Hawaiian Music Series 2012

Hawaiian

Music Series

2012

IRVINE

BARCLAY

www.thebarclay.org Irvine Barclay Theatre • 2012 Hawaiian Music Series • www.thebarclay.org • THEATRE 949.854.4646 Click to >>>Subscribe Now

Table of Contents About the Series ....................................................................................... 3 About the Artists

Willie K ....................................................................................................... 4 February 4, 2012

HAPA .......................................................................................................... 8 March 3, 2012

Keola Beamer & Raiatea ........................................................................ 12 April 21, 2012

About Hawaiian Hula and Mele (dance and song) ................................... 16 How to Buy Tickets ............................................................................... 18

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This Series features the best musicians working in Hawaii today.

These artists bring not only their cultural traditions, but showcase the amazing range and diversity of Hawaiian music currently played in the islands.

The Hawaiian Music Series is sponsored by

Elizabeth R. Steele Trisha Steele Irvine Barclay Theatre • 2012 Hawaiian Music Series • www.thebarclay.org • 949.854.4646

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Willie K Feb 4, 2012 Saturday at 8pm www.williek.com Irvine Barclay Theatre • 2012 Hawaiian Music Series • www.thebarclay.org • 949.854.4646

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“An amazing guitar virtuoso,

Raised on Maui, Willie Kahaiali`i (aka Willie K) has been entertaining audiences with his music since the age of 10. He has evolved into an eclectic and charismatic singer, songwriter, entertainer, and now actor. One of Hawaii’s most versatile talents, Willie performs a myriad of musical genres, including Hawaiian, Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Rock, Country Western, and even Opera, and is a Grammy Music Awards nominee and has earned multiple Na Hoku Hanohano Awards for his many CD recordings. He has played with or opened for musical giants such as: B.B. King, Santana, Al DiMeola, Willie Nelson, Prince, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Elvin Bishop, Bonnie Rait, Jackson Browne, Mick Fleetwood, George Benson, Jimmy Buffett and in 2009 he toured Germany with Simply Red.

a Hawaiian Jimi Hendrix; he’s Gabby Pahinui, Andres Segovia and Eddie Van Halen rolled into one.

Willie can mimic seemingly any style, moving easily between screaming Stratocaster, sweet slack key & jazzy,

”

almost baroque, acoustic 12-string.

--The Honolulu Weekly

click on the image to play the video

Willie K talks about Maui

➧

Willie K “Waterfall”

➧ Willie K “The Thrill Is Gone”

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➧

His musical collaborations are legendary. Willie performed as a duo with Amy Hanaiali‘i and the comic-music team of Barefoot Natives with Eric Gilliom. He performed with Willie Nelson on the huge hit Away in a Manger and performs with Mick Fleetwood’s Island Rumours Band. Most recently, he performed with Lima Wela, Avi Ronen and Joe Cano, interweaving Hawaiian, Latino, and Middle Eastern influences with unmatched guitar virtuosity. And, of course, heading his own immensely popular Willie K band.

Willie’s community activities are as eclectic as his music, including his Celebrity Golf Tournament on Maui to benefit Maui Memorial Hospital’s Oncology unit; President of Hui O Wa‘a Kaulua, which perpetuates Hawaiian culture through traditional canoe-building and sailing; and hosting a Film, Music and Martial Arts Festival to support local youth. And he launched an acting career in 2009, as one of the leads in Get A Job!, which premiered at the Honolulu International Film Festival.

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Willie K approaches music’s history with an honest mind

By Carla Meyer

McClatchy Newspaper

Willie K’s music doesn’t drift in with the breeze.

A guitar virtuoso with an expansive vocal range, the Hawaiian performer incorporates Italian opera and Middle Eastern influences into his live shows.

Between songs, he entertains with lively tales drawn from a 40-year career that started at age 10, alongside his father, musician Manu Kahaiali’i.

Reached via telephone at his home in Maui, Willie K. discussed his career and what “Hawaiian music” really means.

Question: Your music incorporates so many different influences. Some older songs are so reggae-influenced ... ...Answer: Back in the time when I started in my career, reggae was the movement of the people. The influences of reggae for me go way before Bob Marley or anyone of that nature. That was what all that was about: the music of the people.

Q: Is Hawaiian music more diverse than people think? More complex?

September 24, 2010

A: I would say it is more contemporary than complex. Basically, Hawaiian music in its natural format is only explained through hula. If you listen to Hawaiian music today, (you can hear) Spanish music, missionary gospel music. ... Influences come from other cultural backgrounds. The only reason why it is Hawaiian is the language.

Willie K played as part of the Waikiki Aquarium’s summer concert series.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARADVERTISER.COM

A lot of people -- the masters and teachers -- don’t explain this to the regular Joe who loves Hawaiian music. Because the falsetto (has) all kinds of stories. If you listen to ranchera music done by a Mexican man, or yodeling from someone from Switzerland - we took that. We never had that in ancient times.

