“WAI‘PUNA”
Waipuna (Poki)
Kale Hannahs and Matt Sproat founded Waipuna in 2008. David Kamakahi made the duo a trio several years later. This 10th- anniversary album reflects on the meaning of Wai‘puna — it refers to a deep wellspring where fresh water bursts forth — with songs that connect in one way or another to the cultural and spiritual foundations of the group.
With traditionalist acoustic Hawaiian instruments, three-part harmonies and no electric add-ons, it is a richly arranged and beautifully illustrated musical portrait.
A mele inoa (“name song”) written by Puakea Nogelmeier to celebrate the trio’s role in renewing and revitalizing Hawaiian culture is significant as well as beautiful. However, every song has something about it that makes it stand out from the others, and every song is an important part of the whole.
The trio steps outside Hawaiian music with a zesty remake of “Bodysurfing,” the title track of a 1988 Ohta-san album. They step outside Hawaii entirely with a “live” recording of “Shimanchu Nu Takara” from a recent concert in Okinawa.
Visit waipunaonline.com.
“HAWAI‘I STATE OF MIND”
Kimo Cornwell (Self-published)
Keyboardist Kimo Cornwell is remembered locally as a member of Beowulf and as the last local musician to join the original 1970s-vintage Kalapana. Outside of Hawaii, Cornwell is known as a member of Hiroshima. After more than 40 years total in the music business Cornwell is making his debut as a solo artist.
A solid squad of celebrity guests joins him on various tracks, but none of the guests’ work blurs Cornwell’s role as composer, arranger and bandleader. Their presence is a deliberate element of the project.
Cornwell’s pride in his island origins is seen in the music. Four selections are island standards that he approaches from fresh and imaginative directions. The others are originals that show the diversity of his musical interests — electronic jazz, rock, Latin, “easy listening” pop and 1980s R&B dance music.
A song titled “Okazuya Time,” with Hiroshima founder June Kuramoto on koto, is a great nod to the group that has been his musical family for the past 35 years.
A lush keyboard-generated string section gives a neoclassical aura to his arrangement of “Kimo Henderson Hula,” and only with careful listening do the familiar melodies of “Pupu Hinuhinu” and Akaka Falls” emerge in Cornwell’s “exotica meets tropicana” arrangements.
Not that it’s a bad thing to find island melodies taking new forms in culturally distant genres.
Visit hiroshimamusic.com.
Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.
