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Twelve years ago to the week, when Ho’olohe Hou Radio was in the third week of its first incarnation as a podcast, the show quickly gained acclaimed among musicians in Hawai’i for a two-part, four-hour episode on the legendary Pua Almeida. You see… Hawaiian musicians owe a debt to Pua for revolutionizing Hawaiian music, and yet few who don’t own an old-fashioned record player have ever heard his music. For while he was one of the most…

Nobody would accuse Elvis of performing what would typically be thought of as “Hawaiian music” – not even in any of the three films he made in Hawai’i.  But Elvis did associate with some greats of Hawaiian music, and these local Hawai’i musicians and personalities added more than a little local flavor and flair to the precedings. In honor of Elvis’s January 8th birthday, Ho`olohe Hou Radio celebrated with some rarities that show how local Hawai’i…

From The Big Blue Pacific To The Big Apple

On December 12th, 2015, the world honored the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Sinatra. One of the earliest “triple threats” in the entertainment world (singer-actor-dancer, although the dancing was questionable and was bolstered by having some far superior dance partners), Sinatra has been alternately called “the Chairman of the Board” and “the Artist of the Century.” What does any of this have to do with Hawai`i or Hawaiian entertainment? Throughout history any number…

Lena Machado is without a doubt one of the most prolific and influential composers in the history of Hawaiian music whose songs are still well loved and often performed and recorded by today’s Hawaiian music artists. She was also a performer with an ethereal voice which earned her the nickname “Hawai`i’s Songbird.” Armed with her composing and performing talents, Auntie Lena became one of the first local Hawai`i musicians to tour internationally – an unofficial…

Ho’olohe Hou celebrated the January 23rd birthday of famed Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.  But why? Perhaps because of his undeniable influence on music all over the world – including Hawai’i… As mentioned in our discussions of steel guitarist Billy Hew Len, Django Reinhardt was a jazz violinist whose career radically changed course after a caravan fire robbed him of the use of the pinky and ring fingers of his left – or fretting – hand….