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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amy's beautiful voice + Hawai`i's best male singers + great new Hawai`ian music + revamped pop classics = THAT GRAMMY, PLEASE!!, September 4, 2009
FIRST, A LITTLE BACKGROUND, AND AMY'S VOYAGE THUS FAR...
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I have a confession. While I consider it a genuine honor to be the first at Amazon.com to review Amy Hanaiali`i's new CD, Amy Hanaiali'i: Friends and Family of Hawai'i, I have to admit that Amy and I have a past together. A personal history. No, not THAT kind of history (yeah, like I WISH!). No, we share a professional history. I've had the pleasure of knowing Maui girl Amy Hanaiali`i Gilliom for more than 20 years, and for many splendid years in the earlier part of her career, I was one of her pianists. We did everything from regular club gigs to symphony big-band performances with the elegant Ms. Gilliom entertaining folks on the dance floor with just about every song from just about every decade. She left everyone speechless with her scorching renditions of "Saving All My Love for You" and "Hero," and if the real Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey heard Amy's versions, those divas would be running for the exit doors to escape with their lives (and careers) while they still could. I get "chicken skin" (Hawai`i's translation of goose bumps/pimples) just recalling these precious memories. And despite her European classical training, she never forgot her beginnings, always making herself (and, happily, me) available for the annual musical revues to benefit her high school's incredible drama department (from which someone like Amy, and so many more, came). Besides, her dad's comic-sketch antics were always worth the price of admission alone. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.) But I think she'll agree we probably had the most fun with our many elaborate theatrical productions. I, too, got my start in theatre as an actor but had done both--acting and music-direction--throughout high school and university; we were hard-pressed for musical directors at the time, so I switched hats from downstage actor to upstage musical director, and it was electric. Shows like "Godspell" and, especially, "The Rocky Horror Show" (featuring big brother Eric Gilliom as Dr. Frank-n-Furter and Amy as Janet) were critical smashes and set box-office records that Maui theatre hadn't seen in, well, probably never, and I doubt has seen since. Eric's take on Tim Curry is still probably the best I've ever seen, and we sold out so many shows that we had to keep adding performances and more dates--and then doing the show in "concert" style for years thereafter each Halloween because it was so popular. Ah, those were heady days.
Amy's progression into the artist she is today has been a remarkable one. She found a new calling, thanks to her "tutu" (Polynesian for grandmother), Jennie. We all called Jennie "Tutu," because she was the adopted grandmother of all of us who considered the musical Gilliom household our second home. After all, that's where I first met Eric's friend from university in San Diego, Eric Bishop. On a certain Saturday afternoon in Eric G.'s expansive bedroom/instrument room/recording studio, Eric B. impressed me as a monster on the keyboards and a beautiful singer. We all started jamming and laying down some tracks. After learning about his struggles trying to make a buck doing the standup circuit, he told us how excited he was about a new sketch-comedy show pilot he had just taped and hoped would get picked up as a series. He also was wrestling with his new stage name, but he was sure about the last name: it was going to be the same as his idol's, an acclaimed "blue" comic known for his comedy LPs from the '50s who gained widespread fame from a '70s sitcom. Although I'd see him again, little did I know that the mad-skills-talented dude I'd met that day would go on to win an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actor (and be nominated for Best Supporing Actor for the same awards in the same year) and then become a platinum-selling recording artist (no surprise there). I'd met Eric Bishop, but you probably know him better as...Jamie Foxx. His idol, of course, was Redd Foxx, of "Sanford and Son" fame. Just another typical day in the Gilliom house. You just never knew who would drop in. Literally.
