Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 8, 1 August 2011 — New works by solo acts [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

New works by solo acts

M U S I C R E V I E W By Francine Murray

Hula means many things to many people. It is an art. It is a danee. It is the ehant, oli or mele in whieh resonates a story that blossoms in movement. Let the musie move you. Danee, sway or kiek haek and let your heart soar to the melodie eharms of Hula, the new solo alhum by highly aeelaimed Kumu Hula and musician Robert Cazimero.

Thoroughly captivating, every one of the 1 1 tracks is familiar yet fresh as Cazimero plays the piano, with his fingertips that say aloha, andhe sings some ofhis favoritehula music including classics from the regal-tra-ditional "Kalākaua'" to the hapa-haole fun of "Haole Hula" and sultry "Lovely Hula Hands" by R. Alex Anderson. Other hula classics featured include "Na'u Ho'okahi" by Cazimero, "I Aloha Ia No 'O Kanaio"

by Nina Maxwell, Kenneth Makuakāne and Roddy Lopez, and "Hualālai" by Matilda Kauwe. Join Cazimero in celebrating the release of this new CD, Hula, with music on Aug. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Hawai'i Theatre. Tickets are $25, discounts available, at the box office or online at hawaiitheatre.com. The CD is available at fine music stores or mountainapplecom pany.com.

We all know Kuana Torres Kahele from the Hōkū-award-winning group Nā Palapalai, but you will fall in love with his voice all over again when you hear his new solo CD, Kaunaloa. Beginning with the jovial song " 'Ūlili E" about the sandpiper's travels from Alaska down the Pacific by George Keahi and Harry Nā'ope, Kahele eomplements the story of the annual journey by

adding two cheerful new verses. This CD, rich with 13 songs - 12 of them original compositions - takes us on an amazing musical joumey through Kahele's lineage and across the plains of Hawai'i Island in "Nā Vaqueros," a song for the Spanish cowboys commissioned by King Kamehameha III to teach kānaka maoli horse-mounted ranching techniques. Then ease into the breathtaking Waimanu Valley through "Waimanu I Ka Lauoha," the home of Kahele's mother,

and to the last Hawaiian fishing village of Miloli'i, where Kahele's tūtū papa lived, in the composition " 'Āina 'O Miloli'i." Besides treating us to his great vocal range, this album features various samplings of his musical breadth as in the ballads "Wāikāhuli" and "Plkake Anuhea," the festive "Mānoa I Ke Ko'i'ula" and the traditional Hawaiian "story of his travels style," heard in "Palisa." For your samplings online, visit napalapalaimusic.com. ■

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Hula Robert Cazimero Mountain Apple Co.

Kaunaloa Kuana Torres Kahele Self-published