so she (and many other kumu) discouraged dancing during the pa`ani (musical break). This is not a problem when working with live musicians. The dancer can alway step back and gracefully direct the attention toward the musicians, then pick it back up again on the kaholo. But when dancing to recorded music - hmmmmmm. I'll generally sing along with the instrumental verse, but that's not a perfect solution.
The beautiful liner notes give the lyrics in Hawaiian as well as the English translation, which Kimo Keaulana does with such grace. With the Pukui dictionary in hand, the student of Hawaiian music should have no problem understanding these mele and be able to choreograph them with the respect and understanding they deserve. More information on several of the mele can be found at http://www.huapala.org.
I'm just enchanted with the photography in the liner notes - the images of the thatched hale (house) reminds me so much of some old family photos of my grandparents when my grandfather took his new bride home to Kaua`i in the early 1920s. They went sight-seeing and we still have some of the photos from that trip. The koa forest, maile patch, ferns, and beach remind me of so many trips to gather lei materials, go fishing . . . The line of koa rocking chairs reminds me of the old Hilo Hotel lanai where the tutu men used to sit and talk story. What beautiful memories this CD brings back!
It is obvious a lot of work and research went into the production of this CD. It is my great hope that we kumu hula and others who enjoy it honor that, and be pono (correct in behavior) when using this CD. Please do not rip the mele to make copies for haumana and others. Encourage people to buy their own so that our wonderful musicians can afford to keep producing these beautiful mele, which are such an important part of preserving our culture.
Ho`oipo Hula - Kuana gets sassy with the vocals in this rendition, reminding me of many parties where we cut loose! There are also some really fine harmonies in this. The translation of the first verse lost a couple of words in the printing. I would translate the last line as "About a love so firmly bound it cannot be untied." It is sung straight through. 2:46.
Aloha no Ka`u - Wonderful ipu work makes this original mele by Kuana especially enticing, and combined with the highly visual lyrics fills the mind with choreographic inspiration. I can't wait to teach this one to my haumana! (students). It is sung straight through. 2:24.
Pua Lasana - sung in classic hula style, the rhythm just makes your hips move! The musical construction is so simple and solid, and the imagery so clear that a beginning haumana could be taught this hula, and yet it has so much swing and sway, and a wonderful kaona (inner meaning), that an experienced dancer could really shine here. It is sung straight through. 2:36.
Muliwai - The piano accompaniment to this mele takes me back to the days of my grandparents and also brings to mind listening to some of the Beamer `ohana. So relaxing. Again, this is sung straight through. 3.27.
He Aloha No O Honolulu - A fun rendition of a classic hula, especially beloved by the kane (male) dancers. The musicians do take an opportunity to shine in this one, so the dancer might sing during that portion. Or, if using the CD to put on a "mini show" for friends and family on the Mainland, let the audience enjoy the music for its own sake and take this opportunity to rest or change costume. 3:30.
Waioleka - The short pa`ani in the middle of this mele could be used by the dancer to adorn him or her self with additional lei, or possibly to interact with the audience a bit. While the mele may seem very simple, I would recommend it be performed by a more experienced dancer! 3:04.
Ni`ihau - I am enchanted with this rendition of a classic mele. Again, the piano adds an old-fashioned flavor that is just perfect and takes me back to the days when my grandparents would sit in the parlor after dinner and play. The `olelo (spoken Hawaiian) by Lolena Nicholas gives a sense of place as, in her beautiful accent, she speaks of the incomparable shell lei of this special island. I can just picture the hula dancer in a velvet holoku (formal Hawaiian gown) dancing this in a stately manner. I also love the "swing step" in the rhythm, as my Nana would call it, which lets the dancer make a little sway to change the weight and dance each repeat verse as an inversion of the previous one. I so rarely see that any more. Because each verse is repeated, this is actually the longest mele in the collection. 4:23.
Aia La o Pele i Hawai`i - Wow! This is the first time I have heard this as a mele `auana! When I was studying it with Aunty Nona, it was kahiko all the way - what a difference! Very exciting to listen to! How fun when we find something that makes us re-think what we think we know! New choreographic vistas are opening before me! Sung straight through. 3:13.
Ka Nae Pakalana - This original mele brings out a different color in Kuana's voice - warmer and more contemplative. A very dramatic mele wich I would reserve for the more experienced dancer. I expect it will become a favorite of the young `olapa! Sung straight through. 4:01.
Ha`aheo Kaimana Hila - Another wonderful versatile hula with great visual appeal. That nice steady beat provides a good solid platform to keep the beginning dancer's feet steady while allowing the more experienced dancer to add more complex steps. The slower tempo also makes this a good hula for the beginning dancer. Sung straight through. 2:59.
Aloha Once More - An English version of E Ku`u Morning Dew, with lyrics by Myrna Kamae. It makes me think of how many of us local people have to leave home to find work, leaving loved ones behind, coming home only on vacations to paint the house, clean the yard, and then fly out again to work, leaving behind a poem or song, or a pot of stew to express our love and longing for home. I remember the tears in my eyes every Monday morning, watching the lights of my kane's plane disappearing into the clouds over Hamakua as he flew back to work. Very simple and sweet. It might make a nice closing number for a small hula program. Sung straight through. 2:59
Ha`upu - A delightful mele ho`oipo of Kaua`i presented in classic hula style, sung straight through. Another that could be learned by a beginning dancer, but has a lot of depth that an experienced dancer could bring out. 2:09.
Ka Ua Kipu`upu`u - This original mele by Keheau is simply exquisite. Having grown up with Mauna Kea gazing through my bedroom window, and visiting friends in Waimea, the mele brings back many sweet memories. I would recommend this mele for the more experienced dancer, and I look forward to adding it to my own repetoir. Sung straight through. I notice that in the liner notes, the mountain is spelled "Maunakea," in accordance with the new spelling recommended by the Hawaiian lexicon committee. 3:51.
Analani E - A jazzy, swingy hapa-haole mele about a love from California. The pacing makes me want to pick up my `uli`uli to dance this! Just plain fun! 2:49.
Lei `Awapuhi Kaluhea - Another of Kuana's original compositions, it is in classic hula style, with the verses in 2-1-1-1-2 arrangement with a cute little trick at the end. The beautifully visual lyrics make your hands want to participate in telling the story. The melody and rhythm are simple enough for a beginning dancer to perform, but an experienced dancer would really shine in this mele. 3:03.
Precious Moments - Oh, man! The first time I played this CD, when it came to this mele, I just cried. Hearing Aunty G-Girl's lyrics, and sung so beautifully, took me right back to small-kid time on the Red Road and Kalapana - playing with the horses, feeding the pigs, running around making trouble while the grown-ups talked story and played music and drank beer. . . While this could be danced as a hula, I think if you played this number a lot of us would stand up, hold hands, and sing along. 3:59.
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