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Island Rhythms Paula Fuga
Island Rhythms Paula Fuga
Island Rhythms
| Paula Fuga |
| Written by Alex Barasch |
| October 03, 2007 |
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Forging a new style of Hawaiian music Waimanalo girl Paula Fuga has done something not many other artists in these Islands can claim to have done. She has created a sound that is immediately recognizable as her own. It is utterly original in the way that Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole’s breathy soft-timbered verses could only have been sung by him—they’ll never be reproduced by another singer.  Paula Fuga’s achievement may be compared to how Gabby Pahinui’s deft guitar strumming and exciting guttural vocal style transformed how Hawaiian music was played back in the 1970s. She has engineered a unique aural blend that is hers alone and new to these times.Fuga’s voice is saturated with soul, but it’s her distinctive style of bellowing at the deepest depths and then soaring to incredible heights that displays her range and sets her apart from other female vocalists in Hawai‘i. Add to this the fact that she enjoys throwing in a smattering of Hawaiian lyrics within a song sung predominantly in English as in “Lilikoi,” the title track on her debut album, and you have an artist who is joyfully determined to break down barriers and bring the old together with the new. “I knew my whole life I wanted to be a singer, ever since I was about three. But my mom said she never noticed I could sing until I was in ninth grade,” Fuga says with a laugh. Growing up in Waimanalo, the Kailua High graduate recalls, “My grandfather used to play slack-key guitar in his room and I used to lie in the hall and stick my head in the room and just watch and listen. He and my grandma were big influences on me.” Although she has never formally studied music, the 29-year-old did take private voice lessons for about six months from a good friend when she was 20. In 2004 Fuga created her own record label, Pakipika Productions, which gave her the platform needed to begin work on her debut album Lilikoi. Released in 2006 after two years of work, Fuga says she didn’t end up writing the major hit “Lilikoi” until the final stage of the recording process.  Regarding that song, the singer says the lyrics have a lot to do with self-acceptance and the belief that, “I have to be one within before I can even think of being in a relationship with anyone else.” She goes on and breaks down the lyrics even further, “I have to be whole within myself before I can become one with another. And if I can’t love myself then I can’t truly love anyone else.”The Hawaiian proverb that Fuga sings at the end of “Lilikoi” goes: Ina mamake au e hopu I ka i‘a / Pono e malama I ka lo‘i / E piha ana I ka loko i‘a / Hiki no ke koho me ka pono Translation: “If I want to catch a fish / I must tend to my taro patch / The fish pond will fill up / I will be able to choose with correctness.” The metaphor suggests that if one takes care of oneself first, then good relationships will present themselves abundantly, just as when a taro patch is healthy and in order, the nutrients filter down to the fish pond luring fish in to eat and eat until they get too big and cannot leave the fishpond. “The Hawaiian language was oppressed in 1896 after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy—they put a ban on it in all public and private schools. It was actually a written law,” says Fuga. “This resulted in a decrease in cultural pride and my grandparents’ generation ended up not teaching their kids the language because they looked down upon it and were ashamed. That’s why I don’t speak fluent Hawaiian.” There’s a sorrow in her voice when she relates that even after two years of lessons, she isn’t close to being satisfied. “That’s nothing compared to the depth of what’s out there to learn,” she says. “It used to be so poetic. Hawaiians were so in touch with nature that all of their words were like metaphors based on their everyday surroundings.”  It’s clear that Fuga cares deeply for perpetuating Hawaiian culture and sharing her beliefs through her music. “At first I was going to do a lot of covers, because that’s a really popular thing to do here in Hawai‘i, but I don’t think that’s cool,” says Fuga, who now lives in Pupukea on the North Shore of O‘ahu. “Everybody has an opinion, everybody has something to say, so why do they waste their time saying what somebody else has already said?”Instead the singer, who also plays ukulele and traditional nose flute, ended up writing and singing all of the songs on the album, which some have labeled “maoli music.” There is an entire ensemble cast of guest musicians contributing on instruments like Tahitian banjo, upright bass, piano, and various horns and strings, which gives each song a different texture, resulting in a rich overall flavor. The array of sounds never overwhelms though, and sometimes the music is pared down to its most beautiful simplicity as on “Tangerine,” the opening track, where Fuga croons with nothing backing her whatsoever. “‘The Thought of You’ features I-Bei Lin on cello. I-Bei’s super talented, she’s like a music prodigy,” says Fuga, who wrote the song—perhaps the most moving and straightforward on the album—at a time when she was trying to get over a split with her boyfriend. “It was so hard and no matter what I did all my thoughts would lead back to him, and I was just stuck, so I wrote that song about it.” Although that song is awash in a gorgeous melancholy that wrestles with the idea of longing for a love that has gone, other tracks are upbeat and optimistic, dealing in the realms of hope and faith. On the back of the CD package is a photo of the back of a jar of lilikoi jam. The ingredients are enticing enough: “Soulful female vocals, clever lyrics, ukulele, passion, roots, rock, reggae, nose flute, rhythm & blues, whistle, joy and love.” The taste will linger for a long time to come. |
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