A lot of (Hawaiian) artists hate that I tell the truth (about that), but you have to give thanks where thanks is due. ... I spread the truth, (but) they take it out of context, and they don’t understand why I do that.

Q: But you are just trying to educate about the music’s origins?

A: Most of them don’t think that is what I am trying to do. But no, I am. People think “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (repopularized by Hawaiian legend Israel Kamakawiwo’ole) is Hawaiian. ... (But) don’t step on Judy Garland, because she is the best.

Q: We have talked about reggae, and you also sing Italian opera. What other influences can be heard in your music?

A: Well, I sing the Israeli national anthem, if that helps. (laughs) Q: Do you teach music history formally?

ple get very uncomfortable when you talk about certain things that are in relation to their ancestral history.

That is the secret of my success. I open up people’s minds and hearts at the same time, in a way they can laugh about it, and not get too emotional or stressed about it.

A: No. Q: But you try to educate people while you are on stage?

A: I educate them about Hawaiian music, in a comedy sort of way, because some peo-

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Willie K swears he’s just being himself

By Tim Ryan tryan@starbulletin.com Subtlety isn’t one of Grammy nominee Willie K’s virtues. But honesty? Now you’re talking.

“I’m (a jerk),” the singer-songwriter says, using an expletive and laughing. “Really, I am. I’ve become one. I wasn’t always this way. It’s sort of a survival thing.”

Since Willie K -- the K is short for Kahaiali’i -- was nominated for his live CD with Amy Hanaiali’i Gilliom, he’s noticed some fans and friends are hesitant to congratulate him.

“Being (the jerk) that I am, everyone seems to be extra careful of taking that last step to talk to me,” Willie says from his Lahaina home. “People on Maui know I love my privacy; always have.”

It’s got nothing to do with ego or the nomination. Like many entertainers thrust into the spotlight, he just wants to play “my music the way I want to play it and that’s it.”

“All I know is music, not this other stuff,” he says. “My life has been music since like 8 when I performed with my dad.”

Willie hesitates to answer when asked about the accolades and other trappings of fame.

“OK, brah, here’s the real importance of this nomination thing. Plain and simple, I think for all the nominees this is for all of those Hawaiian musicians like Gabby (Pahinui) who came before us; for every one of them.”

Those who have seen Willie perform know that when he often pays tribute to slack-key legend Pahinui by performing

“Ki Ho’alu Man” and the Pahinui classic “Hi’ilawe.”

This seems uncharacteristically sentimental for a self-proclaimed jerk known widely for an eclectic auditory appetite that has resulted in his being dubbed the “Hawaiian Hendrix.”

Willie loves the Hawaiian slack-key guitar style, but his interests and influences include jazz, R&B, rock, reggae, blues and flamenco. Reflecting that versatility, he has shared the stage with performers including B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, George Benson, Carlos Santana, Mick Fleetwood, Jimmy Buffett and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Gifted with a three-octave range, Willie is the son of Manu Kahaiali’i, a musician who insisted that Willie perform with his brothers. By the time he graduated from high school, he was in as many as eight bands covering country and western, R&B, salsa, rock and Hawaiian. He lived in California for about eight years to advance his career, but eventually returned to his beloved Maui.

Willie became a major force on the Hawaiian music scene as a writer, musician and producer. His first three albums, beginning in 1990, won several Na Hoku Hanohano awards including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Producer of the Year.

Then, after performing as a duo with Gilliom for five years, both decided to go solo.

“Here was my life pre-Hokus,” Willie says. “Wake up and go surf five or six hours, then come home and eat, sleep a bit, go watch the sunset or grab a sunset surf, then play music ‘til, like, 1:30 a.m., then go back home to sleep,” he says, grinning. “That was my life seven days a week.

February 9, 2005 It was the bomb.

“I was doing my own thing with my music and I didn’t have to be the Willie K personality. I could just be Willie.”

Willie liked the idea of recording “Amy & Willie Live,” a product of their 2003 “Aloha Live Tour” of the West Coast.

“Everyone thinks when you go on tour all you do is come out and say a few alohas and mahalos, sing, then you go back to the hotel to party,” he says. “This album and an upcoming DVD shows what happens behind the scenes.”

The CD was recorded live in cities from San Francisco to Seattle. It’s filled with Willie’s jokes and Gilliom’s family stories.

Most songs are from their first album together, “Hawaiian Tradition.” Others are “You Ku’uipo” and “Katchi Katchi Music Makawao” from 2000’s “The Uncle in Me.” Willie says he hasn’t thought much about how winning a Grammy would affect him.

“Anything that falls my way, I guess, will be some career advantage,” he said. “But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and one way or another an artist has got to pay, and for me the worse payment is my time.

“Nominees do have that title forever and that’s sort of cool.”

The “scary part,” Willie says, is the likelihood of more performances, attention and pressure.

“I really love what I do over here on Maui, a couple gigs a week, including a jam session. I love that jam session.”

Then Willie shares his vulnerability over his fall from commercial grace years ago, and feelings of betrayal.

