Ahumanu: The Gathering
Ahumanu
Ulaloa Productions
www.moutainapplecompany.com

This album exemplifies what most people would consider classic Hawaiian music. Performed by a trio of charming ladies from Maui, the album is filled with soft ballads and catchy tunes that will make you wish you were back on the Islands, or it could simply add the perfect soundtrack to your Hawaiian day.

Most songs are sung in Hawaiian with the occasional English verse. It is the Hawaiian harmonies that make this album a classic. The voices rise together as one and fill the room with a beautiful sound that is everything you want from Hawaiian music.

Ahumanu is made up of Maui radio personality Liz “Kopa`a Tita” Morales, who sings lead while also lending a wide assortment of instrumental talents. Joni DeMello and Aunty Bessie DeMello round out the trio, each singing harmony, with Joni singing lead and lending some upright bass and percussion support on a few tacks.

The trio selected songs from the traditional, penned over a century ago, through Waikïkï’s “golden era,” up to the present. The trio’s love for Elvis can be heard in the arrangements of a few songs and Ahe Lau Makani and KP Shuffle are fun songs that jump from the speaker and bring Hawaii right to the listener. The former song is an original tune written by Morales while riding in the back of an ’83 Ford Bronco.

In its entirety the album is a soft, relaxing collection that will put any listener in an Island state of mind. Ahumanu portrays a genuine Hawaiian heart and soul on this debut album, which hopefully will be the first of many.