“Rise Up”
Cultural Nation
(Cultural Nation no serial number)
Multinational Cultural Nation opens with a Maori haka before getting down to business with 11 original English-language songs. Singing in English is the right thing for them at this point because what they have to say — politically and culturally — should reach the largest audience possible.
Junior John, the group’s lead vocalist and resident songwriter, addresses political and cultural issues in clear, concise terms while avoiding faux-Rasta accents and other old-time Jawaiian affectations. Several songs reference Rastafarian theology, but Cultural Nation is about more than Polynesian nationalism and Rastafarian philosophy.
Musically, too, this is a reggae album that Hawaii can be proud to claim. The strong and detailed instrumental arrangements, built on powerful bass lines, are solid throughout.
At present Cultural Nation is selling the complete hard-copy CD at gigs. The music is also available on iTunes.
Search “Cultural Nation” on Facebook for links to video and live dates.
“These Moments”
Kalei Gamiao
(Neos Productions V132)
Ukulele soloist Kalei Gamiao’s latest CD was released without fanfare or promotion. Fans of his work will want to search for it.
Soloists like Gamiao often end up with their artistry submerged by the musicians their producers choose to pack in around them. Gamiao fares well in that respect. On the majority of these tracks, he is allowed to perform solo. Anyone who is interested in the purity of his technique will appreciate the silence around him.
When studio musicians join Gamiao, their work almost always adds textures to the arrangements without pulling the focus away from him. Only on the final song, one that Gamiao didn’t write, do the studio musicians take things too far.
Visit neosproductions.com.
“Songs With Words”
Hiroshima
(Hiroshima Music no serial number)
Hiroshima is based in Southern California, and most of the group grew up there, but they’ve been more or less “local by adoption” ever since that Hawaiian Electric television commercial showing founding member June Kuramoto playing koto amid images of a thunderstorm in the mid-1980s. What’s more, keyboardist Kimo Cornwell is an expat islander, as is one of the guests on this recently released album. That’s reason enough to bend the “Island Mele” format just enough to slip them in.
The album is one of those projects that an act can do when they have their own record label. It revisits 12 songs from much earlier in their career, recording this time with Terry Steele and expat local girl Yvette Nii as the vocalists. The vocalists shift the spotlight away from Kuramoto’s koto and the formidable talents of the other members of the group, but Hiroshima’s work here is worth hearing.
Visit hiroshimamusic.com.
