Holidays

Hapa | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 21, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Coconut Grove
• ASIN: B000004BOP
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,915 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #33 in Music > World Music > Pacific Islands > Hawaii > Christmas

Track Listings

1. It's Christmas Day

2. Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuelle [Instrumental]

3. The Christmas Song

4. Kanaka Wai Wai [Instrumental]

5. Ke Ku'ulani

6. Lei Pikake [Instrumental]

7. House of Gold

8. Joy to the World [Instrumental]

9. (It's Alright) Christmastime Is Here

10. La Rue Dés Reves (The Street of Dreams) [Instrumental]

11. Lady in Red

12. Mele Kalikimaka [Instrumental]

13. Love Is the Reason to Believe

14. Love [Instrumental]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hapa: Holidays, December 10, 1999

By 

Elisabeth Nelson (Fleming Island, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Holidays (Audio CD)

This album is an awesome collection of new holiday songs that are destined to become favorites. It is perfect for curling up by the fireplace with someone special on a cold December night. Hapa have a rich, flowing quitar sound and as a duo their voices complement each other. There are only a couple of songs in Hawaiian, but you don't have to speak Hawaiian to understand the joyous message of the songs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mele Kalikimaka., November 14, 2004

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Holidays (Audio CD)

Holidays, Hapa's second recording, made in 1995, establishes the pattern of their most successful albums-half the songs are vocals, and half are instrumentals. Hapa, which means "half," consists of Keli'i Kaneali'i and Barry Flanagan, a duo that is half Hawaiian, but in their dedication to the sounds of the islands they are a hundred percent Hawaiian. Here their sounds honor the Christmas holidays, with four of the seven vocals being new holiday songs composed by Flanagan.

The album is quiet and mellow, music which captures the holiday spirit without being loud or intrusive. The instrumentals feature virtually every stringed instrument in the islands-from slack key guitar to rhythm guitar, ukulele, electric sitar, and bass. Percussion adds to the rhythm, with Eric Keawe on the claves, Flanagan on castanets, and Larry Leiberman on drums and tympani, where appropriate. Two of the most interesting instrumentals are their version of "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emanuel," which features Flanagan on lead guitar, ukulele, electric sitar, and bass, and Eric Keawe on percussion, and John Lennon's "Love," in which Flanagan plays bass, and the acoustic and rhythm guitar take over. Four of the vocals are new songs by Flanagan, my favorite being "Ke Ku'ulani," a beautiful song in which a chorus emphasizes the loving spirit of the season, and Flanagan plays bass.

As is characteristic of Hawaiian albums, everyone helps out in the recording: Robi Hahakalau ("Sistah Robi"), Lehua Kalima, and Fiji provide the chorus on "It's Christmas Day, Mahi Beamer plays piano on "It's Alright, Christmas Time is Here," and the group thanks the Keawe family and the (Kenny) Loggins family on the Big Island, for their contributions. The only song that doesn't seem to fit the recording is "Lady in Red," which is dedicated here to Mrs. Claus "from S.C.," but which remains a song about a mysterious (and not very "Christmas-y") siren. An interesting combination of vocals and instrumentals, this is a CD which adds immeasurably to the Christmas songbook of the Hawaiian islands. Mary Whipple