“For three years I tried to make all the fans happy and in the end a lot of people

didn’t appreciate it. Then when the career started to dwindle, everybody forgot about me.”

It sent him into “a major, major low, and deep depression.”

“It took me over and when you’re using substance ... to try to escape, it only gets worse,” he said. Eventually, “you know you gotta grow up or die.”

He says it took four years to grow up and it helped that Mountain Apple Co.’s Jon de Mello called to ask if he would produce Hanaiali’i’s album.

“My career started again.”

These days Willie rarely takes song requests but he does “talk story” with the audience about his background and his songs.

“Maybe that’s the new Willie K. But, still, people think if they bought your CD they own a piece of you, the right to ... your personal space.”

With the nomination, Maui’s son is readying for another onslaught. “I guess it comes with the territory, but I’m the landlord of this territory and the landlord is (a jerk),” he says.

Then he backs off and laughs at himself.

“Here’s what’s so ... funny about this nomination thing,” he says. “Today, I’m more talented than yesterday and I’m still playing the same old (stuff)!”

After a bon voyage party with his brother and sister, Willie will arrive in Los Angeles on Saturday, and, as always, is packing light. “I’m gonna wear pants, aloha shirt and real shoes to the Grammys.”

And what will he say if he wins? Willie bursts into a long laugh: “Thank you and good night.”

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Hapa

Barry Flanagan & Ron Kuala’au chanter: Charles Ka’upu

Mar 3, 2012 Saturday at 8pm

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Like the islands themselves, HAPA’s music is an amalgam of influences ranging from ancient Polynesian rhythms and genealogical chants to the strummed ballads of Portuguese fisherman and Mexican cowboys, and the inspired melodies and harmonies of the traditional church choirs of the early missionaries. Add to this a dose of American acoustic folk/rock, and you have what has been described as the “most exciting and beautiful contemporary Hawaiian music the world knows!”

(Maui Times) These disparate ingredients, blended together musically in the Pacific, emote the unique flavor of what Hawaii and HAPA music is: “beautiful, fragile, spiritual, powerful...” (L.A. Times)

“Hawaii’s hottest group!”

--Billboard Magazine

“If Maui were music,

”

it would sound like these guys.

--Santa Cruz Sentinel

click on the image to play the video

HAPA “Haleakala Ku Hanohano”

➧ Ron Kuala’au “Hi’ilawe”

➧

HAPA “Redemption Song”

➧ Charles Ka’upu

Often encapsulated as the “Sound of Maui,” HAPA’s music evokes a place that many people at different times have referred to as heavenly. The overriding quality of their music is one of beauty and serenity, found in the majestic tones of the oli (chant), mele (song), the elegant movements of the sacred dance, known as hula, and the exhilarating innovative sounds of virtuoso slack key guitar.

HAPA’s self entitled debut CD released in 1993, swept the 1994 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawaii’s equivalent of the Grammy Award), becoming the biggest selling CD by a group or duo in the history of recorded Hawaiian music.

Since its debut release, HAPA’s groundbreaking music has established the band internationally as the most recognized name in Hawaiian music, with sold-out shows from Tokyo to New York.

➧

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Bergenfield native Barry Flanagan brings the sounds of Hawaii to Manhattan Saturday, March 20, 2010

BY JIM BECKERMAN THE RECORD Where a guy comes from may not be the same thing as where he’s coming from.

Take, for instance,Bergenfield’s Barry Flanagan. He was born a Jersey boy. But his home – and his heart – are in Hawaii.

“Hawaii kind of enveloped my life,” says the guitarist, who moved to the Hawaiian Islands 30 years ago to study the traditional music that has become his joy, his obsession, his livelihood.

On Saturday, he’s bringing his band Hapa back to the metro area for a rare appearance in New York, surrounded by a clutch of fine musicians and – yes – a bevy of hula dancers. Peter Fonda is the celebrity host.

Flanagan is one of those people who find their true home away from home. “I’m sure if you take someone from China and stick them in Brooklyn, they’re going to become a Brooklyn Chinese person,” he says. “It just so happened that I developed into a New Jersey South Pacific Islander.”

Since 1979 he’s been living in the 50th state, picking up the languages, learning the culture, and honing his skills in the slack-key (open tuning) guitar style that is one of the great glories of the region.

Armed with this equipment, he released a first album in 1993 – complete with such instrumental guest stars as Kenny Loggins and Stephen Stills – that launched him on a performance career that, unlike his guitar, has seldom slackened.

He’s released eight more albums and tours continuously all over the world. Currently he does about 150 dates a year.

“I think art is the bridge,” says Flanagan, 55.

“There’s always a need to see what’s on the other side.”

His band name, Hapa – “half” — comes from the Hawaiian word for a person of mixed race. A

neutral or friendly term, Flanagan says — unless, of course, it’s preceded by “[expletive] hapa.”

“It’s an affectionate term,” says Flanagan, who himself is haole (Caucasian).

The band itself is truly hapa — mixed.

