What happened to local music?

[Leo Lakio]

Re: What happened to local music?

Hawaiian Kine 105 all the way.

Soundtrack to every O`ahu visit we make. But their playlist is still too limited for my desires.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: What happened to local music?

The new classic Hawaiian music is the Island Rhythm or Native music genre. It's what the new generation likes to hear. When I listened to island music of the 70's and early 80's (Kalapana, Country Comfort, you know the rest...) I never listened to local songs of the early 60's and past because it wasn't Local TOP 40 stuff. Same goes for today's music, we're older now and don't listen to much of the current releases that are popular with today's youth, and they don't listen to what we considered good Hawaiian Music.

It's all generational. When Hawaiian went in the direction of Jawaiian, I almost wanted to throw up. Now it's mellowed into Native music that I can tolerate. Jamaican beat with local inflection. I can appreciate that. But when local artists start singing with a Jamaican accent...Oh man that rakes me in a bad way. It's like hearing a mainlander try to speak local pidgin (like Dog the Bounty Hunter) and messing it up royally. I'm sure Jamaicans are laughing their okole's off when they hear us locals try to talk like them, "Ehhhh Mon pass da ganja!!! you Hawaiian mon no talk like us".

[LikaNui]

Re: What happened to local music?

Jawaiian? Pffffbbbbbt. Annoys the heck out of me when I hear and when I see the wannabe Rastas wearing the Jamaican colors and dreds and trying to talk the talk. Sometimes I talk to them and in passing ask them to tell me who Haile Selassie was. I haven't met one yet who could give me the answer.
As for KINE, their playlist is incredibly short. Listen for two hours and you've heard it all. And if you make a CD and want to get played on KINE, break out the checkbook. It's a well-known fact.
I play with a lot of local musicians, and yes, we always get requests for those classic songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Almost never get requests for anything from the past decade though.
Hmmmmm.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: What happened to local music?

The new classic Hawaiian music is the Island Rhythm or Native music genre. It's what the new generation likes to hear. When I listened to island music of the 70's and early 80's (Kalapana, Country Comfort, you know the rest...) I never listened to local songs of the early 60's and past because it wasn't Local TOP 40 stuff. Same goes for today's music, we're older now and don't listen to much of the current releases that are popular with today's youth, and they don't listen to what we considered good Hawaiian Music.

It's all generational. When Hawaiian went in the direction of Jawaiian, I almost wanted to throw up.

What you say about the generational aspect is very true. But as far as Jamaican reggae's influence on island music over the last two decades goes, it should also be noted that the phenomenon of local artists being influenced and inspired by music coming from elsewhere didn't start with the Jawaiian craze. When you think about it, the musicians from that 1970s Hawaiian Renaissance period were likewise inspired by that era's singer-songwriters (think James Taylor, Jim Croce, etc.) as well as the jazz-fusion bands of the time. And if go back to the 1960s and earlier, folks like Harry Soria and Jay Junker would be able to identify the genres that played a role in the development and evolution of local popular music.

Hawaiian/island music has never existed in an cultural vacuum. It was true when Alfred Apaka and Kui Lee were alive. It was true during the heyday of C&K and Kalapana. And it remains so for today's crop of local musicians.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: What happened to local music?

Hawaiian/island music has never existed in an cultural vacuum. It was true when Alfred Apaka and Kui Lee were alive. It was true during the heyday of C&K and Kalapana. And it remains so for today's crop of local musicians.

Very, very true. And in today's world, every form of music has experienced some contamination/interpretation/injection from other forms - most influentially, American pop, because of the huge cultural reach.

I love hearing what one musician does when they discover some other kind of music, I love seeing the filtering, the growth and the eventual output. Some works better than others, duh, but it all depends on personal tastes.

And if you want your music "pure," or limited to a particular style/sound/era, there is nothing new out that takes away and replaces what you enjoy; it's all still there, and you can ignore what you wish - but don't disrespect it because it isn't what you personally prefer.

Some experts would say the only "pure" Hawaiian music would be chant, predating even the arrival of the guitar, braguinha/`ukulele and other instrumentation.

[Random]

Re: What happened to local music?

No one has adequately explained why local Hawaii music CDs cost more (current & catalog) than domestic popular CDs. Currently Sam Goodys are selling all single CD albums for $9.99 each except for Hawaii/Island music.

Probably has to do with business and meeting the demands of customer base. As you said the "domestic popular CDs" have a greater customer pool (think all 50 US States and beyond) to sell to than the customers of Hawaiian/Local genre CDs. IOW, don't expect Amy Gilliam to compete with Beyonce.

[cynsaligia]

Re: What happened to local music?

Jawaiian? Pffffbbbbbt. Annoys the heck out of me when I hear and when I see the wannabe Rastas wearing the Jamaican colors and dreds and trying to talk the talk. Sometimes I talk to them and in passing ask them to tell me who Haile Selassie was. I haven't met one yet who could give me the answer.

that said, lika, do you think any of the pacific rastas would be able to explain the appearance of filipino obscenities in a jawaiian song possible? quite an unnatural. the dissonance shook me completely the wrong way when i heard it being performed at 4pm during a sunset on the beach event some years ago. several families around me were aghast. maybe i should have asked mufi about it.

