Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 9, 1 September 2007 — Serious fun [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Serious fun

Kōmau's debut album keeps it kolohe while tackling important Hawaiian themes

By Sterling Kini Weng Publications Editnr Try talking about Hawaiian sovereignty to someone unfamiliar with the topic. You might get a hlank stare, a dismissive eye roll or a passionate

nod. The problem is that you never know what the reaction will be, and for some that uncertainty is enough reason to not say anything at all. But remaining quiet isn't an option for Kamana Beamer, Kaliko Ma'i'i and Adam Zaslow, the members of the band

Kamau, whieh just released their debut album, "Live From the Lo'i," featuring a slate of songs that tackle such political themes as Hawaiian sovereignty and the demilitarization of the islands. "We were apprehensive when we first started going up on stage,"

guitarist and vocalist Beamer said. "But then we got good responses. People told us they were feeling the same things we were singing about. And then at some point we said, 'you only live onee, what do we want to do with the time we got?"' Kāmau's sound is familiar: rootsy with a slight reggae feel, similar to that of some of the other musicians from the burgeoning "Maoli

Music" movement, such as Kupa 'Āina. But it's what Kāmau has to say that sets them apart. Think laek Iohnson crooning about the overthrow or colonization. Take the lyrics from one of the more catchy and pointed songs on the album, This Morning\ "Preacher man tell me what's right or wrong/ Says to Christian standards I must belong/ And to forget about the land they stole/ And

to forget about a culture so old/ Forget about the strength of Kū/ Forget about Kamapua'a too." "We want to write songs that build on our history and talk about what we as Hawaiians are going through today," said Beamer, who is researching Hawaiian issues in his doctoral studies at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. See KĀMAU on pags 22

MELE 'AILANA • ISLAND MUSIC SCENE

h - — ■ — — - ■ ■! I 3 Kāmūu: From left to right, Koliko Ma'i'i, Adam Zaslow and Kamana Beamer. - Photo: courtesy ofKāmau

KĀMAU

Cūntinued fram page IG "When Hawaiians listen to our music, we want them to say, 'yeah that's how it is, or that's how I feel,"' said Ma'i'i, a filmmaker who is currently working as crew on the Lost television show set. Beamer and Ma'i'i both eome from strong musical families. Kaliko's maternal grandparents played music professionally for 40 years, and his father, Steve Ma'i'i is a veteran bassist, who has performed with the Beamer Brothers, Teresa Bright and George Hehn. Kamana is the son of Kapono Beamer, one half of the legendary Beamer Brothers, who helped produce "Live from the Lo'i" and plays guitar on several of its tracks. In addition, Kāmau

covers two Beamer family songs: the bedtime lullaby Pūpūhinuhinu, written by Kamana's grandmother Nona Beamer, and Keawaiki, composed by his great-grandmother Helen Desha Beamer. "Kamana and I talk about certain pressures," Ma'i'i said, of living up to their families' musical legacies. "We talk about being our own men and filling our own shoes." While most of their music is very poliīieal, Kāmau is by no means all serious business. They describe themselves as three "strange guys," and they chose the name Kāmau, not only because it means to "continue" and "persevere," but also because of its more kolohe definition: to consume aleohol. "You can't be serious all the time, or you'll turn people off," Beamer said. "We want to write about real things, but we're fun too." Perhaps the best song on the album is the

mischievous Ho 'oulu Lāhui Me A 'u (literally, eome replenish the nation with me). This 'ōlelo Hawai'i track is a lighthearted play on the slogan, "Ho'oulu Lāhui," used by King Kalākaua when he was encouraging Native Hawaiians to reproduce to strengthen the race, whieh was being decimated by foreignintroduced diseases in the late 19th century. The song is driven by Ma'i'i's superb vocals, whieh hark back to the classic voice of another Kalākaua admirer, Palani Vaughan. While the song is unmistakably kolohe - and bound to get a few guys slapped in the face - it still retains that critical underlying theme that Hawaiians need to keep building their nation. And in the end, that's what Kāmau is good at: turning heavy issues that ean be difficult to talk about into music that catches the ear.