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“SUMMER TO WINTER”
Kolohe Kai (Kolohe Kai Music)
Kolohe Kai originated in 2009 as an earnest group of young musicians with a shared love of Jawaiian pop tunes and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. As years passed, the name evolved into the moniker of multi-talented solo performer Roman De Peralta, the dominant voice and resident songwriter of Kolohe Kai.
De Peralta has worked with veteran producers through the years. For “Summer to Winter” he’s teamed up with Hoku Award-winner Danny Kennedy of The Mana‘o Company. It’s a productive partnership.
The 10 songs show Kai’s command of two distinct types of commercially appealing music. One is the Jawaiian/pop fusion that Hawaii’s “island music” radio stations have embraced for more than a quarter-century. The other is pure mainstream pop, somewhat in the style of Bruno Mars. Whichever type of music he’s singing in, Kai’s youthful-sounding voice conveys the innocence and vulnerability of a singer one imagines as a high school freshman, much younger than Kai himself, who is in his mid-20s. It’s appealing, and Kai’s Jawaiian/pop tunes should wrack up plenty of radio play locally, and his mainstream pop songs could be his ticket for national star status.
“Summer to Winter” was released last week as download-only music tracks. Kai will headline the “Kolohe Kai CD Release Party” concert at Bishop Museum on March 30; get more details at tickettailor.com.
Visit KoloheKaiMusic.com.
“REMINISCING”
George Kahumoku Jr. (Kealia Farms Record Company)
George Kahumoku Jr., is a slack-key guitarist, vocalist, recording artist, radio show host, event promoter, teacher, and Grammy Award-winning record producer — and definitely an important figure in Hawaiian music. “Reminiscing” is a retrospective on his work with a variety of collaborators. There’s a song with his brother, Moses Kahumoku; there are two with his son, who is known professionally as Keoki Kahumoku; two with famed harmonica player Norton Buffalo, and three with his musical partner, Grammy Award-winner Daniel Ho.
One of his tracks with Ho is a “live” recording of the two Grammy-winners performing “Lokomaika‘i” at the Maui Arts and Culture Center. It’s being released on CD for the first time, as is their recording of “Unchained Melody,” sung with Hawaiian lyrics by Amy Ku‘uleialoha Stillman. That recording was made at the request of Abby North, daughter of the song’s composer.
He closes the collection with a vintage recording of his father, George Kahumoku Sr., singing “Muliwai.” Kahumoku’s wife writes in the liner notes that the recording was “pulled off a reel-to-reel tape recovered from an old Kahumoku van rusting in the forest on the Big Island.” That makes it a lucky find indeed!
Visit kahumoku.com.
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