Island Mele Premium

Mother ill with dementia tries to help her children

This week's synopses of Korean television dramas includes: "Wonderful Mama" • "Jang Ok Jung, Living by Love" • "All About My Romance" • "Secret of the Birth"

The Green issues 2 tunes waving the Jamaican flag

The Green — Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winner in 2011 for its self-titled debut album — starts the countdown to the Aug. 20 release of the group's third full-length album with two download-only singles, "Take Me On" and "Something About It." • Also: "Key" by Victoria Vox

Breakthrough slack key album earns Bay Area artist a Hoku

Bay Area ki hoalu (slack key) guitarist Patrick Landeza made history last month when his album "Slack Key Hauka‘i" won a 2013 Na Hoku Hanohano Award. It was the first time a nonresident artist and a download-only project has won the slack key category.

Blackburn and his band shine on modern Hawaiian standards

"Maliu" by Ikaika Blackburn: The Hawaiian falsetto singer brings the 3-D revival to Hawaii's record industry with the illustrations for his album's liner notes booklet (3-D glasses included). • Also: "This Wave" by Stef Muzic

Ohta Jr. lends ukulele prowess to 2 strong, satisfying albums

Tony Conjugacion's performance credits stretch from Broadway (where he performed as Tony C. Avanti in "Miss Saigon") to "TC2000," an avant-garde pairing of Hawaiian chant with mainstream electronic dance music. • Also: "Take 2" by Herb Ohta Jr. and Jon Yamasato

Ohtas let their ukes sing on father-and-son album

Hawaii's music has been enriched by the contributions of several families in which talent extends from one generation to the next. This aptly named album by Herb "Ohta-san" Ohta and his son, Herb Ohta Jr., is an excellent example.

Well-written songs and swell harmonies mark nifty surf band

If the top Brill Building pop songwriting teams of the late '50s and early '60s had been tracking what Dick Dale and the Beach Boys were doing in Southern California, and if the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean had spent more time in Hawaii, they all might have come together to create a group like the Dukes of Surf.

Standards served up in sweet, casual form

Beautiful acoustic Hawaiian music played in the old Hawaiian style and recorded to preserve and perpetuate the language and traditional music of Hawaii — that's what Nate Kana‘e's economically packaged album is all about.

Fernandez exhibits superb uke artistry

Troy Fernandez holds an important place in contemporary local music for his work as a member of the Ka‘au Crater Boys with Ernie Cruz Jr. in the '90s. The duo won the Hoku Award for contemporary album of the year two years in a row.

Wide-ranging 'Bumbye' another win for Kupaoa

Kupaoa — the husband-and-wife duo of Kellen Paik and Kalikolihau Hannahs Paik — goes from triumph to triumph with its third album. A majority of the songs are written by the couple or by Kellen working with other collaborators.