Search - Darlene Ahuna :: Bridge Between Generations

Hoku Award-winner honors Hawaii's musical past.

Mary Whipple | New England | 04/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In her sixth album, Darlene Ahuna, who has won the Hoku Award as Female Vocalist of the Year, honors the Hawaiian songs and musicians from the past that have most influenced her. The result is an album of traditional songs which showcases her huge vocal range and falsetto, her talent on the 12-string rhythm guitar, and her commitment to preserving these songs from the past before they are lost to time. Backed on several songs by Ken Emerson, one of Hawaii's foremost slack key and steel guitarists, she also includes musicians (including husband JJ Ahuna) who specialize in the ukulele, electric steel guitar, acoustic steel guitar, and some percussion.



This album features the kind of songs that Mainlanders think of when they hear the words "Hawaiian music," including three songs written for Bing Crosby's "Waikiki Wedding" film in 1937--"Blue Hawaii," "Sweet Leilani," and "In a Little Hula Heaven." Mellow and rich in vocal shadings, other traditional songs range from a children's hula song ("Ke Anuenue"), to "Sophisticated Hula," a song which describes how to hula, and the engaging and upbeat novelty song, "Aloha Week Hula." Lovers of march music will be intrigued by the sound of "Hilo March" here, featuring guitars, rather than drums and trumpets, leading the parade.



Emphasizing a traditional, strummed beat and sliding chords throughout, the album has less variety in tempo and mood than some of Ahuna's other albums, but her consummate musicianship and magnificent vocal range give these old songs new life. Two favorites, "Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai," and "Pupu 'O Ni'ihau" show off Ahuna's amazing ability to move in and out of falsetto range (which resembles yodeling) and her strength of voice. She is a powerful performer who, with this album, revitalizes some of Hawaiian music's oldest standards and makes them part of her repertoire. Mary Whipple

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