Customer Reviews

Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants: Sounds of Power in Time

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The sparse sounds of "hula pahu," the plaintive sounds of Hawaiian hula songs. This is a pretty hardcore folkloric collection, with minimal drumming and bare-bones vocals. It's certainly not for most casual listeners, but invaluable for anyone seeking to make a serious investigation into the roots of Hawaiian music.

I found this music, despite it's fairly simple format (almost entirely voice and simple drumming) nonetheless weaves a dense fabric. It is at times haunting, often powerful, and worth repeated listenings.

Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants: Sounds of Power in Time is an excellent CD. These vintage recordings are true Hawaiian Hula Pahu songs, performed by some of the last few people familar with traditional Hawaiian culture. As the introductory notes say, this is music with a cultural and religious significance and deserves to be treated as such. Now that that has been stated, the music itself is well worth listening to. It is sung in Hawaiian, complete with linear notes, in both Hawaiian and English. I found the translations to be quite enjoyable, especially as they are presented in metric form. Unlike most other non-western forms of music, Hawaiian music isn't that unfamilar to western ears. Even if you don't speak Hawaiian, you probably can appreciate this deeply moving collection of music. The first six tracks are actually more "contemporary" Hula Pahu songs. Of them, Mele Pule, Mele Kahea and Hanohano ka uka o Pihanakalani are perhaps the most enjoyable. From then on, we are given traditional and historical recordings from the Bishop museum. These are some of the best parts of the CD. Astute ears will notice some key differences between these and previous tracks. Nonetheless, it remains quite enjoyable. Even though the quality of some of these tracks is a little scratchy, it is still an excellent CD.

I can feel the power behind the chants very good,I think it was done that way so more could understand it, chants are done with drums and gourds to realy get the feel of it