Tutu Jennie was a star in her own right, from the '30s to the '60s, as a "kumu hula" (hula dance teacher) who operated her school opposite Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Jennie Napua Woodd was one of the original Royal Hawai`ian Girls, choreographed most of the Polynesian-themed shows seen in Las Vegas, L.A., and New York City, and in many films and TV shows. Her own TV appearances included "The Groucho Marx Show." She was a gifted composer and even had a nationwide hit novelty tune with "The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai." Tutu was a driving and loving force in Amy's life and career, and her death at 90 in early 2003 hit Amy--and all of us who loved her--hard. But she wisely set Amy on a journey to learn about and respect the Hawai`ian traditions of "na mele" (song), especially singing in the distinctive falsetto style of "ha`i" or "leo ki`eki`e," which is extremely difficult to do. Amy was always taught to respect the "`aina" (land), especially that of her Gilliom ancestral home on The Friendly Isle of Moloka`i, where she would later move to for a time, to commune with her "kupuna," or elders and ancestors. To learn to sing in the ha`i style, true Hawai`ian music royalty--"Aunty" Genoa Keawe--was summoned. Aunty Genoa had been one of the state's most treasured musical talents--and ambassadors--for more than six decades, until her death in early 2008 at age 89. The Hawai`ian falsetto style was Aunty Genoa's trademark, and she taught Amy well. Along the way, Amy was mastering the language and, most importantly, she was becoming an adept composer in her own right. Today, Amy co-writes many, if not all, of the new Hawai`ian-language tracks on her CDs, making her a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary Hawai`ian music industry today. The result, prior to this new release, is nine CDs, three Grammy Award nominations for Best Hawai`ian Music Album (for her three most recent studio CDs, not including a beautiful Christmas release), and an astonishing 15 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawai`i's annual version of the Grammy, for excellence in Hawai`ian music). Amy is now the best-selling female vocalist in Hawai`i history. That comes to no surprise to me whatsoever. To be fair, however, much of her success must be shared with her early music and recording partner, another musical gift from Maui to the world, Willie K. Amy and Willie together were like a fire which could not be extinguished, and audiences and music buyers alike could never get enough. And though this review of her new CD (I know, I'm getting to it!) is getting long in the tooth already, here is her discography to date, in case you've never listened to her work before. Trust me, you should. Experience Amy's musical journey and the brilliant progression and depth of her instinct and clear, natural talent for yourself: 1) Native Child (1995). 2) Hawai`ian Tradition (1997; 3 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards; features front cover photo of Jennie Napua Woodd, Amy's paternal grandmother). 3) Hanaiali`i (with Willie K) (1998; 4 Na Hokus). 4) Nostalgia (with Willie K) (1999; 1 Na Hoku). 5) Pu`uhonua (2001; 1 Na Hoku). 6) Amy & Willie: The Aloha Live Tour 2003 (with Willie K) (available on Amazon.com in 2007; first Grammy Award nomination). 7) Generation Hawai`i (2006; 4 Na Hokus; second Grammy Award nomination). 8) A Hawai`ian Christmas (2007; 1 Na Hoku). 9) `Aumakua (2008; 1 Na Hoku; third Grammy Award nomination).
AND NOW, "FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF HAWAI`I"...
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Now, there are a full 16 tracks on this CD (talk about getting your money's worth!), and each song and artist deserve their due. We "kama`aina" (native or resident) entertainers support and rely on each other, so please bear with me. Okay? Here we go...
AMY HANAIALI`I's 10th release in 14 years marks a true milestone in her career and is arguably her most ambitious project to date, with 16 duet tracks and all male duet partners. It's a pleasing blend of Hawai`iana old and new (with plenty of new compositions co-written by Amy) and a handful of '60s and '70s pop nuggets that have been reworked into sly and soulful new arrangements by the masterful Matt Catingub, with a gorgeous 12-piece string section. Leading off the CD is the deep, rich baritone of PALANI VAUGHAN's take on Robert Cazimero's classic Hawai`ian standard, "E Ku`u Lei." /// Speaking of ROBERT CAZIMERO, one-half of the talented and legendary Cazimero Brothers sibling duo, wrote a special song for this project, "I Believe in You." Using a song as a metaphor for the tentative beginnings of a new relationship, Robert and Amy delve deeper into their "song" until they are secure in their love for each other. As always, Cazimero's voice is like aural silk, and with the lush strings, it's one of the most beautiful tracks on the album. /// Another gorgeous track is "Comin' Home," co-written by...
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Yuck, November 17, 2009
Sadly, Amy is trying to become a pop/jazz singer -- and is shedding her Hawaiian roots. I think she is killing her career. Given her lineage, she is one of a very few Hawaiian singer who can represent the past in the present. And yet she opts to discard that special gift, talent and culture to do second-rate duos and try to be someone she is not. This is $20 I will never see again. Come back to us, Amy. We miss you. Preserve your culture and enchant us once more.
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~ Amy Hanaialii
~ Brothers Cazimero
~ Keli'i Kaneali'i
~ Kaumakaiwa (Lopaka) Kanaka'ole
~ Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
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