Search - Hawaiian Luau Party :: Hawaiian Luau Party

The best Hawaiian CD

Victor Edmonds | Benicia, CA USA | 02/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is a "best of" selection from the Vintage Hawaiian Treasures series. It really is the best of Hawaiian folk/pop from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I now have a vast collection of Hawaiian CDs and if I were to be stranded on one of those tiny islands at the end of the chain with one disc, this would be it. A great sounding remastering of the best of the "Hapa Haole" songs -- a blend of Hawaiian and mainland musical traditions and language.



The cover gives you a hint of what you are getting into. It's a happy luau scene, but the more you look at it the stranger it gets. You are looking through the eyes of the photographer and can see his empty place at the table, but your date -- is she angry? All ten characters seem to have a story. The same with the 14 songs, simple and direct but full of interesting stuff. Genoa Keawe's "It's Just an Old Hawaiian Custom" is light, happy and very sad at the same time. John K. Almeida produced most or all of these songs and does some great performances himself. His "Hawaiian War Chant" bridges the old chant tradition with boogie woogie. He covers "On the Beach at Waikiki" with breakneck gusto, a fun song about effective teaching.



Along the side of my copy it says "Souvenir of Hawaii." I can see tourists getting home, expecting some easy listening about a happy luau, and getting surprisingly taken up in the fascinating weird world of this amazing CD. It led me to buy all nine CDs in the series and to get seriously fascinated with Hawaii. But this is still the best."