“For All Generations”
Nicholas Jon Navales
(Kauakoko Foundation)
Hawaii’s Jawaiian and “island music” communities know him as Kali Navales, a member of local “roots reggae” band Ooklah the Moc since 2000 and a sometime solo artist. Now, using his birth name, Nicholas Jon Navales makes an impressive musical debut as a Hawaiian traditionalist with “For All Generations.”
Almost every song is a Hawaiian-language original co-written with his wife, Kuki Kaiwi Navales; songs by other writers describe places that are significant to their family.
Navales sings many of them in a clear, clean Hawaiian falsetto and accompanies himself on guitar, ukulele and Hawaiian percussion instruments. Working behind him is an assortment of talented island musicians: steel guitarist Casey Olsen, slack-key guitarist Glen Smith, kumu hula Michael Casupang and Ooklah the Moc bassist Ryan “Jah Gumby” Murakami, to name four.
Navales gets things off to a swinging start with a rollicking original, “Kono Wau Ia ‘Oe,” that has Reggie Padilla sitting in on sax; Padilla’s work evokes memories of the Territorial Era. Two songs later, “Ahulili” is a delightful demonstration of Navales’ falsetto range.
He dips into a slightly lower register on “Na Kumuola,” a song co-written with Casupang that was
inspired by a photo shoot for the CD. His confident lower-register voice makes “Ka‘ahumanu Ali‘i” another standout number.
Other originals stand out for various reasons. There’s “Na‘u ‘Oe,” where Navales shares the vocalizing with his wife while Olsen’s steel guitar shimmers behind them. And then there’s a hapa-haole song, “‘Oni‘oni E,” written for an elementary school May Day program, that shows his potential as an educator.
Navales shares the Hawaiian lyrics of his songs in a beautifully illustrated liner notes booklet.
www.halauikawekiu.com
"Ahulili"
