Product Description

Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai joins with famed Hawaiian slack key guitarist Keola Beamer in a new album, Our Beloved Land. Nakai, the world's leading performer of the traditional flute with over 3.5 million albums sold, journeyed to Hawaii where he spent time fitting the haunting melodies of his traditional flute into the songs and arrangements of Beamer, one of the leading slack key guitar players. The result is a new music, blending elements of two indigenous American cultures that expresses the cultures of both artists. Features Moananlani Beamer.

Track Listing

1. Waipi'o Paka'alana
2. Aia I Moloka'i Ku'u 'Iwa
3. Ka Honua (The Earth)
4. Ke Ha'a Ala Puna
5. E Manono
6. Ka Mano (The Shark)
7. Ia 'Oe E Ka La (For You, O Glittering Sun)
8. Nani Ha'upu
9. Ke Ao Nani (The Beautiful World)
10. Lapule (Sunday)
11. Good Road

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126962 in Music
• Released on: 2005-07-12
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Hawaiian slack-key guitar and Native American flute aren't the most likely combination one could think of. Slack-key guitar is a sound both laconic and light, made from loosely tuning the guitar strings. The Native flute is renowned for its frail, lonesome call. But two masters of these instruments, Keola Beamer and R. Carlos Nakai, find common ground and lay some new turf on their first full collaboration, Our Beloved Land.

Beamer is a guitarist who makes it look easy as he peels fingerpicked melodies from his instrument the way Tiger Woods peels off a long drive. All but three of the tunes on this album are either traditional Hawaiian songs he arranged, or his own originals. Hawaiian and Native American chants share a certain sound, and you can hear that when Nakai joins in singing on "E Manono." On "Lapule (Sunday)," Beamer picks up the Hawaiian nose flute and duets with Nakai over the sounds of a rain forest. Together, they create a sound far from the tourist music you may have heard before. Instead, they orchestrate a tribal mood full of ambience and rumination. Shakers, rattles, double gourd drums, and coyote echoes encase their often fragile melodies. R. Carlos Nakai has a knack for bringing out the more soulful side in musicians, but Keola Beamer probably didn't require any prompting. He remains the most original and exploratory of modern slack-key guitarists. --John Diliberto

Review
The inspired teaming of Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai with one of Hawaii's most gifted artists has produced an extraordinarily beautiful recording.
A contemporary pioneer of the native flute, Nakai is probably the best-known American Indian musician. Worldwide, he has sold more than 3 million records. His partner in this landmark cultural interchange, multiHoku Award winner Keola Beamer, is known for creating exquisitely crafted works of contemporary Hawaiian music. A master slack key guitarist and modern pioneer of the ohe hano ihu, the ethereal sounding Hawaiian nose flute, Keola has long been an innovator.
'Our Beloved Land' blends Nakai's haunting flute playing with Keola's gorgeous guitar and vocals to create rich, soothing, healing soundscapes that nourish the soul. One would be hard pressed to find a more sublime contemporary recording.
'It was a wonderful experience recording with him and following up the record with some performances on the East Coast,' says Keola. 'He's a very intuitive musician with that mystical sensitivity that great musicians possess.'
On this seamless collaboration, recorded at Nakai's Canyon Studio in Arizona and on Maui at Keola's home studio, the musicians interpret a number of traditional Hawaiian songs along with a few new compositions by both artists. One of the most memorable tracks, the seven-minute original composition 'Sunday,' transports the listener to the heart of the rain forest lulled by gentle sound of the Hawaiian nose and Native American flute. It's a perfect prescription for unwinding a day's stresses.
'There was an amazing commonality between the music of the two cultures,' says Keola. "The themes of love for home and family and tribe and the spiritual connection with our ancestors reoccur throughout the music. It's so nice at this part of my life to be able to do these kinds of collaborations with other artists. It's been a mind-expanding and cultural expanding experience.'
At the end of Octobber, the duo will play shows on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, but no Maui concert is planned --By Jon Woodhouse - Maui News / September 15, 2005

Review
Genre: A blend of two cultures: Native American and Native Hawaiian.

Distinguishing notes: Talk about cultural integration and harmony: Nakai's Native American flute artistry is a perfect match with Beamer's Hawaiian ki ho alu mastery; the songs are largely Hawaiian in spirit and motif, largely composed by Beamer or arranged or adapted by him, with on esignificant collaborative effort, 'Lapule - Sunday,' co-authored by the two artists. The flute yields a soothing, new-age type tranquility to the vocals and instrumental eloquence of Beamer, who continues to ponder themes and places close to his Island heart; numerous authentic instruments (ipu or gourds, pahu or drums, 'ohe hano ihu or Hawaiian nose flute) create tranquility and serenity with exquisite precision, and a reflective tone is omnipresent, wheather the recollection is of a person (Waip'o Paka'alana), place (Aia I Moloka'i Ku'u 'Iwa) things (Ka Mano - 'The Shark) or history (Ke Ha'a Ala Puna). The cross-cultureal elements permeate a couple of Hawaiian melodies, when Native American lyrics dominate - pause and applaud 'E Manono' and 'The Good Road.' Note, however, that the mana'o of the music is decidedly more muted and controlled, more atmospheric than flashy, more academic than entertaining - but still wonderously seductive in the end. The effect is a slo-mo, dream-like journey with pastoral and environmental elan, like coasting over a verdant valley or soaring over a vast desert - exemplified on 'ke Ao Nani (The Beautiful World'), with Beamer singing Hawaiian lyrics and nakai reciting the Dine (Navajo) trnslation.

The outlook: Nakai is an eminent and expressive flutist of Navajo-Ute heritage and Beamer is a valuable and trusted resource for things Hawaiian, so this joint effort embodies two two titans on a common mission - to preserve and perpetuate, through performance and sharing, their respective artistry.

Our take: A very significant celebration of cultural diversity. --By Wayne Harada - Honolulu Advertiser / June 5, 2005

---

Customer Reviews

Powerful, atmospheric, full of mana
We have a lot of Nakai CDs and quite a few of IZ's and other Hawaiian artists' work. This album is as good as IZ's Facing Future and has instantly become one of my favorite top ten albums of all time. Nakai is amazing as always. But here Keola Beamer is not the warm, talented slack key Hawaiian master we know and love. In this release he is even better -- powerful, haunting vocals in Hawaiian, accented by understated minor key guitar arrangements. The songs stir your soul and feel like the raw power of primal, pre-Captain Cook Hawaii. If you've never strayed from the resorts that might sound weird, but if you've been deep in the rainforest or visited the top of Mauna Kea, you'll know the feeling. What IZ did for love with Facing Future, Beamer does for spirituality on this album, and both will give you goosebumps.

Two native masters join hands across the big water
These two masters of native music create a blend never heard before. As a collector of native american recordings I find this refreshing, haunting, mellow and full of spirit. I listen when my soul needs to be nourished, which is often in this material world.

gives you "chicken skin"
I read about this cd in a Hawaiian newspaper. It is amazing. One of those masterpieces that transports you into the spiritual spaces of the performers. Mahalo nui loa to Mr. and Mrs. Beamer and Mr. Nakai.