Mainlander Flanagan, who plays six-string guitar and does most of the composing, is joined by islanders Nathan Aweau (12-string guitar, vocals) and – on most gigs — master chanter Charles Kaupu and hula dancer Malia Peterson.

The route that brought this Bergen County native to the land of surfboards, pork and pineapple is almost as convoluted as the one that brought Hawaii’s first European visitor, Captain Cook, to the islands 250 years before.

His first romance was not with Hawaii in particular, but with the guitar in general. Flanagan, a 1974 Bergenfield High School graduate, happened to be going to a school that, at the time, was brimming with ace guitar players.

Future jazz great Al Di Meola was a few grades ahead of him. Wayne Lopes, Van Manakas, Brian McManus, and Dave DePinto, all heavy cats, were some of his other classmates. How could a guy not be inspired?

“These guys were just monsters at what they did,” Flanagan recalls. “Their effect on me was the equivalent of looking at Zeus throwing lightning bolts.”

When he first seriously took up guitar, around age 17, his first heroes – other than his classmates — were people like Doc Watson, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir.

Later, living in Colorado, he became obsessed with one of Hawaii’s seminal slack-key guitarists, Gabby Pahinui, who played with Ry Cooder on several albums. He was just starting to try out his new Hawaiian licks at clubs in the Boulder and Denver area when fate, as they say, stepped in.

“I got a phone call that the house I was living in with three other people burned down,” Flanagan says. “That led to an insurance check being handed me. Then I got a call from a friend from

Hawaii saying, ‘I heard your house burned down, do you want to come over for the winter?’ And guess what I did.”

Flanagan took to his new home like a mahimahi to water.

He moved into a house with 10 surfers, got to know the musician couple next door, and soon found himself in the thick of Maui’s poetic, musical and cultural life. This was at a time when the old tourist Hawaii of ukuleles and Don Ho records was being swept aside by a new interest in the islands’ true cultural roots. Happily, there was plenty of work for everyone.

“I was playing 500 dates a year,” Flanagan says. “Everything from brunch to dinner cruise music to conventions. Talk about an education.”

More recently, the election of the nation’s first Hawaiian president has made the whole world keenly curious about this least typical state in the union. Flanagan, who now lives in Honolulu with his wife, Leslie, (they live about 15 minutes from Waikiki Beach), is happy to be touring the world, showing people that Hawaiian culture is more than just wicki-wacki novelty songs.

“About 10 years ago, all the composers of real Hawaiian music got together to vote on the worst Hawaiian song ever written,” Flanagan says. “The winner was, ‘I Loved Her and Left Her on the Lava.’ Those are the kinds of things that forever stigmatize what we know as Hawaiian music.”

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April 6, 2007

MUSIC REVIEW | HAPA

Traditional Hawaiian Sounds, Seasoned With Pop Ideas

By NATE CHINEN “Feeling homesick yet?” the Polynesian chanter Charles Ka‘upu puckishly asked on Wednesday night at Merkin Concert Hall. He was addressing those in the audience with ties to the Hawaiian Islands: a majority, judging by the response he received.

Hapa, the most successful Hawaiianmusic group in recent history, is, at its core, an acoustic duo consisting of the guitarist-singers Barry Flanagan and Nathan Aweau. Wednesday’s concert also included, in addition to Mr. Ka‘upu, two hula dancers, Malia Petersen and Naomi Pi‘iliani Klein. The group draws from a wellspring of Polynesian traditions, but with a sure-footed pop sensibility. Mr. Ka‘upu’s query, for example, came after “Anjuli,” a crystalline instrumental piece that Mr. Flanagan said he had written in

the style of the guitarist Earl Klugh. Later in the show there were less successful appropriations of Bob Marley and U2.

Yet the allusions made a kind of sense.

The melding of influences is central to Hapa, a word that means half in the Hawaiian language, but has come to connote mixed ethnicity. Mr. Flanagan was an island-dwelling transplant from New Jersey when he officially teamed up with a native Hawaiian vocalist, Keli‘i Kaneali‘i, to form the original group, which had an international hit with its self-titled debut album, released in 1993.

It still turns up on island charts; it’s the top-selling recording by any group in Hawaiian-music history.

Four years ago Mr. Aweau took over the chair vacated by Mr. Kaneali‘i, who had retired from music, and the sound of the group shifted perceptibly. Mr. Aweau, who

spent 15 years as the musical director for Don Ho, brought a more pronounced virtuosity to Hapa. He has prodigious skill as an electric bassist — during an unaccompanied tear through “Greensleeves” he strongly evoked Stanley Clarke — and his 12-string rhythm-guitar playing showed an advanced understanding of harmony and orchestration.

But Mr. Aweau’s most valuable gift to the group is his singing, in the traditional Hawaiian falsetto style. One highlight of the concert was his lyrical solo performance of a Hawaiian standard, “Akaka Falls”; another was his rendition of “Lei Manoa,” a love song by Mr. Flanagan.

In both instances Mr. Aweau sang gorgeously, with a weightless vibrato and a light emphasis on the break, or ha‘i, between vocal ranges.

is the ki ho‘alu instrumental style, more commonly known as slack-key guitar.

