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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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"Hapa" means mixed (part Caucasian) race. And so, pretty clever, in the early-90s, the duo of Irish-American Barry Flanagan and Hawaiian-American Keli'i Kaneali'i were formed. 25 years ago, their eponymous debut album was ubiquitous in Hawaii. It would be the leader, in bringing contemporary Hawaiian music to the American mainstream. When the CD appeared at Costco, you knew it had made it.
The album likes to alternate instrumentals with a song with vocals. A popular example of the latter is "Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai." Without knowing much about this, even if you did a search, you'd be hard-pressed to find and identify it. So here it is.
Coming from the Bay Area, I loved going to Honolulu, and lying on my bodyboard, even if there was no surf. There's something therpeautic, about those Hawaiian waters. While floating on the board, and waiting for waves which never came, you'd daydream about music and audio. You'd paddle in, then head for Audio Directions Ltd. There, you'd catch Stewart Ono (the late UncleStu52), removing the stock hardwired powercord from a CJ PV-10A preamp, and soldering on an MIT Z-Cord. He had G.E. small-signal tubes from the 70s and 80s. He asked if you'd like one with green ink or white ink (the product itself was identical in construction). If you had the Hawaiian waters on your mind, you chose green ink. If you had Hapa's CD on your mind, you chose white ink.
Later in the 90s, we'd see Hapa perform at Chai's Island Bistro, a restaurant located at the entrance of Aloha Tower. Just as on their albums, Hapa liked to alternate instrumental with a vocal song.
In the mid-90s, a guy from Michigan came to Honolulu, and opened Classic Audio, in a house off of Kaimuki Avenue. I do not recall the electronics, but with Wireworld cables, the Martin-Logan Aerius i sounded clean and lucid. How come it didn't sound that way, at San Francisco's Audio Excellence (perhaps AE's cramped space caused the Aerius i to sound fuzzier and rougher)?
In 2003, my colleagues acquired the audiodharma Cable Cooker. We had about a dozen identical 1-meter Kimber PBJ interconnects. You subjected them to various Cook times, then listened and compared. One of our test tracks was Hapa's "Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai."
In 2003, I had just begun to converse with the Cable Cooker's designer/manufacturer, Alan Kafton. My wedding banquet took place at one of his favorite restaurants, Ton Kiang. If I had known him better then, I would have invited him to the banquet. If so, he would have heard Hapa's "Kaopuiki Aloha" (featuring a Stephen Stills guitar solo), followed by the popular "Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai."
Can't believe this is now 25-years-old,
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Hapa, "Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai" - Luminator 11:34:45 12/23/18 (0)
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