Slack-key guitarist shines both solo and when joined by other players
"Simply Sterling"
Sterling
(Kealia Farms)
Guitarist Sterling Seaton is a protege of Grammy Award-winning record producer George Kahumoku Jr. and has appeared many times on Kahumoku’s weekly Hawaiian music show at Napili Kai Beach Resort on Maui. Five songs on Seaton’s debut album are live recordings from Kahumoku’s immense trove of archival material from the show and capture him performing with Kahumoku and other musicians. Studio recordings display Seaton’s talent as a soloist.
A studio recording of an original composition titled "Da One Wit da Minah" is one of the highlights. It is a beautiful piece of music.
A zesty concert stage performance of an American folk song, "Turkey in the Straw," stands out as a dramatic change of pace and tempo, as Seaton and Kahumoku get down and jam with Garrett Probst, Peter deAquino and steel guitarist Bobby Ingano.
Composers’ credits are not provided for the songs that Seaton didn’t write, so we’ll mention here that his live performance of "Heiau" revives the song that won its composer, Bryan Kessler, a Na Hoku Hanohano Award in 1993.
The range of material — originals and remakes, slack key and jazz, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian — makes Seaton’s debut album an impressive introduction to a talented young artist. However, the final track is an ill-considered remake of "Jailhouse Rock" and should have been left in the archives.
For more information go to SlackKeyShow.com.
"Pauline Kekahuna and Her Hau‘oli Girls"
Pauline Kekahuna and Her Hau‘oli Girls
(HanaOla HOCD)
Kent Ghirard doesn’t often get the credit he deserves for his contributions to Hawaiian music and hula. Maybe it’s because Ghirard came from a wealthy mainland family and produced hula shows there before moving here in 1947. Maybe it’s because he was most active as a promoter here back when hula was taught by teachers in hula studios rather than by kumu hula in halau hula. Whatever the explanation, Ghirard introduced ideas in costuming and performance that have become traditional in Waikiki, and also made acetate recordings of the performers he worked with that document the music of the era.
This collection of recordings Ghirard made of Pauline Kekahuna and Her Hau‘oli Girls from 1953 through 1955 is a must-have for anyone interested in Hawaiian music, as it was performed in the mid-20th century. It includes the first known recordings of several Hawaiian songs that have since become standards, the first known recording by Nina Keali‘iwahamana, and the only known recording of her mother, Vickie I‘i Rodrigues, singing the lead vocal of "KHBC," the song Rodrigues wrote in 1936 to commemorate the opening of a Big Island radio station.
These recordings also should rekindle interest in Kekahuna’s work as a performer and recording artist.
Liner notes by Harry B. Soria Jr. and Keali‘iwahamana, the only member of "the Girls" still living, completes this welcome retrospective on Kekahuna and her "Girls." All going well, Ghirard’s archives will be opened again soon.
For more information go to Cordinternational.com.
"Over the Rainbow"
Ku‘ulei Mamo
(Sma’Kine Recording)
Make a list of the ukulele players who record as instrumentalists rather than as vocalists and almost all the names on the list are men. The list of female instrumentalists is a short one. For years it seemed like that list began and ended with Brittni Paiva and Taimane Gardner. Ku‘ulei Mamo now makes it three.
Born and raised in Hawaii but currently a resident of Japan, where she teaches English and ukulele, Mamo has a noteworthy debut album filled with tunes that represent a variety of eras and locales.
The set opens with the title song, the Judy Garland hit known to many these days as recorded by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo‘ole. From there Mamo zigs and zags through early-20th-century pop ("Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"), Hawaiian ("Ku‘ulei ‘Awapuhi"), Top 40 ("Winchester Cathedral") and Broadway ("My Favorite Things"). Most of them she plays with one additional studio musician adding guitar and bass. Steel guitarist Greg Sardinha and Hawaii ukulele player Bryan Tolentino sit in with her on others.
Several of Mamo’s students join her on "He Punahele no ‘Oe." The additional instruments create a sound that is distinctly different from everything that has preceded it, but it fits in well. Two songs that make heavy use of electronic instruments are jarring departures from the sound and general style that prevails elsewhere.
For more information go to kuulei-mamo.com.
