‘Journey Through Hawai’i’ features latest recording from award winning Maui musicians
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Some Maui musicians are featured on "Journey Through Hawai'i," the latest recording by the Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winning Mana Music Quartet. This remarkable collection includes songs by Raiatea Helm, Jeff Peterson, Kalani Pe'a, and Kala'e Camarillo.
"We wanted to dive deeper into the culture of the music of Hawaii," explains Mana Music Quartet's founder Joshua Nakazawa about the project. "We also wanted to know how are we going to fit as a string quartet culturally into the music? We thought what better way than to ask some of our friends who are musicians in Hawaii to help answer this question."
Featuring Nakazawa on cello, violinists Eric Silberger and Mann-Wen Lo, and violist Duane Padilla, the Quartet musicians also collaborated on "Journey Through Hawai'i," with Jake Shimabukuro, Keilana Mokulehua, Kelly Boy De Lima, Kimie Miner, and Hawane Rios.
Following their debut, "Queen Lili'uokalani," which won the Hoku for Instrumental Album of the Year in 2021, the musicians wondered "how can we contribute into this rich musical culture that's already thriving on the islands?"
The result is a rich tapestry of island music enhanced by strings and arrangements by Michael Thomas-Fourmai, with primarily new songs and unique interpretations of previously released material.
Recording had begun just before the devastating Maui fires of 2023, and the project shifted with some of the artists paying homage to Lahaina, and the Quartet became involved in fundraisers. "It felt like every week we were doing a fundraiser," said Nakazawa, who performs with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. "So many musicians came together to bring the community together, to help with the healing process. Michael Fourmai wrote the song 'Amama' the day after the fires happened. It was maybe cathartic for him."
The extraordinary song, "Amama," featuring the voices of Kimie Miner and chanter Hawane Rios, closes the album. In the liner notes, Fourmai writes, "together with Hawane, words and the vocal melody completed a prayer transcending musical boundaries."
"Everybody was just so emotionally charged and emotionally exhausted too from that whole time period," he says. "And when it finally came together, it came from that. It wasn't really our intention to have an album be about the Maui fires, but it happened at the same time, and we decided let's just have it be a resemblance of this period of time."
With many sublime moments, Raiatea Helm sings a new arrangement of "Halona," composed by J. Elia, which extols the beauty of the mountains above Lahaina and the Pa'pili rains. "We worked together on my latest album 'A Legacy of Hawaiian Song & String, Volume One,' which they accompanied me on two songs, 'Old Plantation' and 'Mauna 'A'ala'," she said. "My connection to Lahaina goes back to Kamehameha Nui through my mother's genealogy, so it's always a nice reminder that our music is fundamentally important to our cultural identity as well as our lineage."
Originally featured on the album "Amy Hanaiali'i and Slack Key Masters of Hawai'i," Jeff Peterson contributed his composition "Ka Wai O Kaupo." He explained, "'Ka Wai O Kaupo' was an original on that album with Amy as an instrumental. I actually wrote lyrics for the song with Dennis Kamakahi, but we decided to feature it as an instrumental. The version that I recorded with the Mana Music Quartet really evolved with the incredible string arrangement by Michael Thomas-Foumai." It was inspired by "time I spent in Kaupo," he said. "I went on many fishing trips there with my father growing up and remember the wild beauty of the land and sea."
Kala'e Camarillo sang his Hoku winning tribute to Lahaina, "Sands of Old Lahaina." with the Quartet. "It was awesome," he enthused. "They took my song to a whole other level. Anytime I get the chance to play with string players, it's unreal. I played with them at a benefit concert for Maui maybe a week after the fires and I reached out to Michael Foumai, who arranges the way they play, if he would be open to arranging something so we could play it at the fundraiser, and he ended up doing it within two days."
Kalani Pe'a enjoyed working with the quartet adding strings to his Hoku nominated song "Kuini." "Duane Padilla charted that song for the Mana Quartet," Pe'a said. "They have such a beautiful album. I was able to do my original composition with the quartet. What a blessing."
Jake Shimabukuro was excited by his collaboration with Thomas-Foumai and the Quartet on the opening "Frontier," writing in the liner notes that "it takes the listener on an incredible journey through Hawaii."
With so many great Hawaii artists involved in the project, Nakazawa hopes "that people will find comfort and find inspiration. I hope that it's enjoyed and people find meaning in the songs. Each song has a very special story attached to it, a very special message that's being delivered."
Some of the musicians involved in the project, including Maui's Jeff Peterson, Kalani Pe'a and Kala'e Camarillo, will perform with the Quartet at the Honolulu Theatre on Aug. 29. "Journey Through Hawai'i" is released today. It is available on most music streaming platforms, including Apple Music, iTunes, YouTube Music, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and Pandora, or online at www.manamusichawaii.com.
*In the print edition the article originally ran on August 8, 2024, the photo caption incorrectly identified The Mana Music Quartet as Kalani Pe’a.