Back in 2009, I helped Mailani Makainai write two mele which appeared on her debut solo CD, Mailani. She subsequently won the 2010 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Female Vocalist of the Year for that release. Today Mailani was featured on an episode of “After The Catch”, a sit down discussion among captains and crew members from the Discovery TV show Deadliest Catch. Mailani played both of those songs-“Penei Iho, Penei A‘e, Penei Nō” and “He Mele No Kahalu‘u”–live on the show, leading into and coming back from commercial breaks. Her TV time was far too short, but Mike Rowe…
Kontakt 4/Steve Slate Drums Loading Issues Resolved!
Perhaps one or two people who follow this blog will know what I’m even talking about, but I’d documenting it for the benefit of those who have or will lose hair over this issue. I’ve been using Steve Slate Drums and the Kontakt player for about a year now in my recording. It was great for a long time, but about 7-8 months ago I started having issues with incredibly long load times – sometimes it would take a half-hour or more to load Logic Express projects that contained Kontakt instruments. I crawled the discussion boards, searched Google, deleted .plist…
Redefining Ethnomusicology?
There has be a very vigorous discussion on the email list of the Society of Ethnomusicology during the past week. Some are feeling that the name of the field–ethnomusicology–is no longer valid. It’s come to stand for a diverse set of practices and foci which are clearly difficult to identify as being from the same discipline. A number of names, both serious and humerous, have been offered. Given the “all-over-the-map” nature of the discussion, and the nature of my own interests, I’ve decided to go with this for my next business card: I think this will keep people from asking…
Featured on Indigenous Tweets
Kevin Scannell have corresponded for many years in regards to issues that face indigenous and endangered languages and the use of technology in their revitalization. I was honored that he asked me to do this interview and talk about the work that I’ve done at Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikōlani over the years in regards to Hawaiian language and its use in technology. His website, Indigenous Tweets, keeps track of the use of various indigenous languages around the world.
Happy Day Gone Sad Week
This past Tuesday was a pretty good day. It didn’t rank in my Top 10 all-time days–not that I even keep such a list. It doesn’t approach the day I got married, the day our children were born, or when they graduated from high school, or when my son returned home safe from Iraq, or when I watched my daughter bungee jump in New Zealand. But it was still pretty darn good. The final ballot for the 2011 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards were announced that day, and I was humbled to learn that I had two nominations, and my dear…
Ireland Blog, Circa 2002
I finally got around to importing my old Ireland trip blog into WordPress. It documents the month long trip my wife and I took to Ireland in 2002, and which was taken to fulfill a research component of the M.A. program in Hawaiian Language and Literature program that I graduated from in 2003. It is written in Hawaiian.
(Almost) 100 Days Of Getting Healthy
Last summer I decided to address some sleeping issues that I’ve suffered from for a long time. I rarely woke up feeling rested, and many times felt more tired when I woke up that I did when I went to bed the night before. I undertook a sleep study, and confirmed what I had suspected for a while – I was suffering from sleep apnea. Not only that, but the doctor who looked over my results said it was about as bad a case as he’d ever seen. At one point during the night I went 90 seconds without taking…
MS Word Tweaks For Hawaiian
Have you ever had this happen to you when typing in Hawaiian: Nānā I ke kumu or Hawai‘I? By default, MS Word capitalizes any instances of a stand-alone “i”. You can fix this; read this to find out how.
Peeking Ahead To the 2012 Grammy Awards
I found my preliminary ballots for the 2009 and 2010 Grammy Awards. Here’s a breakdown of the entries in the three primary categories that will compete for the “Best Regional Roots Music Album” Grammy in 2012 : Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album 2009: 30 entries, 2010: 34 entries Best Native American Music Album 26 entries, 2010: 32 entries Best Hawaiian Music Album 20 entries, 2010: 32 entries I should note that the Board of Governors of the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording arts went to extraordinary lengths to get entries in 2010. I personally entered half of the 32 entries…
The Hawaiian Grammy Is No More
Today The Recording Academy, bestowers of the annual Grammy Awards, announced a major restructuring of the awards that reduces the number of awards from 109 to 78. This change will be implemented in next years awards–the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. One of the categories affected by this adjustment is the Grammy Award for Best Hawaiian Album–it has been eliminated. However, releases that would have been eligible in this category will now be eligible in the new “Best Regional Roots Music Album” at the 54th Grammy Awards. Other genre that previously had their own categories and will be entered in this category…