Early in the concert Mr. Flanagan played a signature instrumental, “Olinda Road,” that neatly justified his stature as an innovator in the field. Throughout the evening he indulged in intricate fingerpicking and tricky harmonics; he often flexed the special graphite neck of his instrument to warp a pitch, with deftness and flair.

As on Hapa’s most recent album, “Maui” (Finn), Mr. Ka‘upu delivered several powerful chants. He also kept up a congenial and sometimes giddy commentary that gave the concert a casual air. When he invited members of the audience onstage to dance a hula to Edith Kanaka‘ole’s “Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai,” more than 30 people responded. They all appeared to know the movements, and the words.

One more tradition associated with Hapa

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Keola Beamer and

Raiatea Apr 21, 2012 Saturday at 8pm

www.kbeamer.com www.raiateahelm.com

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“A Stunning collaboration... abounds with sublime moments.”

--The Maui News

“unexpected surprises, percolating

Keola Beamer is a Hawaiian music legend. One of Hawai’i’s premier singer-songwriters, arrangers, composers and masters of the Hawaiian slack key guitar, Keola Beamer’s breadth of talent springs from 5 generations of one of Hawai’i’s most illustrious musical families. A multiple Na Hoku Hanohano Award Winner (Hawaiian Music Awards) and “Lifetime Achievement Award” Recipient, Keola established himself early as a leader in contemporary Hawaiian music when he wrote the classic “Honolulu City Lights,” one of the all-time best-selling records in Hawaiian music history.

with remarkable imagination and appealing insights.”

--The Honolulu Advertiser

click on the image to play the video

Keola Beamer & Raiatea

Inā

(Imagine)

➧ Keola Beamer & Raiatea Helm Interview

➧

You Somebody

➧

Slack key guitar master Keola Beamer and vocalist Raiatea Helm join forces to create a concert based on their recently released CD of exquisitely beautiful songs, including classic songs reinterpreted in the Hawaiian language, traditional Hawaiian standards, and new contemporary compositions. They are joined by hula dancer Moanalani Beamer and backed by three superb musicians Drawing inspiration from John Lennon’s timeless song “Imagine” (Ina in Hawaiian), encouraging “the world to be as one”, this concert aims to share beauty and harmony with audiences, for a joyous experience.

➧

At 25, Raiatea Helm has already been recognized twice as “Female Vocalist of the Year,” received 2 Grammy® nominations, and 8 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. Her distinctively voice traverses the octaves from natural range to Hawaiian falsetto delivered with purity and brilliance. She made history in 2006 as Hawai’i’s first solo female vocalist ever to receive a Grammy Nomination for her aptly named cd “Sweet and Lovely.” In 2009, she was privileged to perform at the Presidential Inaugural Ball in Washington DC as part of the inaugural festivities for President Obama.

What makes the collaboration across two generations work?

Raiatea: “It just clicked. When we are together, our spirits blend, and when we perform together, the joy comes out.” Keola: “Our mutual respect and love for one another. I love working with Raiatea’s voice...there is a quality of light in her voice, a sort of luminescence.” Raiatea: “He is so funny and full of new ideas, you forget what a legend he is in the Hawaiian music community...[he] taught me that nothing is acceptable short of perfection.” “We make music to make people happy,” adds Raiatea. “Everyone can relate to it.”

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honoluluadvertiser.com

April 30, 2010

Musical collaboration renews Beamer’s spirit

By Wayne Harada

What was particularly special working with Raiatea?

Keola Beamer, a veteran in Hawaiian music, had a “gotcha” moment when Raiatea Helm sang his great-grandmother’s music for their first-ever CD together, “Keola Beamer and Raiatea,” in stores Tuesday.

I like that Raiatea has the courage to explore her own heart through the music we create.

Do you think there’s something beneficial for a cooperative venture like this?

“She has a voice that I can journey with, a voice that takes me places,” said Beamer, 59, a prolific composer best known for “Hono-lulu City Lights” and a master of kí ho’alu.

It’s no secret that I lost my mom Winona Kapu-ailohia Desha Beamer about two years ago; losing my mom was the most difficult moment in my life. My mom meant a lot to me and I really, really loved her I was having real difficulty recovering from that loss. I felt as if a part of me had been ripped away. Somehow, being around Raiatea and her mischievous sense of humor made it all OK. I stopped being so sad. I went back to the studio with a new sense of determination.

Through his guitar and voice, plus her artistry, he discovered a mission and magic of collaboration.

“I felt if I could understand her gift, I could introduce her to material that would help define her own artistry,” Beamer said.

Beamer, thrilled with the duo project, answereda few questions. Consider this the first of a two-part column. Next week, Helm shares her views.

Share a discovery, after hanging with Raiatea, and how might this influence what you might do in the future.

Keola Beamer says he was impressed with the depth of nuance that Raiatea Helm expressed in her singing.

photo: Mountain Apple Co.

