“Hele Mai Le‘a Le‘a Kākou”

‘Āina Pilina, Community Aloha, Creative Process, Music Stories, Spirit of Place, Uncategorized

Hele Mai Le‘a Le‘a Kākou

…Pick up some poke and limu Kohu,
Oh so ono goes good with the Poi.
Enjoy Ohana and eating with da friends,
Relax and later on go hia moe.
Ho’i mai, Ho’i mai
Hele mai le’a le’a kākou.

Mo onolicious at da beach! — Pick up some poke and limu Kohu, Oh so ono goes good with the Poi. Enjoy Ohana and eating with da friends, Relax and later on go hia moe. Ho’i mai, Ho’i mai Hele mai le’a le’a kākou.

Hele Mai Le‘a Le‘a Kākou

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Welcoming 2024 with a Single Release December 2023!!! Keoki Apokolani Carter, guitar, vocals & percussion: Braddah John Keolanui, congas and other percussion: Yvonne Yarber, ipu; Sonny Lim, bass. Lock Lynch, recording. Mahalo nui for making music connecting us to place! And most of all, mahalo to ‘āina where we can still be, and malama pono[…]

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Island inspires and holds all that came before.
We mālama the goodness
with sweet sounds, pilina, joy, and gratitude.
Mahalo to the many who share their stories
and celebrate with island mele.

Recording-Braddah John & Yvonne at the ‘Ōuli Water Bottle Studio 2017

Taking on a life of itʻs own. Capturing a moment as Hele Mai Le‘a Le‘a Kākou grows.

Friday Eve, a weekend on its way Join some friends Kani ka pila Time passes when having fun, they say Ho’i mai, Ho’i mai Hele mai le’a le’a kākou

To friends and ohana through the years we wen le‘a le’a kākou! Special mahalo to Hana who gave his mana to mālama nui this special place so many years , and Ulu, Larry, Suz, Kenny, Candy, Braddah John & folks for the mele moments and mea ‘ai on this cover. The memories mingle with others that linger in the sand, la‘au, waters and winds beyond our time here. And mahalo Hana for putting that pakini bass under my foot to feel, and old plucking broken rake handle in my hand, to be happily changed! (YYC)

‘Ōuli Water Bottle Studio Session kihoalu with Keoki and his Gibson. Lockʻs setup with what weʻve got.

Keoki with his Gibson. Closeup of Lockʻs “arc” mic set up.

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When things “boderate”.

‘Āina Pilina, Change, Creative Process, Healing, Music Stories, Spirit of Place, Video Stories

Merchant and Richards. A music video by Yvonne.
Collaborative multimedia art piece by Yvonne and Keoki who plays three characters in the video and accompanying piece. First Place in the 2017 juried art show “Climate of Change” and first video purchased to be part of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum permanent collection.

Auē Noho‘i. A songwriters commentary on “nuff already—how did we get here?”
A videographers call for compassion because this can happen to most anyone.

Scenes at Merchant & Richards Streets in Honolulu sparked the writing of this song. “Merchant And Richards: You Can Park Here, Sheʻs Not A Meter Maid,” Is a multimedia collaborative work by Yvonne Yarber Carter and Keoki Apokolani Carter expressing feelings about changes in downtown Honolulu, a microcosm of change through the last two centuries in Hawaii. Richards Street runs mauka, near Iolani Palace to makai, near Aloha Tower. “Recent visits to O‘ahu, the island of our birth, stirred powerful emotions, images and concern—feelings of loss, incongruity, compassion, abiding love, rich memories and worry. Worry, that no amount of triage can repair the damage caused by decades of society valuing economic wealth above community and earthʻs wellbeing”. Using imagery, original sounds and music Keoki and Yvonne acknowledge a collective responsibility, and the hope that our hearts are not lost, or gone missing. The original draft video used audio from a live concert and became part of the Hawaii State Arts collection. This remake incorporates our new studio recording. Keoki Apokolani on guitar and vocals. Paul Lindbergh on saxophone. Jon Hawes on acoustic upright bass. Video camera, production and editing: Yvonne Yarber Carter. Keoki was patient enough to not only make the music but try out the video green screen ideas and to keep his scratchy ‘umi‘umi after a long creative boat trip with Ricardo off-grid in Alaska [another blog].

