"Kani Pu Kolu"

Cyril Pahinui

(Pahinui Productions)

The sharing of music from one generation to the next is seen in this new album by Cyril Pahinui. Pahinui’s father, slack-key master Gabby Pahinui, was an inspiration and mentor to many young musicians. Cyril was one of them; a young "water rat" named Peter Moon, a few years older than Cyril, was another. The two young musicians worked together as founding members of Sunday Manoa in 1967, and again during the peak years of the Peter Moon Band in the early ’80s.

For several decades since, Cyril Pahinui has had a productive career as a solo artist. In recent years he has also been the mentor of Moon’s son, known professionally as Peter Wook Moon. Their work here — with steel guitarist Jeff Au Hoy as the third member of an old-style Hawaiian trio — thus represents a continuation of several family traditions in Hawaiian music.

The songs are Hawaiian standards — "Lepe ‘Ula ‘Ula" and "Makee ‘Ailana," to name two. Pahinui is the voice of the trio; the interplay between the instruments is best appreciated via headphones. Pahinui (slack-key guitar) and Moon (ukulele) alternate as lead and rhythm players while Au Hoy sweetens the melodies with his restrained work on steel guitar. The only add-ons are traditional Hawaiian percussion instruments — iliili (small stones) and ipu (gourd drum) — and an unintrusive bass player. Pahinui has recorded many of these songs before, some of them with other musicians, others as a solo artist. His versions of them here are all important additions to his discography.

Pahinui’s commitment to preserving and perpetuating his family’s musical heritage extends to the annotation. He includes the slack-key tuning he used, the Hawaiian lyrics, their English translations, and lengthy accounts of the history of each song and their significance to the Pahinui family. In short, the musical performances are beautiful and the annotation puts them in context.

"He Wahine U’i"

www.cyrilpahinui.com

"Water Songs"

Malani Bilyeu

(Malie Music)

If Malani Bilyeu had retired from music when Kalapana broke up in the late ’70s, he would still be an important figure in contemporary local music. But he didn’t. In 1983 he recorded a solo album, "Islands," and mourned the death of Hawaiian activist George Helm with a song titled "Moloka‘i, Sweet Home" (Helm’s home island). In 1985, he joined several members of his original band in the reboot of Kalapana that continues today.

Bilyeu has also enjoyed parallel success as a solo artist. This recently released solo album reaffirms his talent as a singer and his skill as a writer.

Nine of the 12 songs are originals. "Kona Moon" stands out. It’s a romantic hapa-haole song he sings in Hawaiian and English; Kristy Ching adds a second voice to the English verses. "Pakala," about a surf site on Kauai, captures the ear in different ways but with comparable commercial appeal.

Other songs slide into Jawaiian territory and could get him play on Hawaii’s self-styled "island music" radio stations. He also revisits his past work with softer and more introspective arrangements of "Naturally" and "Many Classic Moments," and explores the work of other island artists with "White Sandy Beach" and "Only Good Times."

Bilyeu displays his silly side with a parody of "Puff, The Magic Dragon," the hit song by Peter, Paul & Mary. He introduces it as "actually a chant (from) about 500 years ago" and says it was originally about a hapa-haole boy and black Labrador dog with bad breath.

"Pakala"