“Love is the Conqueror”
Azato
(Azato Music)
Hawaii musicians have been writing songs with reggae rhythms ever since Henry Kapono Ka’aihue and Brother Noland hit big on local radio stations in the early 1980s, but very few reggae-style songs have been written with Hawaiian lyrics. In recent years, however, several Hawaii artists have experimented with Hawaiian-language reggae. Azato joins the short list of cross-cultural pioneers with this impressive debut.
Azato’s effective use of Hawaiian lyrics in tandem with familiar Afro-Caribbean reggae rhythms should give other island reggae fans — song writers and recording artists alike — a blueprint for their own cross-cultural multilingual projects. Azato is an articulate and versatile lyricist as well as a strong commercial world reggae performer.
The album is not entirely Hawaiian-language reggae; it also includes Samoan lyrics, and Azato writes primarily in English.
With several songs he gives thanks to God for all His works and shares inspiring messages of faith, related to the Rastafari beliefs of Jamaica, which are the roots of reggae.
He also writes about relationships. “Tarona Loa” is an exquisite bilingual love song for his wife. Two others describe the aftermath of conflict and the wonder of true love. Three are requiems for lost friends.
Azato documents his work with the lyrics for every song plus English translations for Hawaiian and Samoan lyrics. He also provides Biblical citations for the benefit of listeners who seek deeper understanding of his music.
Visit azatomusic.com.
“Awapuhi”
Mana with Kay Das
(KDM)
Mana is the husband and wife duo of Glenn and Joice Alapag. They sing, she plays ukulele and he plays guitar and bass. Kay Das plays rhythm guitar and “sampler keyboard” as well as creating the instrumental centerpiece of the trio’s arrangements with his work on steel guitar. The partnership has resulted in some of the most beautiful Hawaiian and hapa haole music of calendar year 2018.
Contemporary takes on the music of previous eras rarely come as nahenahe — sweet, melodious — as this. Even the most contemporary compositions — songs by Nathan Aweau, Weldon Kekauoha and Keali‘i Reichel — are arranged and mixed to evoke classic south seas fantasies.
Among the older composers whose work is re-imagined in Hollywood/Exotica style are Alfred Unauna Alohikea, Lani Kai, Lena Machado and Jack Pitman.
Das contributes four instrumental compositions that bring his steel guitar front-and-center. A bilingual version of “You Needed Me” — with Hawaiian lyrics added to the song popularized by Anne Murray in 1978 — adds a pop chart oldie to the collection.
Visit manawithkay.hearnow.com.