[mel]

Re: What happened to local music?

Probably has to do with business and meeting the demands of customer base. As you said the "domestic popular CDs" have a greater customer pool (think all 50 US States and beyond) to sell to than the customers of Hawaiian/Local genre CDs. IOW, don't expect Amy Gilliam to compete with Beyonce.

That may be so, but what accounts for the higher prices of local product vs. mainland product? Are local consumers being hit with higher shipping and production costs for local albums vs. those from mainland artists? Other genres such as new age, instrumental, easy listening, jazz and country frequently have $9.99 albums and the stores that put entire inventories on sale for $9.99 or less include all genres except Hawaiian.

For that reason I don't buy any Hawaiian/local music releases. And echoing some of what said in this thread, frankly a lot of new "local Hawaiian" music based on reggae (Jawaiian) doesn't appeal to me at all.

It is a good thing that I manage to find some Hawaiian music CDs at used CD sales at other places for less than current retail at places such as the Friends of the Library sale and Jelly's (once in a while; most of their local CDs are $10.99 and higher)....

[missjaqi]

Re: What happened to local music?

that said, lika, do you think any of the pacific rastas would be able to explain the appearance of filipino obscenities in a jawaiian song possible?

Hah.. one of my favorite Natural Vibes songs.

And to me, so perfectly exemplifies the cultural meld that is Hawaii.

[cynsaligia]

Re: What happened to local music?

Hah.. one of my favorite Natural Vibes songs.

And to me, so perfectly exemplifies the cultural meld that is Hawaii.

you think a song that repeatedly says the crude ilocano equivalent of "penis penis copulation, penis penis copulation" perfectly exemplifies hawaii. how whimsical!

[Random]

Re: What happened to local music?

That may be so, but what accounts for the higher prices of local product vs. mainland product? Are local consumers being hit with higher shipping and production costs for local albums vs. those from mainland artists? Other genres such as new age, instrumental, easy listening, jazz and country frequently have $9.99 albums and the stores that put entire inventories on sale for $9.99 or less include all genres except Hawaiian.

You tell me. You go to the grocery store and find local-grown eggs cost more than mainland-grown eggs.

Part of that sounds like production cost but others just want the same profit as mainland companies so they up their profit margin.

[cynsaligia]

Re: What happened to local music?

You go to the grocery store and find local-grown eggs cost more than mainland-grown eggs.

i'm sorry this is totally off topic and definitely of no use to you, random. i'm only posting this bcs it might be useful to someone else: one can purchase a dozen grade b large eggs for just over two bucks at ka lei eggs on waialae ave. grade b eggs differ from grade a, we were told, only in terms of shell thickness. our experience shows this claim to be true. we were also told one can buy even cheaper eggs from ka lei in kalihi.

back to the actual topic: somehow, i don't generally enjoy listening to local, hawaiian-influenced or -themed music on the radio unless it's stuff from the 70s & early 80s. if i happen across a live performance, i find that pleasant enough, but not so much so i'm inspired to buy a record.

what do y'all think about local music that isn't hawaiian-influenced at all or is only lightly affected by the hawaii setting/history/culture? i've been happy to pay several times to watch bands like missing dave (rock) and tempo valley (hip hop/jazz/neo soul with cello) perform. it wouldn't be a bad thing if more radio stations would play local artists, regardless of level of "hawaiian-ness." i'm sure corporate radio's definition of profitability makes this an unlikely development anytime soon.

[mel]

Re: What happened to local music?

what do y'all think about local music that isn't hawaiian-influenced at all or is only lightly affected by the hawaii setting/history/culture? i've been happy to pay several times to watch bands like missing dave (rock) and tempo valley (hip hop/jazz/neo soul with cello) perform. it wouldn't be a bad thing if more radio stations would play local artists, regardless of level of "hawaiian-ness." i'm sure corporate radio's definition of profitability makes this an unlikely development anytime soon.

I wish more mainstream, alt rock and other forms of non-Hawaiian, local based music got more exposure through airplay on local radio. Back in the 1960s and 70s, some of the local top 40 stations like KPOI (1380 on the dial), KKUA 69 and others would play local rock n roll records that had nothing to do with Hawaiian music.

Artists from Hawaii who had successful radio and chart runs that did not sing local music included The Sweet Marie, Liz Damon & the Orient Express, Glenn Medeiros (when he first started and his duet with Bobby Brown), John Rowles (who was once considered local and had several non-traditional, but pop hits in Hawaii; "Cheryl Moana Marie", "She's All I Got", "Juanita Chiquita"), Bette Midler, Robin Luke, Arthur Lyman (took his instrumental "Yellow Bird" to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961), Yvonne Elliman, Robin Luke, Shnazz, Linda Green & the Tempos, Copper Nickel and others.

