Product Description

All original compositions. 1-Haleakala, 2-Twinkletoes, 3-Papa E, 4-Slacking Off, 5-Lei Manoa, 6-Tahiti Manahune, 7-Redemption Song, 8-Mo i O Lili u, 9-Paniolo Ona Slack-key, 10-I Ka La'i O Lahaina, 11-Kealoha Bebop w/Charlie, 12-Hei Iti Vaihi

Track Listing

1. Haleakala
2. Twinkletoes
3. Papa E
4. Slacking Off
5. Lei Manoa
6. Tahiti Manahune
7. Redemption Song
8. Mo'i 'O Lili'u
9. Paniolo 'Ona Slack-Key
10. I Ka La'i O Lahaina
11. Kealoha Bebop w/Charlie
12. Hei Iti Vaihi

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74419 in Music
• Published on: 2005
• Released on: 2005-03-24
• Number of discs: 1

About the Artist
Like the Hawaiian islands themselves, Hapa’s music is an amalgam of influences ranging from ancient Polynesian rhythms and genealogical chants to the strummed ballads of Portuguese fisherman, Spanish cowboys, and the inspired melodies and harmonies of the traditional church choirs of the early missionaries. Add to this a dose of American acoustic folk/rock, and you have what has been described as the “most exciting and beautiful contemporary Hawaiian music the world knows!”… (Maui Times). These disparate ingredients blended together musically in the Pacific emotes the unique flavor of what Hawaii and Hapa music is: “beautiful, fragile, spiritual, powerful”… (L.A. Times).

Customer Reviews

Bring back the Hapa of old!
This CD is living proof of how far off track Hapa has gotten from what made them so popular to begin with. "Kealoha Bebop w/Charlie" is completely awful. "Lei Mänoa" is the one song that makes this CD worth a second look, but it pretty much stops there.

Hapa needs to get back to their roots of their debut album with the melodic slack key, beautiful and graceful hawaiian music, and that "Hapa" factor they had on that album.

It seems like in recent years this band has grown further and further away from it's Hawaiian influences and tried to appeal to the other fringes of music such as Jazz, hip hop, and other mainstream styles ... which isn't a good thing.

If nobody had ever heard of "Hapa" and came across this album, you can be pretty sure it would get tossed aside into the bargain bin, and Hapa never would have become as big as they are today. There's a reason their debut album put them on the Hawaiian music map ... I just wish they'd return to their old style and wow me again.

To sum it up: Unless you like paying $22 for an album with ONE good song, move along ... nothing to see here. If you buy this album looking for more music like their old stuff, you will be sorely disappointed.

True Hawaiian music
I loved listening to this CD on Aloha Joe radio online, so choosing to buy this was easy. Great sound, great voice, all around good Hawaiian CD!!!

not same-oh, same-oh hawaiian music
I've lived in Hawaii for twelve years and have accumulated a large, eclectic selection of "Hawaiian music". I tend to like slack key, and the old masters of, but frankly I hadn't heard anything new in Hawaiian music that I felt compelled to listen to, much less purchase, for many many, months. In fact, it was my opinion that the genre had stagnated. I realized I was only playing my "Hawaiian" CD's when we had visitors, as background music. How pathetic is that! I almost didn't buy this CD for that reason. I want to hear new music that has roots in old music. Yet the new music must still touch me and not be solely an ego journey for the artist(s). Maui, by Hapa, was all this and more, for me.
Each selection is quite different, yet they all flow and follow a thread. Each shows the influence of other forms of music, from jazz to that quaint Tahitian plunk-plunk accomanied by pure, joyful voices that is so nostalgic of Tahiti, a spiritual and cultural ancestor of Hawai'i. If you've ever been to the Society Isles during Heiva, or even flown into Papeete airport in the middle of the night and been a recipient of one of these heart-felt musical welcomes, you'll know just what I mean.
(I have to confess, I do like most of Hapa's previous albums quite alot. They are among my top five Hawaiian performers of all time. I also must confess this review is written rather spontaneously, under the influence of two glasses of wine. But isn't that when music is at its best? Not one, not three, but after two glasses of wine.)