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It’s pretty much guaranteed that any time Nathan Aweau releases a new album, a Hoku Hanohano Award will follow. One of Hawaii’s most gifted, accomplished musicians, Aweau has been amassing awards as a solo artist since releasing his “E Apo Mai” album in 2002, which earned him Male Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year recognitions.
In 2006, he achieved unprecedented success winning Male Vocalist of the Year for his solo recording “Hawaii Classic Series Vol. 1,” Jazz Album of the Year for his CD “Bass Etude,” which spotlighted his amazing bass playing, and Album of the Year and Contemporary Hawaiian Album for HAPA’s “Maui.” A year later, he won Male Vocalist of the Year again, for his “Hawaii Classic Series Vol. 2 – Hula” album.
Then in 2013, he scored once more with his remarkable “‘Io,” which earned him Island Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
Adept at crafting beautiful Hawaiian music highlighted by his gorgeous vocals, this classical music graduate from the University of Hawaii can easily shift through a range of musical styles.
Now arrives another astonishing recording, ” ‘Aina Hanau,” where, just like on “‘Io,” he composed all the songs, played all the instruments, sang all the (often intricate) vocal parts, and arranged, produced, mixed and mastered the disc.
Not only is such an extraordinary artistic feat rare, but Aweau manages to create a collection of original Hawaiian songs that are memorable and anthemic and range from traditional to contemporary, with some pop influences and a dash of jazz bass.
“I can do a traditional Hawaiian song to more contemporary and various things in between,” he explains. “I think I have a lot more freedom than most artists.”
Maui plays a fairly prominent role on the album, with references to our island on a number of songs including the beautiful, opening “I Ka La’i O Kahakuloa.”
“I’ve been doing George Kahumoku’s show in Napili for the past few years, and last year I started driving and came across this place and it blew my mind,” he says. “When a place grabs me, a melody always comes to me. I had a sense of being an owl looking down on the valley of Kahakuloa.”
On the island travelogue “Ho’ole’ale’a,” he mentions Haleakala, and our plantation past is displayed on the rousing “Ka’ahi,” which highlights the train that was used to haul the sugar harvest on Maui, with added kaona (hidden meaning) references to arduous females.
“As artists, we have women around trying to grab your attention,” he says, chuckling. “It was a metaphor with the woman as a train.”
Singing in Hawaiian and English, he includes a Tahitian language song, “Iaorana ‘Oe,” as well as a Japanese one, “Inori,” which pays homage to the city of Nagaoka, which was almost obliterated by U.S. firebombing in August 1945, just five days prior to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
“Last summer, I was invited to play at the anniversary in Nagaoka,” he says. “Most people don’t know that the U.S. dropped a whole lot of bombs on certain cities.”
One of the album’s most powerful songs, “Moi O Lili’u,” pays tribute to Queen Lili’uokalani.
“It came from a dream,” he explains. “In the dream, I was standing in front of Iolani Palace and it was during the time when the queen was being arrested. She was walking in shackles with her head down and I was part of the scene. She looked at me and said, ‘Don’t worry about me; take care of everyone.’ I woke up and the image was so strong, the melody came to me.”
Established groups typically collaborate to craft albums, and even solo artists generally work with other musicians, yet somehow Aweau is able to release great recordings as a one-man band.
“Part of the ride for me is putting everything together, because I enjoy that,” he notes. “I love the creating part, from imagining the music and writing the lyrics and then pulling out whatever instruments I need. It’s so gratifying for what I hear in my head to come out.”
Aweau was born into a musical family, with his mother playing piano while his father taught music and was a choir and band director at various high schools. Growing up in this creative world, he started learning to play various instruments.
“One side of the living room had a big piano and the other side had a huge organ, and there were guitars, bass, steel guitars, vibraphones and horns in the house,” he recalls.
During his college years, he started his professional career accompanying performers such as Gabe Baltazar, Henry Kapono and Loyal Garner. Then he spent 16 years as Don Ho’s musical director in the Aliis.
“I learned about entertaining,” Aweau says. “The most important thing (Ho) would tell me is, ‘Nathan, play simple.’ He would always say that, as I had a habit of overplaying.”
It was the legendary Waikiki entertainer who suggested Aweau head out on his own.
“Don heard my jazz and classical and pop pieces and challenged me, ‘You probably can’t write any Hawaiian lyrics,’ ” Aweau recalls. “My very first attempt to write a Hawaiian song on my ‘E Apo Mai’ CD became Song of the Year. When I got back to Don, he chuckled and said, ‘I guess you’re going to go down that road.’ “
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In an interview before UB40’s concert, the band’s lead singer, Ali Campbell, had expressed how Maui “is my favorite place on the planet.” Judging by the smiles seen among the sold-out, 5,500-strong crowd Saturday night at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s A&B Amphitheater, the feeling is mutual.
Guaranteed to be one of the most memorable shows of 2016, UB40 delivered a jubilant, electrifying concert, a nonstop sing-along as the world’s most popular reggae band performed hit after hit.
Campbell sounded spectacular fronting a superb nine-piece band including co-vocalist Astro and three horn players. Opening with “Here I Am,” they rolled out a spectrum of crowd pleasers – “Cherry Oh Baby” to “Bring Me Your Cup” – from their four-decade career, interspersed with three songs from their latest “Silhouette” album. And naturally, the biggest applause greeted their smash hits “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Red Red Wine,” which closed the show.
We loved them, they loved us, with band members later reporting, “It was brilliant, it was wicked.”
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In the world of devotional chanting, Simrit Kaur is acclaimed as one of the most sublime singers. Fusing Gurmukhi chant (from Northeast India) with contemporary pop and rock sung in English, she creates a unique, hypnotic hybrid that is often spellbinding. You can hear echoes of the angelic resonance of Sarah McLachlan and Blue Rodeo’s wistful music.
When former Go-Go’s lead singer Belinda Carlisle heard Kaur in concert, she reported: “I think she has the potential to bridge the gap of pop/rock and mantra music.” Carlisle sang on Kaur’s previous album, “Simrit,” and the two have collaborated on a yet-unreleased recording.
“I’m on a handful of songs on the album and she’s going to put it out next year,” Kaur says. “There are mostly chants and a couple of English songs. I love what she is doing. She has such a deep connection to the chants.”
Kaur’s latest album, “From the Ancient Storm,” has topped the iTunes World Music chart. Bathed in the soothing wash of a pedal steel guitar, the opening track reveals a singer gifted with a remarkably beautiful voice that warmly embraces the listener in love.
Amid a large ensemble, a steel guitar is effectively employed on a number of songs (she grew up listening to traditional country music) and a magical-sounding African kora, played by Salif Bama Kora, highlights the enchanting, 10-minute track, “Dhan Bab Naanak.”
“That song has the deep bass and hypnotic drum sound that I love about reggae music, and the kora adds such a beautiful element,” she says. “We’re going to do a whole album together.”
Mesmerizing in concert, Kaur says she loves collaborative kirtan singing.
“The energy exchange is the greatest thing,” she says. “It’s so special. I get really ecstatic.”
* Simrit Kaur will perform with Daniel Paul on tabla and Gordon Hellegers on kora at 7 p.m. Sunday at Makawao Union Church. Tickets are $25 cash in advance and are available at Maui Kombucha in Haiku, MacNet in Kahului, Monsoon India restaurant in Kihei and Island Spirit Yoga in Lahaina. Tickets at the door are $35 cash.