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"‘Oia ka Manawa"
Kunewa (Kunekona Productions)
Kumu hula Kunewa Mook had planned for years to record an album of hula songs with his sister, kumu hula Paleka Leina‘ala Mattos. Her death in 2002 cut those plans short, but with this album — Mook translates the title as "It’s Time" — he shares their musical legacy.
First things first: Mook has a beautiful falsetto voice and certainly deserves a worldwide audience. Second, even without his sister singing with him, this is a family project. The musicians include his brother, Paul Dunlap (guitar); a niece, Kaleihiwa Dunlap (vocals); and a nephew, Paul Dunlap Jr. (guitar). Another nephew, kumu hula Kau‘ionalani Kamana‘o, contributes as a singer and chanter.
As might be expected of a kumu hula of Mook’s stature, the arrangements are clean and traditional in style. There are no synth-track string effects or other ill-advised add-ons. Kaeo Costa (bass), Casey Olson (steel guitar), Aaron Sala (piano) and Kamakoa Lindsay-Asing (bass, guitar and ukulele) enhance his arrangements as guest musicians. Olson adds a sweet melody line to Mook’s zesty rendition of "Panini Pua Kea" and is the featured musician on "Maunaloa." Sala evokes memories of the territorial era as he guests on gorgeous revivals of "Pua ‘Ahihi" and "Kaulana ‘o Waimanalo."
Mook puts his stamp on the work of a younger writer with Tony Conjugacion’s 1985 hit "Ka Beauty A‘o Manoa." There is also an enchanting performance of "Manu ‘O‘o," a 19th-century classic whose composer is no longer known.
Mook and Kamana‘o open the album with an original oli (chant), "Ka Nahele ‘o Ka‘ala," which Mook describes in the liner notes as "written solely" for his halau. "There are no text both Hawaiian or English. It’s for your listening enjoyment only. Mahalo," he writes. Documentation of Hawaiian music is essential in general terms, but in this case the decision to keep the lyrics and their meaning within the halau is his to make. It’s more important that he has provided the Hawaiian lyrics and English translations for every song that follows.
Last, regarding "listening enjoyment," this is an album that deserves to be heard on headphones so that each word, each note and each strummed chord can be appreciated in full.
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