Back in the early 1970s the Society of Seven enjoyed having a string of top 40 friendly radio hits that were played on local stations. Their hits included "We Can Make It Girl," "Frisco Bay", "My Special Angel," "99.8 Love Fever" and "Summer Symphony"... all non Hawaiian songs.

Tom Moffatt released a couple of CDs that featured rock and pop hits that were played on KPOI radio in the 1950s and 1960s.

I am not familiar with bands and artists from Hawaii who do rock, pop and other types of music not considered "local" or "Hawaiian." I guess most recent one I remember are Hat Makes the Man, Poi Dog Pondering (not really from Hawaii), and The Love Gods. I know there are others as mentioned above and have fleetingly hear of or seen a poster or something of somewhere.

Yep, today's rock and pop artists from Hawaii get zero airplay on mainstream radio unless they are lucky enough to break out with a huge national hit.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: What happened to local music?

And if you make a CD and want to get played on KINE, break out the checkbook. It's a well-known fact.

As far as I know, payola is still illegal, even if it isn't always enforced.

"Break out the checkbook?" Is local payola so blatant now that radio stations will accept traceable forms of payment? Wow.

Artists from Hawaii who had successful radio and chart runs that did not sing local music included The Sweet Marie, Liz Damon & the Orient Express, Glenn Medeiros (when he first started and his duet with Bobby Brown), John Rowles (who was once considered local and had several non-traditional, but pop hits in Hawaii; "Cheryl Moana Marie", "She's All I Got", "Juanita Chiquita"), Bette Midler, Robin Luke, Arthur Lyman (took his instrumental "Yellow Bird" to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961), Yvonne Elliman, Robin Luke, Shnazz, Linda Green & the Tempos, Copper Nickel and others.

Can't forget the Kingston Trio (2 of the 3 original members from here). A lesser known folk trio was the Travelers 3, which included local boys Peter Apo and Charlie Oyama. They recorded several albums and appeared on some national TV shows during the mid 1960s, like Hullabaloo. There's Martin Denny, as his music is more appropriately coined "Exotica" rather than Hawaiian. And going into the 1970s-early '80s era, Seawind had some middling chart success.

Yep, today's rock and pop artists from Hawaii get zero airplay on mainstream radio unless they are lucky enough to break out with a huge national hit.

To put it simply, it's hard. Corporate ownership of radio stations and tightly formatted programming makes it hard for local artists, unless their music fits in with KCCN, KINE, and Island 98.5. A local singer/band trying to make a name for themselves in pop/rock can make all the recordings that they want, but when it comes to getting radio airplay here, they're all ending up in a sort of no man's land. So it's hard to professionally cultivate a non-Hawaiian/Jawaiian musical career here.

Which leads us to what many A&R record bigwigs keep saying. If you're from here and you want to make it big in the music world, go to the mainland. Many of them go, most of them fail. That is to be expected. But those few who are able to secure recording deals and actually get something released and distributed may have been out-of-sight and out-of-mind in their hometown for so long that whatever following they might have had in Hawaii has sort of dissipated. The result? Even if they break-through with a recording that becomes a moderate national hit and/or used in some TV show/movie soundtrack, there's little in the way of local radio airplay and promotion. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that a local act that manages to place a song in the lower rungs of the Billboard Hot 100 won't get into the heavy rotation of a Top 40 station here, just because they're from Hawaii.

[mel]

Re: What happened to local music?

To put it simply, it's hard. Corporate ownership of radio stations and tightly formatted programming makes it hard for local artists, unless their music fits in with KCCN, KINE, and Island 98.5. A local singer/band trying to make a name for themselves in pop/rock can make all the recordings that they want, but when it comes to getting radio airplay here, they're all ending up in a sort of no man's land. So it's hard to professionally cultivate a non-Hawaiian/Jawaiian musical career here.

Which leads us to what many A&R record bigwigs keep saying. If you're from here and you want to make it big in the music world, go to the mainland. Many of them go, most of them fail. That is to be expected. But those few who are able to secure recording deals and actually get something released and distributed may have been out-of-sight and out-of-mind in their hometown for so long that whatever following they might have had in Hawaii has sort of dissipated. The result? Even if they break-through with a recording that becomes a moderate national hit and/or used in some TV show/movie soundtrack, there's little in the way of local radio airplay and promotion. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that a local act that manages to place a song in the lower rungs of the Billboard Hot 100 won't get into the heavy rotation of a Top 40 station here, just because they're from Hawaii.

Yep, sadly what you say is pretty much true. Corporate ownership and all that. Back in the 50s 60s and 70s, local top 40 radio played a mix of national hits and some local, non-Hawaiian pop/rock music and even mixed a few Hawaiian tracks in. Those days are gone, all playlists dictated by corporate and national charts.



We both forgot that right now the most successful Hawaii artist as far as airplay, national record sales and stuff is Jack Johnson. He still claims Hawaii as his home, does benefit concerts and yet has made a national name for himself on radio and the Billboard charts.

So while mainstream success is fleeting, it is possible... probably more so if the artist moves out of Hawaii.

BTW, yes, Seawind, they were popular here... and I just read they have a new album out.