Hawaii Entertainers - Hawaii musicians, comedians, actors and dancers

The other night on American Idol, contestant Jason Castro sang his rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in the style of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. He had his ukulele out and everything. It was done very well and I'll bet Braddah Iz was quite pleased.

Visit our Braddah IZ Israel Kamakawiwo'ole Store to get some Braddah IZ music.

You can download a version of this song over at iTunes by clicking the links below:

Jason Castro - Over the Rainbow (American Idol Studio Version) - Single - Over the Rainbow (American Idol Studio Version) -

Video of Jason Castro - Over the Rainbow (American Idol Performance) - Over the Rainbow (American Idol Performance) -

And of course you can get the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole versions as well. Here are a couple that I found:

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Alone in IZ World - Somewhere Over the Rainbow -

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Facing Future - Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World -

At Amazon.com

MP3 version
Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole

Or Purchase the entire MP3 album:
Ka `Ano`i by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole

I heard this live on the radio today. This morning at 7:15am HST, Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac fame called into Hawaii's own Perry and Price show (KSSK FM) and talked about the upcoming Diamond Head Crater Festival.

The big news here is that local musicians and entertainers are in Mick Fleetwood's band! Fleetwood has recruited the talents of Willie K. (Uncle Willie), Eric Gilliom (HAPA), Raiatea Helm, Lenny Thesolonius, Rick Vito (John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac), and Lopaka Colon (Pure Heart, Colon). Fleetwood is dubbing the band Island Rumours perhaps a play on the best selling Fleetwood Mac album Rumours.

Mick Fleetwood had nothing but nice things to say about the cast of his new band and he feels they each can hang with the mainland pros. We can't wait to hear more about what this lineup of musicians will be playing at the Diamond Head Crater Fest 2007!

Grammy Award Winner Daniel Ho has done it again! At the 49th annual Grammy Awards, Daniel Ho took home the grammy for "Legends of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Live from Maui". Ho, is now a two time grammy award winner, winning his first in 2006 for "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, vol. 1 (Daniel Ho Creations)".

Daniel and I went to the same high school. Although Daniel was a few grades higher than me, he was always very cordial when I approached him. Ho was considered a musical prodigy even way back then (think mid 1980's). When he was a Junior, he was already recording his own compositions as well as covering material. He allowed me the honor of taking a listen to some of his music he did with his 4 track machine. I think he did the songs with his brother. From my memory: Daniel did 2 takes of a radio jingle / spot for a company called Vim and Vigor. Ho also covered Lionel Richie's "Hello", America's "Tin Man" and there were a few of his own instrumental pieces thrown in there.

My fondest memory of Daniel was watching him perform at the talent show. He chose "Oh Sherry" the same song done by Steve Perry. He arranged all the keyboards and even programed a drum machine to accompany him. Another person played bass during the performance. Daniel won that talent show and went on to compete against other high schools across the state.

Years later, Daniel would surface as leader, producer and keyboardist for the band Kilauea. Kilauea played with many of jazz / fusion greats including Russ Freeman of the Rippingtons.

Since then Daniel has recorded 18 solo albums and has won three Na Hoku Hanohano awards and eight Hawaii Music Awards.

Keep it up Daniel!

For as long as I can remember, the voices of Angela Morales, Nalani Choy, and Lehua Kalima Heine have been sound of Aloha here in the islands.

Appropriately named "Na Leo Pilimehana", or the voices blending together in warmth in Hawaiian, the harmonic trio has been singing together since their childhood days at Kamehameha Schools. Taking the plunge at the 1984 "Brown Bags to Stardom", a local talent contest for high school students throughout Hawaii, the three friends swept the competition with their original song, "Local Boys". The song hit the charts immediately and stayed in the #1 slot for months, recorded as the best selling single in Hawaii's history. The single was soon followed by their first album, also named "Local Boys". The following year, the single won the Hoku Music Award for "Single of the Year".

Na Leo has continued their career as entertainers with a string of hits throughout the years. Since 1993 their rendition of Michael W. Smith's "Friends" has a staple at local high school graduations, despite mild controversy over the religious themes the song is based on. "Flying with Angels" brought Na Leo back into the limelight in 1995 with its easy-listening, lullaby-like harmonics. In fact, the album was the first Hawaiian album to be marketed to Japan's pop industry. "I Miss You, My Hawaii" and "Saving Forever" are radio staples to this day.

