Hawaiian Music on the Internet

The inimitable Mihana with RJ, Jungle Studio, 2008

On July 7, 2007, a bunch of friends and I launched WhodaguyHawaii.com, the purpose of which was to stream, full time, the best of vintage and contemporary Hawaiian music, interspersed with the artists who showed up in our Jungle Studio to perform, live, no second takes.

Those of you who heard any of the live sessions, who responded so favorably, will be pleased to know that I am slowly pulling together "The best of" those sessions as a CD, or perhaps two discs, featuring amazing, never-before-heard performances. These live "talk story" sessions reveal much of Hawaiian music history preserved exclusively in my archives, including artist interviews that date back to the 1960s.

Because of the house fire that wiped out me and the web site, we are currently re-playing a magic evening, in the mountain rain, with my favorite singer/songwriter from Hawaii: Jerry Santos. This is but one of dozens of sessions we streamed live. User tabulations showed that we were listened to in all of the United States and over 40 other countries.

I am trying to recover my bearings after the Halloween Eve Fire. Meanwhile, having checked out the most visible "Hawaiian music" online stations, the best overall seems to be the one operated by AOL (in the midst of other niche music formats.) And, I have a bias, since America Online, AOL, was founded by Steve Case, another graduate of Punahou School, alma mater of "Barry" Obama, yours truly and many others since the institution was founded in 1841.

The overall context of the AOL Hawaiian music site is what you'd expect on any Internet audio channel: a smorgasbord of commercials, promos and other stuff in no way related to Hawaii, let alone our music. But ... what music there is, from the little time I monitored, is very cool. Certainly entry level for those seeking more than the malihini (tourist) songs played over umbrella-clad tropical drinks at some Waikiki Resort, which once might have had authentic Hawaiian music, but now plays malihini Muzak.

Of course I am biased and a point to make. No one here in Hawaii or off-island assembled the song library, has the audio archives and the repertoire of our more than two years of live recording of the greatest Hawaiian musicians. The list is too long to list here, but can be found at the home page link:

http://www.whodaguyhawaii.com/contributors2010.htm.

While I put my life (and studio) back together, we are are streaming shows from our archives. Following the robust Jerry Santos session we will replay a visit with the enchanting Mihana, who also happens to be the daughter of one of Hawaii's greatest composers, Irmgard Farden Aluli, perhaps best known for her song "Puamana (Sea Breeze)," which tells of the family home in Lahaina, Maui.

Meanwhile, I have been typing this since the last commercial break shattered the mood. Heard Gabby Pahinui, Keli'i Reichel and some nice ki ho'alu (slack key) guitar music. If you can handle the rupturing breaks, which seem to occur after four songs, then this seems to be a nice primer in the best of the sounds of our islands. And the audio quality it A-plus, a joy to listen to this Monday night in Kane'ohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i.

And just as I start typing the above sentence, on comes an instrumental version of "He Aloha No o Honolulu." It is either the same version that played just before the last break; or it wa someone else's song about our hometown, Honolulu. RULE: It requires more than numbers and/or a system to play songs to their maximum effect. It's all in the money segues: the morphing of music and lyrics, from one song to another. And think about it: Everyone has access to the same "deck," i.e., every record available. But like a poker tournament, it is what each player does with her cards that determines the winner.

Enough of this. I'm going back to my DirectTV on hold. But more notes: The software shifts to a wahine (female) vocal, sounds like Amy Hanaiali'i Gillom singing multiple tracks. And Raiatea Helm just sang a pretty ballad, all in the Hawaiian language. Whoever it is, it swings ... in that chang-a-lang backyard luau style, or in the sensual songs--the lyrics are all double entendre; most always about lovers getting it on, in the jungle, or wherever. I am still ambivalent about listing song titles as they play. But given a choice I always would pick good music over data about the sounds.

Whoever is picking the music has a good ear, knows what he/she is doing. If not the seminal, definitive versions of some of the songs, the music chosen is from a very solid list of perennial favorites. Check it out. It'll be a while before WhodaguyHawaii.com is back up to speed.

Mahalo.