Aloha, IZ

I haven't written about music here, largely because my tastes are so pedestrian that I have little of interest to say. One of my more embarrassing predilections is for pop Hawaiian music, songs like "Sweet Leilani" sung by people like Andy Williams--in other words, not truly Hawaiian at all. One of the most famous actual Hawaiians to sing this kind of music is Don Ho, but I've never enjoyed his music as much as that of the mid-20th century pop singers.

Recently, I have been thrilled to discover, belatedly, the music of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Right now I'm listening to his album, Facing. There is a funny Hawaiian variation of "Take Me Home Country Road," a delightful mashup of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World," and a whole bunch of beautiful songs in Hawaiian.

How is this related to the library? Because I try before I buy, by checking CDs out of my library.

Update: A disadvantage of library CDs is that identifying labels get stuck in unfortunate locations--the name of the album is Facing Future. I suppose I should also point out that one of the reasons I feel better about this music is that it isn't as sweet as Leilani--IZ recognized troubles in paradise because he lived with them.     #

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