Hawaiian Music Cds
About Hawaiian Music
The singers and musicians of Hawaii have their own special sounds, whether singing Hawaiian songs or songs you have heard in other versions by other singers.
The artists listed below will not just entertain you, but let you imagine that you are in Hawaii while you listen to their music. Each album has a link to buy it at a discount price on Amazon.com. Many of those linked pages on Amazon give you the opportunity to hear samples of the songs on each album, to help you decide which album you like best.
My wife and my favorite Hawaiian singers are a group of three women called Na Leo (“The Voices”). Here are some we recommend from their many albums:
Pocketful of Paradise
Anthology II 1984-2001
Flying with Angels
Love Is
Another favorite group for my wife and me are two singers who go by the name Hapa. The name means half, referring to the fact that one of the men is Caucasian and the other is Hawaiian. We enjoy these albums:
The first Hawaiian music album to win a Grammy when they created the category of Best Hawaiian Album in 2005, was this instrumental of slack key guitar:
Keali’i Reichel is Maui’s most famous singer. The majority of his songs are in the Hawaiian language. Here are some of my suggestions from among his numerous albums:
Kawaipunahele
Kamalei: Collection – Two
Lei Hali’a
The Hawaiian singers we have been listening to for the longest time, are the Brothers Cazimero. They have produced over three dozen albums. Some suggestions:
The Best of The Brothers Cazimero
20 Years of Hoku Award-Winning Songs
Hawaiian Paradise
A very popular singer at Maui night spots is Willie K. Some of his amazing varieties of singing styles are in these albums:
The Uncle In Me
Uncle Willie K – Live at Mulligan’s On The Blue
Willie K Live at Hapas
I still love the famous old touristy Hawaiian songs from decades ago, like “Little Grass Shack” (1933), “Lovely Hula Hands” (1939), “Beyond the Reef” (1948), “Blue Hawaii” (1937), “Sweet Leilani” (1934), and more. Some of those wonderful oldies are given new life in this album by award-winning vocalist Amy Hanaialii, who grew up on Maui:
Several of the above, and other Hawaiian singers, have albums of Christmas songs. The following web page lists some good ones:
If you’re looking for Hawaiian gifts for yourself or others, see Hawaiian gifts.
