"Hawaii’s Falsetto King"
George Kainapau with His Island Serenaders
(Hana Ola)
George Kainapau is rightly remembered as one of the greatest Hawaiian falsetto singers of the 20th century. Not only did Kainapau have an unusually broad falsetto range, he sang Hawaiian-style falsetto and traditional American-style falsetto with equal power and clarity. (Hawaiian falsetto emphasizes the transition between a singer’s falsetto and lower register, while American falsetto does not.)
Kainapau made studio recordings for several labels that are an important part of his discography and Hawaiian music history as well. This album, recorded live in 1957 at Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village (now the Hilton Hawaiian Village), captures the experience of hearing Kainapau playing a club gig. That makes it something special.
The set list embraces Hawaiian classics and hapa-haole standards alike. "Beyond the Reef" is an outstanding example of Kainapau’s falsetto and of the nahenahe ("sweet, melodious") hapa-haole music of the territorial era. What a powerful finish he gives it! Two other selections — "Ke Ka‘upu" and "Little Grass Shack" — show he and the Serenaders could sing in their nonfalsetto voices with equal impact.
A medley of three hapa-haole songs showcases all four members of the group — Kainapau, Jules Ah See (steel guitar), Sonny Kamahele (guitar/vocals) and Kaipo Miller (bass/vocals).
The live element is accentuated when Miller closes the show with announcements about the entertainers who are playing other venues in the hotel.
The producers of this reissue, Michael Cord and Harry B. Soria Jr., are tops in the business when it comes to resurrecting the out-of-print catalogs of defunct Hawaiian record labels. Cord has worked with state-of-the-art audio restoration specialists for two decades; whatever the condition of the source material for this album may be been, the sound quality is excellent.
The liner notes by Soria, host of the "Territorial Airwaves" radio show for more than three decades, include the early history of Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village as well as biographical information on Kainapau and the Island Serenaders and synopses of the meaning of each of the songs they perform so beautifully.
Hana Ola albums are also available as digital downloads at www.cordinternational.com.
"Beyond the Reef"
