| The Pahinui's |
|
Maiia; The Pahinui's make me homesick for Aotearoa...
''THE thing about Gabby Pahinui," says DeSoto Brown brother worked with Pahinui, "was not only that he was an outstanding musician and, a Hawaiian cultural-history expert whose entertainer, and a central figure -- maybe THE central figure -- of the Hawaiian Renaissance in the '70s, but that he was an inspiration to others. Thousands of Hawaiian kids learned that they were worthy as a people because of Gabby's example."
Pahinui was one of the great natural musicians of Hawaii, the sort of pure channel that drew international stars like Ry Cooder to learn at his knee... (maiia: 'parrently Gabby was on Chickenskin music)
James Pahinui Visit James' Website
"Though he is very much his father's son, he has carved a distinctive
niche in Hawaiian music. "I go back to the fifties and I love my rhythm
and blues," he says. "So when it comes to Hawaiian music, sometimes I
find myself changing it, not to destroy it, but to express it the way I
hear it." He feels his main innovations are in phrasing. "I don't like
to rush the note," he says. "I like to stretch it and to take the
melody in a new direction." He adds that in recent years he's learned
the value of understatement. "You can say so much with simplicity. The
most important thing is how you present the tone, and how things fit
together in the big picture." Dancingcat.com
"My dad got away with a lot of stuff because it worked. And he touched so many people because he shared what was in his heart in such an honest and direct way." Bla finds this approach both artistically satisfying and spiritually rewarding. "When you give away the good that's inside you, when you play for the audience, not just for you, so much mana (power) comes back. It makes a big difference in the music and in how you act as a person." |