In the past year, Na Leo has ventured into more familiar territory with their revamped renditions of "Where I Live, There Are Rainbows", a popular song to sing for little kids on May Day. It seems one can't go far to hear their music in commercials and on radios. On January 17th, Na Leo opened the 2007 legislative session as guest performers at the Senate opening day with fellow local musician, Ben Vegas and the Kamehameha Schools Children's Choir.

Hawaiian music just cannot be mentioned without even considering Na Leo Pilimehana. Na Leo is without a doubt, the voice and sound of the Aloha.

How many people remember Summer? No, not last summer when you went to the beach but the band Summer!

Summer was a band that had just about the same sound as Kalapana. Summers first album was called Summer in Malibu was released in 1973 and featured Ron Yuen, Charles Recaido, Tim Hurley and Russel Fujioka. It's no wonder that Summer had that Kalapana sound as it also featured Alvin Fejarang on drums, Michael Paulo on sax as well as Kalapana's DJ Pratt who also produced the album.

For a while, Summer in Malibu was a tough find as it was only available in vinyl and it was out of print. Luckily Summer was released on CD in 1993 and I think you can still find it today.

A lost treasure that was never released on CD is Summers second album that was only released in Japan called "Weekend in Malibu". Maybe one day...

Summer also used to have a website at http://summerpage.hypermart.net/ but now it's defunct. If anyone knows where Summer went please let us know!

The musical duo of Mailani Makainai and Lei Melket make the signature sound of Keahiwai. What stemmed from a talent show performance turned into a career. The duo, graduates of Maryknoll School in Honolulu, Hawaii recorded their first album with the help of Jon Yamasato (Pure Heart) and Aaron Kimura of Island Groove and 808e.

They scored their first big hits in 2001 with Over and Promised Love from their debut album Local Girls which also garnered five Na Hoku Hanohano nominations. They won two of those awards that year.

Keahiwai has continued to record together and their latest release is entitled Changes. Changes takes a slightly different direction for the duo but still sounds fresh with their signature sound.

Official Keahiwai website can be found here.

Discuss Keahiwai in our fourms.

Update: Check out Jason Castro's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow ala Braddah Iz here.

Visit our Braddah IZ Israel Kamakawiwo'ole Store to get some Braddah IZ music.

You're probably here because you're looking for Braddah Iz's rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" which has been featured on commercials and movies as well. But theres more to Braddah Iz than just that one tune.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole started out as a co-founder in the Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau in the 80's and had a string of hits with the band including Mehameha/White Sandy Beach and Take a Walk in the Country, both of which were used in local ad campaigns that aired on TV and radio. He later went solo in the 90's. The beloved singer with his husky tenor and even huskier physique won many accolades in Hawaii Music including a Na Hoku Hanohano award for best male vocalist and album of the year for his "Facing Future". Unfortunately Braddah Iz passed away on June 26, 1997.

Some Braddah Iz resources:
Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Iz will always be

Answers.com: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole Biographu

One of the first Hawaiian music groups I fell in love with growing up was Kalapana. All of their hits during the 70's and 80's will always bring back memories for me. Nightbird, The Hurt, Black Sand, and For You, I'd Chase A Rainbow had great hooks and beautiful melodies.

Malani Bilyeu, Mackey Feary, Kirk Thompson and DJ Pratt comprised the original band. During the 70's the band had a falling out of sorts and I think I recall Milani and DJ recording a few albums in Japan with the name Kalapana. The original line up reunited in the 80's for a one off concert at the Shell along with Kamasami Kong as the host. You can buy this historic live in concert CD still today.

The group minus Kirk Thompson reunited with Kenji Sano on Bass and Gaylord Holomalia on keyboards during the 80's with the album Hurricane. If you can find this album on CD, you're lucky because it's a collectors item and seems like it was only released in Japan. The "80's" configuration of Kalapana began including Holomalia as a member of the band in the 90's. The group was going strong until singer/songwriter Bryant Mackey Feary Jr. commited suicide in 1999 and then people wondered "what now?"

Well Kalapana came out with a new album in 2002 called the Blue Album and replaced Mackey (if you can call it that) with singer songwriter Maurice Bega on two songs along with a slew of special guests.

The current lineup in Kalapana seems to be Malani, DJ, Kenji and Gaylord and they will be playing a gig in Seattle according to their website. Let's hope for more music from Kalapana in the future!

Do you have any Kalapana memories?

Full Kalapana History here.