Aloha Dear Readers! Iʻve been working on discography research. Sometimes its exhilarating; sometimes itʻs just painful. Details, details details. The Devil is always in the details. I returned to Decca Records, and the oh-so-marvelous 6-volume discography titled The Decca Labels, … Continue reading
Aloha kākou! Kūlia i ka Pūnāwai (Kumu Hula Association of Southern California) held its FOURTH annual Hula Camp last weekend at Grindling Hilltop Camp in Malibu. Over 170 happy campers joined nearly 20 kumu hula (and their token academic) for … Continue reading
Okay, Hawaiian music fans–here is my roundup of five blogs on Hawaiian music that have my “Gold Star” recommendation. #1 AUNTIE WANDA’S MELE MONDAY Auntie Wanda’s Mele Monday — Featured Playlists on the YouTube Channel Auntie Wanda’s Mele Monday — the … Continue reading
Take note!! Lots of new knowledge dropping. Aloha America: Hula Circuits through the U.S. Empire, by Adria L. Imada. Duke University Press, 2012. This book first came to life as Imadaʻs doctoral dissertation in American Studies at NYU, and it … Continue reading
Thinking . . . thinking . . . thinking . . . as summer days whiz by . . . I am deep into a writing project that has been with me for awhile — over two decades, in fact. … Continue reading
A followup to the previous post that provides recommendations for listeners to explore the diversity within the Hawaiian slack key / kī hō’alu guitar tradition. This post provides recommendations for information-rich resources to read. 1. Writing ABOUT Hawaiian Slack Key … Continue reading
Kī hō‘alu literally means “loosen the key.” It characterizes the Hawaiian playing style, in which the standard guitar tuning is altered by slackening the strings. The playing style, executed by a single player, combines plucking a bass line on the … Continue reading
Aloha Dear Readers! This kind of list-making is frequently an annual undertaking and usually occurs at yearʻs end. Iʻm coming back around to a birdʻs eye view from a slightly different place. We have Honolulu magazineʻs two high-profile projects: “The … Continue reading
Dear Readers, it has been a month since my last post. I have not been idle; like so many others, I am struggling to stay afloat in the riptides . . . Like so many others, I mourned Whitney Houstonʻs … Continue reading
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When I was growing up, Kingʻs Blue Book and the Green Book enjoyed the status of “bibles” of Hawaiian music. One or both volumes could be found in many a piano bench across the islands. Seekers of songs were often … Continue reading
Hawaiian Music for Listening Pleasure All Rights Reserved
Hawaiian Music for Listening Pleasure 