From Beamer: You’re the veteran here; what’s the ingredient that makes this collaboration work?

Our mutual respect and love for one another. I love working with Raiatea’s voice. To my ears, there is a quality of light in her voice, a sort of luminescence. I spent a lot of time studying her voice, her range and flexibility. I think there are two people in the world who really, really understand her voice. Me and her dad (Zachary Helm).

You wrote a couple of tunes and picked some of the Helen Desha Beamer catalog classics.

Was the intent to introduce Raiatea to some of your family’s mainstays?

Hearing Raiatea sing my great-grandmother’s music was an “aha” moment for me. Here, I was looking at this young woman, yet when I heard her sing “Kimo Henderson Hula” with only her and her ‘ukulele, I could feel an older soul present. This really intrigued me. How could this young woman express this kind

of depth of nuance? Raiatea wanted to sing “Ke Ali’i Hulu Mamo” (another by great-grandmother Beamer), so I called my Uncle Mahi, our ‘ohana’s expert in sweetheart Gramma’s music, and asked him if he would work with her on phrasing. She went over to his house and sat with him at his piano. I knew Raiatea had the chops for what might be considered technically difficult Beamer material and that her interpretation ultimately would make my great-grandmother very happy. This was important to me.

In her own sweet way, my beautiful hanai niece helped me find the love for my craft again. For that, I will always be grateful.

What’s next for you?

I’m looking forward to touring in support of the record, as I still like to make music in exotic parts of the world. In the 16 months we’ve been in the studio working on this CD we’ve somehow still managed to perform concerts in China, Japan, New York, Philadelphia and the West Coast. You learn a lot about the people you travel with, but by mutual agreement and penalty of death, we keep that stuff secret!

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High note:

Raiatea Helm’s musical trip to Old Hawai’i

by Jeanne Cooper The last time Raiatea Helm, the sweet yet sultry 26-year-old Hawaiian falsetto and jazz singer, performed in the Bay Area, a power outage forced her to turn the first show at Yoshi’s into an acoustic set, and to cancel the second. Yet that’s nothing compared to her last time on tour in Japan (where her fan base may be even larger than that in Hawai’i.) Helm was supposed to be playing in Fukushima on March 11, the day of the cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami, but due to a last-minute schedule change she was still in Tokyo and survived the shaking unscathed.

multiple Nā Hōkū Hanohano award winner, whose recent collaboration with Keola Beamer is up for another handful of Nā Hōkū trophies later this month.

“I’m a big fan of trying to make something traditional and making it new and fresh again,” said Helm in a phone interview last night. “I perform these songs because I love it.”

Despite her Hawaiian roots, though, “I wasn’t a big Genoa Keawe fan; I didn’t really know a lot of Hawaiian songs until I was 15,” Helm admitted. Instead, she said, she discovered the classic genre through Nina Keali’iwahamana (of “Hawai’i Calls” fame), and the skill of her father, entertainer Zachary Helm, in sustaining notes in songs such as “Alika.”

“I was intimidated because he could hold that long note. ‘If my dad can hold that note, I can hold that note,’ I said to myself with a little cockiness,” Helm recalled. “And I found something that I loved.” (Check out the video below for a sample of her staying in a sweet spot to the audience’s delight.)

Raiatea Helm

photo by Guy Sibilia

Here’s hoping tonight’s concert in Redwood City and tomorrow’s in Berkeley are a little less eventful, especially since the music should be more than memorable. Helm’s enthusiastic embrace of the old-school vocal style, epitomized by the late Aunty Genoa Keawe, goes beyond nostalgia, transforming pure notes into pure joy. Others seem to agree: The Honolulu-born, Moloka’i-reared singer is a two-time Grammy nominee and

She released her first CD, “Far Away Heaven,” at just 17, but gained international notice for her second, 2005’s “Sweet and Lovely,” when it was nominated for the first-ever Grammy for best Hawaiian music album (a category that was dropped after this year’s awards and folded into best regional roots music album.) Another Grammy nomination followed for 2007’s “Hawaiian Blossom,” while last year’s “Keola Beamer & Raiatea” has netted the pair Nā Hōkū nominations for best group, album, island music album, song (“You Somebody”) and entertainer of the year.

May 10, 2011

“A lot of it was Keola, his magic,” Helm says of the slack-key guitarist and singer. “He knew what I was capable of doing in the studio and when we found songs, he really had the control and I had fun working with him, but he made most of the magic in a worldly sound, which I could never imagine my voice creating.”

On her current tour, Helm accompanies herself on ‘ukulele and is backed by slack-key guitar legend Sonny Lim, and another accomplished axman, Wailau Ryder. A threetime dancer at the Merrie Monarch hula competition, Helm’s also been known to perform a hula or two during her shows, another nod to traditions dear to her heart.

“When I do ‘Kalama’ula’” -- a tribute to the area in Moloka’i where her father as well as the composer were awarded Hawaiian

homestead lands -- “I try to take people to my island, that’s how deep I go into my music.

It’s very sensitive and spiritual to me,” Helm said.

