Hawaiian Music: The (piano lessons podcast) Ten Best Songs
No commentsBy Jill Engledow
Have you ever tried to figure out your favorite Hawaiian song? Practically impossible, if you ask me. How about the 10 best Hawaii songs? Still tough.
Anyone who loves Hawaiian music knows that the Hawaiian repertoire includes so many beautiful tunes, usually with equally beautiful words, that one’s favorite is likely to change at any moment.
Like, for instance, at the moment when you cue up the next CD, or open the pages of a songbook and begin to play. The one you’re listening to or singing right now is the best–or maybe it’s the one you played last night, still echoing in your mind!
But what the heck — let’s give it a try.
One place to start might be the special issue that Honolulu Magazine put out in June 2007: The 50 Greatest Hawaii Songs.
Not surprisingly, the expert panelists the magazine chose to vote for the songs they felt represented the best in Hawaii music put Aloha Oe in first place. This is, after all, the one Hawaii song that people around the world are most likely to have heard. It’s a song that raises “chicken skin” with its beauty and poignant words. The queen herself said it was a love song, but the rest of us think of it as a song of farewell and longing.
Their No. 2 choice was I’ll Remember You, by Kui Lee — another song of loving farewell and longing. In order, choices 3 through 10 were Honolulu City Lights, Hiilawe, Waikiki, Hawaii Aloha, Kuu Home o Kahaluu, Kaulana na Pua, Ke Kali Nei Au (The Hawaiian Wedding Song), and Morning Dew.
Now, those are all great songs. But I happen to favor the old-timers, particularly the Hawaiian language songs. In that list above, I’ll Remember You, Honolulu City Lights, Waikiki and Kuu Home o Kahuluu are all hapa haole songs, with primarily English lyrics.
Not that I’m opposed to hapa haole songs; one of my favorites is Haole Hula, which so eloquently expresses the yearning to share Hawaii’s beauty.
And when I asked my ukulele class buddies for their favorite songs, they listed Hanalei By Moonlight, White Sandy Beach and Honolulu I Am Coming Back Again. I’m always happy to hear any of those songs, and only politeness in a crowd will stop me from singing along any time they’re played.
But those old Hawaiian songwriters created melodies that still sound beautiful today, with words that seem to wind around each other like strands of pikake and maile in a lovely, fragrant lei.
When I look through my songbooks, and think about the songs that stick in my head, I remember the great Charles E. King, a composer of a century ago, who created songs like Lei Aloha Lei Makamae, Eleu Mikimiki and Lei Ilima.
Or how about Helen Desha Beamer, composer of a long list of songs that include Keawaiki, Kawohikukapulani and the Kimo Hula? Or what about David Nape’s Kuu Home, more commonly known as Old Plantation?
I’m just getting started here! It’s hard to say that any 10 songs are the best when it comes to Hawaiian music, never mind a single song. Ever since the missionaries brought western style melodies to combine with the Hawaiians’ poetic language and inborn musical talent, these islands have been producing great sounds.
Along with all the good old songs, we now have an outpouring of new talent producing great new songs in Hawaiian and in English.
No question about it. It’s just going to get harder to choose “the best” when it comes to Hawaiian music. We might as well simply enjoy it and be grateful that Hawaiian musicians have produced, and continue to produce, so many wonderful songs.
As for me, right this moment? My number one song today, the one that keeps running through my head, is Lena Machado’s 1946 Kaulana O Hilo Hanakahi. The line that keeps coming back to me is “O ka nani ia o ka nani ia”: It is beautiful, so very beautiful. Somehow that seems the most appropriate line to be singing as I contemplate the best of Hawaiian music.
Learn more from award-winning Hawaii author Jill Engledow about the history of Hawaii and Hawaiian music at her website, http://www.islandlife101.com.
Slide, Grind, Shuffle or Hustle. Discover How to Choose Your Wedding Day Music!
By Mike McCoy
Your wedding music is the sound track for the most important day of your life. Although songs like, Reasons, Three Time A Lady, Why Have I Lost You, and If You Think You’re Lonely Now - Wait Until Tonight, Girl, are all great songs, they are terrible songs for a wedding!
The music of your wedding day serves to set the tone and create the mood that will speak of the love you have for one another. If you are the bride there is a good chance you have dreamed of this day for most of your life. If you are the groom this day starts the beginning of the rest of your life. Either way it’s your day! Everyone else is a witness, fan, family member or hater! So, pick the music that YOU love and want to hear!
That being said, there are some boundaries, or at least some different elements of the wedding ceremony and reception that you need to consider. The venue often dictates what is appropriate and allowed to be played during the ceremony.
Usually, weddings held in places of worship require that the music be on their list of approved songs. However, if you present the lyric of the song to the pastor or official, they might approve a secular song for your ceremony. A great example of this is can be found on the Wedding Day! project by international recording artist, E. Walter Smith.
Even though it’s a secular song, many Unity Candles around the world were lit to Smith’s I Do, which has been approved by the U.S. Pastors Association for use in spiritual weddings.
Time seems to stop when the bride begins to walk down the aisle. It’s one of the main highlights of the wedding. The ambiance that the music creates for the bride should allow her to feel as if she is floating down the aisle. Every emotion that she has ever dreamed should come to life. The song chosen for this moment will be the musical bed on which this memory will rest forever.
After playing songs by E. Walter Smith like First Dance for your first dance and Little Girl for the Father Daughter dance, the music and entertainment at the wedding reception represents the ultimate in creative song list design. One of the first steps in this process is to make a ‘play’ and ‘do not play’ list (DNP).
Unless you want country, hardcore heavy metal or rap, you will need to make your choices clear to your DJ or band. This will be worth its weight in gold when your guests make requests, because it will be easier for your musicians or DJ to say, No, if the song is on the DNP list.
Luckily, music is an aphrodisiac and makes people feel good. If presented correctly it will inspire lots of laughs and happy memories. After you picked your the DJ must play this song list, don’t forget to choose some songs that everybody knows. At some point they will all want to show off their version of doing The Bride Slide to We Married.
Slide, Grind, Shuffle or Hustle? In my opinion, choose all of the above. It’s a celebration! Every bride and groom needs music to set the tone of their wedding day. E. Walter Smith’s Wedding Day!
Precious Moments provides music for the most important parts of their wedding ceremony. As they choose music for the Unity Candle, Entrance of the Bride, Father Daughter Dance or their First Dance, this project is an excellent solution.
I offer four original songs for a wedding, one of which, I Do, has been endorsed by the US Pastors Association for use in spiritual weddings. (Ask any bride how difficult it is to get a secular song okayed by her pastor.www.YourWeddingDayMusic.com
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Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 11:50 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
