The Royal Hawaiian Band has added a medley of Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole songs to its repertoire. Find out more and watch a video of the band’s rehearsal at www.honolulupulse.com/tgifinprint/royal-hawaiian-band-iz.
It was almost 20 years ago to the day when Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole — now known the world over as IZ — decided it was time to become a solo artist. He abruptly quit the Makaha Sons of Ni‘ihau, the group he co-founded in 1975, and entered into a creative partnership with record producer Jon de Mello.
The two recorded the album "Facing Future" in 1993, the cover showing a photo of the hefty musician in a lavalava standing next to a traditional pahu (drum) and looking out over the horizon.
The music icon died in 1997 at the age of 38 from respiratory problems related to his weight. In the years since then, "Facing Future" has enjoyed international success and made IZ one of the best-known voices in Hawaiian music. The album ranks third on the current U.S. iTunes world music chart, and its most popular song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," sits atop the singles chart.
"It’s hard to believe it’s 20 years; that’s the biggest mind-yank of it all for me," de Mello said Thursday. "Israel and I were in the studio making this and having fun. Every now and then he’d say, ‘Do you think it’s any good?’"
De Mello thought it was. Two decades of steady, ever-growing international success for "Facing Future" proved him right. The songs IZ recorded for "Facing Future," and for the five albums that followed, have been heard in numerous films, television programs and commercials.
"Facing Future" is also the first Hawaiian music album by any Hawaii-resident artist to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. sales of more than 1 million copies.
De Mello is commemorating the album’s 20th anniversary this month with the release of a modestly repackaged new edition. A modern, environmentally friendly digipak has replaced the plastic "jewel box" that held the original release. A "sticker" is printed on the original cover art to notify record store bin-browsers that this is the album that contains the original version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
As far as a "makeover" of the packaging goes, that’s about it.
"I didn’t want to change history (with new album art). … We kept it exactly the same," de Mello explained.
The big difference, he said, is the one that would matter most to audiophiles. The recordings — IZ accompanying himself on ukulele as he sings Hawaiian and hapa-haole standards, a Jawaiian song and "Hawaii ’78" as well as his "Over the Rainbow"/ "What A Wonderful World" medley — have been completely remastered by John Golden, the studio engineer de Mello describes as "my favorite mastering guy."
Golden mastered the original album 20 years ago.
"It was very subtle," de Mello said of the update, "but he brought some clarity out in Israel’s voice … and moved it along and smoothed it out."
Listening to the newly remastered "Facing Future," there’s no question the album itself has aged well in terms of the musical performances. However, listening to Kamakawiwo‘ole talk in 1993 about his hopes for the future is to be reminded of how things actually turned out for him.
The album is available in most variety and music stores and from www.mountainapplecompany.com and other online music retailers.