Helm appears tonight (May 10) at Club Fox and tomorrow (May 11) with opening act Bay Area singer-songwriter Kāwika Alfiche and his hula dancers at Freight and Salvage. She’ll be playing larger halls when she returns to Japan next month for a tour from Osaka to Okinawa that includes a Sendai relief benefit, but finds the scale of the Bay Area shows particularly appealing.

“When I perform, I really prefer intimate venues, so I can try to get the audience involved, and try to show them the real girl from Moloka’i,” Helm said. “That’s me and that’s who I am and that’s who you’re going to get.”

click to play

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Hula & Mele

text taken from www.hawaiianencyclopedia.com

According to legend, the first hula occurred when Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes, wanted her sisters to entertain her with song and dance. Only Pele’s youngest sister, Hi‘iaka, would comply. Hi‘iaka performed gracefully and powerfully for Pele to the amazement of all.

Mele oli may use just two or three notes, and the lines usually do not rhyme. Instead, the chants often have what is known as “linked assonance,” in which the end of one line has a sound-alike word or some associated meaning with the beginning of the next line.

Today hula is a beautiful art form and culturally significant practice that embraces and perpetuates Hawaiian history, legend, and culture.

Mele hula is accompanied by hula, and possibly musical instruments as well. Mele oli is never accompanied by dance or music, though may be accompanied by rhythmic instruments such as pā ipu (gourd drums).

With no written language, the ancient Hawaiians recorded their histories, genealogies, legends, and the phenomena of their gods through the creation and memorization of chants, known as oli, and dances called hula.

In mele oli, the words usually revolve around a principal tone, which is pronounced with more emphasis than other tones of the mele. The principal tone occurs over and over, and several subordinate tones may also be repeated, though with less emphasis and frequency.

Mele is a more general word that refers to any type of song or chant. An oli is a chant that traditionally was not accompanied by dance. Often long phrases were chanted in a single breath, with each phrase ending with an ‘i‘i (trill).

Mele hula is a relatively free melody, with more tones and larger intervals between tones. The range and pitch of mele oli is more restricted, while the melody is more confined and less voiced.

Hula dancers are trained by a hula master, or kumu hula, in a school called a hālau. The dancers are trained not only in the dance movements but also in the philosophy of the hula.

In ancient Hawai‘i, one who trained from childhood in the art of chanting was known as haku mele, a prestigious accomplishment that gave the person a high ranking status in the society.

The Artistry of Chants

Considered a narrative movement, hula embraces the meanings of the chants while releasing the grace and spirit of the dancer. The essence of hula is to go inward, to touch one’s center. Dancers are especially aware of their feet touching the earth, and of the earth itself, which is felt to be the source of the power of the dance.

They may wear a necklace made from the polished nuts of the kukui tree (Aleurites moluccana, candlenut) or lei ‘ā‘ī (draping vines or flowers).

‘Auana and Kahiko

Bracelets of ferns around their wrists and ankles are known as kūpe‘e. The lei po‘o encircles the dancer’s head, which is traditionally graced with long, dark flowing hair.

The two main forms of hula are ‘auana (also spelled ‘auwana) and kahiko. ‘Auana is the more modern style of hula, which is characterized by undulating movements and is usually accompanied by a Hawaiian band. Kahiko (which means “ancient”), is the older and more traditional form of hula.

In kahiko, an invocation precedes each dance, and the women often wear knee-length skirts made from flat green ti leaves.

Kumu Hula Charles Ka’upu of HAPA

Mele Oli and Mele Hula The two general classes of chants, mele oli and mele hula, serve different purposes. Oli is a non-metered chant that is used for specific occasions and when addressing formal subjects, but not for dancing. Mele hula is a more rhythmic chant with a broader tonal range.

Chants may use an inflecting tone that momentarily varies from the principal or subordinate tone and then immediately returns. Microtonal inflection involves very quick, small alterations of the pitch, each time quickly returning to the main note.

This creates a fluctuating or trilling sound. Chants rarely use melody, the variations in pitch that are so common in Western style songs.

The inflecting tones and the weaving up and down sounds of microtonal inflection provide much of the artistry of chants.

Also integral to chanting is the use of kaona (hidden meanings, concealed references, or double meanings) that may allow the chants to be interpreted several ways.

Chants are typically metaphorical rather than literal. For example, the word lehua may refer to one’s lover, or may refer to the lehua flower blossom, or to Pele’s younger sister, the goddess Hi‘iaka (the lehua was her sacred flower).

In ancient times, the meanings of certain words in chants were known only by the haku mele, and a chant might be telling two

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or more stories at the same time. Deciphering the symbolism of a chant was considered part of the enjoyment, sort of an intellectual game.

The style used for a particular mele depends on the chant’s purpose, which resides in the meaning of its words. Some types of mele include mele ipo (love chant), mele inoa (name chant) and mele kahi (place chant). Hula ‘ili‘ili (pebble hula) is a form in which smooth, water-worn stones are used as clappers (castanets).

