In the 33 years since Brother Noland recorded “Coconut Girl,” the song has become an island classic — and with good reason. From a straight commercial perspective, it’s catchy, got a good reggae-style beat and has a memorable lyric hook.
In terms of historical significance, “Coconut Girl” was the second locally written song to use Afro-Caribbean reggae rhythms, though Noland sang it without the Jamaican affectations of Jawaiian acts that came a years later. Viewed in political terms, the lyrics pose questions about culture and identity that are as relevant in 2016 as they were in 1983.
HAWAIIAN CLASSICS: BROTHER NOLAND
Where: Hawaii Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $56-$95
Info: hawaiitheatre.com and 528-0506
It’s fitting then that when Brother Noland opens the Hawaiian Classics concert series Saturday at the Hawaii Theatre, the name of the production will be “Coconut Girl Revealed.”
The title indicates that he has more to say about it.
“I was telling everybody when I was trying to help them see the vision — everybody who’s working the show — ‘Is Coconut Girl a model, or is Coconut Girl a girl who’s holding coconuts? If you crack open the coconut, what’s inside?’ I wanted to get everybody who’s working the show on the same page,” Noland said during a late-evening telephone conversation a few weeks ago.
“Coconut Girl is the islands. It’s us. She’s the island, and everything from ‘high-fashion world’ to ‘I want to see the purpose’ in the lyrics fit if you picture it, too,” he continued. “Time has passed but the song is timeless, and the message still holds strong if you look between the lines. I’m using that as the beacon (for the show), and then I get to play all the songs almost like in a biographical way and weave it all together so that everybody sees.”
Noland’s biography as a recording artist began in 1979 with the release of a self-produced album, “Speaking Brown.” He followed it with a second, “Paint the Island,” in 1982. The next year, Noland was signed by the Mountain Apple Co. and released his third album, “Pacific Bad Boy”; “Coconut Girl” was the hit song on the album. His second album for Mountain Apple, “Native News,” won him his first Na Hoku Hanohano Award in 1987.
Noland will be making full use of the theater and the talents of his guest artists Saturday.
“It’s not just a concert where we all come up on stage (and) jam my songs. There’s a lot of moving parts to this thing, almost like a Broadway play,” he said. “I’ve been working with some technological guys, with Gaylord Holomalia at the helm, so there’ll be some videos, there’ll be some imaging, there’ll be dancers. It’ll seem eclectic at first, but then you’ll start to see what I’m doing.”
The “moving parts” include a guest appearance by his younger brother, Hoku Award winner Tony “Tony C” Conjugacion, and their sister, Keahi.
“The last time Tony and I performed for a public show was about four years ago — he’s a busy guy in his busy world, and I’m a busy guy in my busy world — so we’re excited to play together,” Noland said. “He’s got his hula dancers with him, and he’s invited four or five kumu hulas to do some chanting, so it’s going to be really fun.”
The cast of performers also includes Hoku Award winners Mike Kaawa, Kawika Kahiapo and Blayne Asing, the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus under the direction of Lynell Bright, and the dancers of Halau Na Wainohia.
Noland will also step into his current parallel career track role as one-third of the Rough Riders, with Henry Kapono and John Cruz, this year’s Hoku Award winners for EP of the Year.
Noland’s writing has sometimes put him ahead of public opinion. Back in the 1980s the radio station known as “Hawaiian Radio” wouldn’t play “Waikiki (Look What They’ve Done),” his observation on ill-planned construction and congestion in Waikiki. Another early hit, a song titled “Are You Native?” was misinterpreted by some academics as being anti-tourist.
“It all comes down to where your aloha is at,” he explains. “I know it’s frustrating for a lot of people, frustrating for local people, frustrating for people who remember” Hawaii’s past, he said.
“That’s why, when you look at ‘Coconut Girl,’ you look at the kaona (hidden meanings) — ‘I want to know the purpose of the makeup and the skin cream.’”
Without revealing too much of the kaona, Noland describes the show as “a musical odyssey.”
“With this concert I’m reminding people of where aloha should start, or how to keep yourself centered through all of this. I think I can pull it off musically and animate it in a way that everyone can be sensitive to but find pleasant and happy. That’s why I’m excited to do it.”