Kuana Torres Kahele honors Molokai on newest album

“‘Aina Momona (Music for the Hawaiian Islands Vol. 6)”

Kuana Torres Kahele

(Kahele KTK232)

With “‘Aina Momona (Music for the Hawaiian Islands Vol. 6),” multi-Hoku Award winner Kuana Torres Kahele continues to make good on his unprecedented commitment to record and release six full-length albums of newly written songs — each about a different Hawaiian island. The first two — for Hawaii and Niihau — were released roughly six months apart in 2014. The next two — for Maui and Kauai — come on schedule in 2015. Kahele then spent 2016 working on the album for Lanai, which he released in March of this year.

Kahele’s original plan was that Lanai and Molokai would share an album, but residents of both islands lobbied so effectively that “‘Aina Momona” is now the sixth album in a series of seven. An album for Oahu will complete the project sometime in 2018 — unless Kahele is allowed to spend enough time on Kahoolawe to write an album of songs for it as well.

For now, “‘Aina Momona” reaffirms Kahele’s place as one of the most prolific Hawaiian songwriters of his generation. The lyrics describe lei he associates with Molokai, important people with ties to it, local landmarks and the abundance for which the island was known.

Kahale is well known for his falsetto and uses it beautifully on most of the songs. The three that he sings in his lower vocal register add variety. The last of the three, “Ka Beauty Hanohano o Waikolu,” brings the album to an awe-inspiring conclusion.

As with previous albums in the series, Kahele sings most of the vocal parts and plays most of the musical instruments. Casey Olsen (steel guitar) and Zachary Lum (piano) return as his supporting duo.

It’s become customary for Kahele to include something representative of the island he’s honoring. For Niihau it was song lyrics written by previous generations of Niihau residents. For Maui and Lanai he recorded with people from those islands. For Molokai he welcomes Raiatea Helm, who was born and raised there, as his guest vocalist on “Mo‘omomia.”

Kahele completes the album with a removable liner notes sheet that provides the lyrics, basic English translations and background information for nine of his compositions. Additional annotation reveals why Molokai is important to him as a cultural practitioner.

Visit kuanatorreskahele.com.