Different vocal techniques are required for different styles of mele, such as ‘oli‘oli (joyous), ho‘oipoipo (romantic), ‘ai ha‘a (vigorous), and ho‘aēae, a style of chanting with short phrases and prolonged vowels. The ho‘aēae style is often used in love chants. Different chanting styles require tones that may be tremulous, staccato (rapid fire), or more lyrical.

Hula and Mele— Carrying on the Hawaiian Culture Hula and mele chants are the ancient way that Hawaiians tell their stories, pay reverence to nature, and unite mind, body and spirit with all of creation. Hula and mele are also a celebration of the beauty of the heart of the Hawaiian people, their love and aloha.

Traditionally, hula and mele have helped Hawaiians remember their origins and give thanks for all of the many natural wonders that enrich their world, including the animals, birds, fish, flowers, trees, mountains, streams, ocean, wind, and sky.

Chants are enhanced by hula, and both are integral parts of Hawaiian spirituality. Chants and hula carry on the legends and history of the Hawaiian people and help Hawaiians retain a connection to their ancient past. Hula brings forth the meanings of the chants, similar to how the form of poetry may give life to a poem.

Hawaiian chants and hula recount the origins of the Hawaiian people and the islands on which they live, as well as the origins of the universe. There are tales of migrations, genealogies, myths, customs and traditions. There are also stories of love, of longing for loved ones, stories of grief over deaths, and heroic explorations.

Hawaiian chants and hula acknowledge the ‘āina (land) and the history of the Hawaiian culture, a culture sustained by an oral tradition captured in the lyrics of the chants. Performed by those trained in the art, hula is infused with all the power and history of the Hawaiian people.

The Rebirth of Hula— King Kalākaua, the Merrie Monarch Beginning in 1820 when the First Company of American missionaries came to the Hawaiian Islands on the Thaddeus, missionaries exerted a steady influence on the native Hawaiians, discouraging traditional cultural and religious beliefs and practices, including hula.

Hawaiians were eventually required to learn English, forbidden to speak Hawaiian, and made to wear Western-style clothes. Hula stayed alive only in secret, and the knowledge was passed along by those devoted to keeping this integral part of Hawaiian culture alive.

Formal restrictions on hula began as early as 1830 when Kuhina Nui (Regent) Ka‘ahumanu issued an edict forbidding hula and olioli (chants) as well as mele, which were described as songs for “pleasure.”[i] Ka‘ahumanu was co-ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom with King Kamehameha II (Kalaninui ‘Iolani Liholiho), and the former queen as the wife of King Kamehameha I. Ka‘ahumanu’s 1830 edict also disallowed women from bathing in public, and banned foul speech.

“Hula is the language of the heart and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.”

King David (Kâwika) La`amea Kalâkaua Hula was practiced openly again after Ka‘ahumanu’s death in 1832, although missionary influences continued to push for hula regulations. In 1851, perhaps partly in response to hula being used to provide entertainment for whalers and other visiting sailors, the Legislature enacted a law requiring “public shows” to be licensed.

The missionaries of the Hawaiian Evangelical Society complained that hula interfered with industrious work (e.g. farming on sugar plantations), and asked the Minister of the Interior, Prince Lot Kamehameha (Lot Kapuāiwa Kamehameha, the future King Kamehameha V) to ban hula as a “public evil.”[ii] The missionaries’ request was likely influenced by the fact that the decimation of the Hawaiian population by foreign diseases had worsened the shortage of plantation laborers in the Hawaiian Islands.

A law passed in 1859 required licensing fees for hula, imposing fines on violators and limiting hula performances to Honolulu only. Violations of the new laws could be punished with up to six months in prison and fines of up to $500.

Numerous cases of “public hula” were tried in the courts in the 1860s, but the strict sanctions were eventually eased due to pressure from the Hawaiian community. Licenses were still required, however, and fines continued to be imposed. The law restricting public hula to the Honolulu area was repealed in 1870.

Public displays of hula were further revived during the reign of Hawai‘i’s last king, David La‘amea Kalākaua, which began in 1874. When King Kalākaua had a coronation ceremony for himself in February of 1883 at the newly built ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu, Hawaiian men chanted and pounded on pā ipu (gourd drums) and women in traditional dress performed hula.

King Kalākaua later came to be known as the Merrie Monarch for his revival of hula and other Hawaiian customs, despite protests of the era’s missionaries and other influential families of the day. King Kalākaua was attacked in the newspapers for allowing “paganism.”

Despite King Kalākaua’s efforts to revive Hawaiian traditions, restrictions on commercial (public) hula remained in place until 1896 when the laws were finally repealed, three years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. The government of the newly formed Republic of Hawai‘i desired increased tourism and saw commercial hula as a means toward that end.

Today the premier and largest hula event in the Hawaiian Islands is the annual Merrie Monarch Festival, held every April in Hilo on Hawai‘i Island. The week-long hula competition is named in honor of King Kalākaua, and is a prominent showcase of the living Hawaiian culture of hula and mele.

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