Puka! New Compositions. Sharing mp3 songs & video backstories of Kumau Barn Sessions

‘Āina Pilina, Creative Process, Music Stories, Uncategorized

Apokolani recording new original songs with the Maker brothers—Elliot and Gregory—in Kohala. The latest work in progress. Mahalo to the Russell Kumau ‘ohana in Kohala for the inspiring space. A DIY recording project that is far from do-it-yourself. A recording collaboration with the song taking on a life of its own. Apokolani is Keoki, Yvonne and Paul Lindbergh (who is travelling during this session). September 2018. L-R: Lock Lynch (sound engineer), Yvonne, Gregory Maker (acoustic bass), Keoki (ukulele & guitar), Elliot (piano & flugelhorn) Photo by Yvonne. September 2018. Kohala. Extra recordings and Final Mixing with Lock Lynch in Honolulu late 2019-2022. ALBUM RELEASE December 17, 2022.

New Digital Release December 17, 2022. Physical CD coming soon.

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All new story songs borne out of the land and each other. Keoki Apokolani Carter and Yvonne Yarber Carter blend together Hawaiian honua mo‘olelo with world folk storytelling, jazz, blues, and life. Add the many musical flavors of the Maker Braddahs (Elliot and Gregory).

A storm cancelled an outdoor Oahu concert in late August, so impromptu, we caught a plane home and gathered on sunnier Hawaii Island at Kumau Ranch for a live sound experiment. Recorded & Engineered by Lock Lynch Sept 1, 2 & 3, 2018, always ready to conjure up new possibilities. Mahalo to the creative inspiration of place and the nourishing home of Ricardo and Jileen Russell.

Most of all to the mana of ‘āina Kumau—confirming that a seeming disappointment can open unexpected doors of creativity! Album release, December 2022. “Kumau Barn Sessions” Apokolani & the Maker Brothers

Mele Making Backstories and Raw Clips

Trying out different sound configurations for recording in the music barn at Kumau Ranch in the Kohala high country.

New Apokolani storytelling songs birthed. Here is some of the backstory. So much aloha goes out to many— Lock, Elliot, Greg, Chris Chorney, Michaeloha, Ricardo, Jileen, and ‘āina Kohala.

Above. September 1, 2018. Keoki, Greg “bassman” Maker, and Elliot Maker start warming up while Lock experiments with different sound recording configurations. Yvonne captures moments and does all the whatevas.

Above. The process. “Oh So Many Doors” as it morphs and births from a private pule rhythm meditation on Logic by Yvonne to a song. It incubated silently on a laptop for several years when Keoki stumbled upon it and said, “you should share this, I can play that bassline for you.” And so he slacked his guitar and the rest is a collective history. This is the first moments working on it with Greg and Elliot while Keoki plays rhythm slack guitar.

Above. Yayyy! Lock sets up the individual monitoring and gets to know the equipment at hand.

Working on variations. Take 1 of many.

Above. Next steps of session recording setup for first-take of “Oh So Many Doors”. Lock finesses new sound configuration, searching for the right mics and levels.

Elliot and Greg warmup jazz style by learning Apokolani original. Lock working to setup mics and sound check. His live sound skills applied to studio experiments.

Above. More, loosen-up, warm-up, on a fun song, “Bartalk On A Napkin”, still yet, not recorded. A mele sparked by a talkstory with Keokiʻs cousin and how she was gifted the money to open a bar in Nanakuli. Of course, Keoki puts his own quirky twists and Yvonne chimes in. Lock still finding the best mics for each person. Studio Kumau offers a wide range of options in addition to ours.

Day TWO.

Above. Day Two has a whole new groove happening for real. Long intense hours creating cohesive sounds and rhythms. The magic of jazz and blues is happening and weʻre almost there. Recording “In A Moment Like This”.

Ma‘ona maika‘i.

Above. Ma‘ona maika‘i. We took a bounty-of-the-land lunch break and Yvonne is documenting as sheʻs done most of her life, trying to capture a variety of moods in the spirit story as we try to shift back to the music. Having fun before another take “In A Moment Like This”, searching for that chickenskin wave that everyone rides together.

Elliot, “That was the pocket!” Now we gotta do it again.

Above. We can all feel when after plenty takes—THIS IS THE ONE! Nothing like it. The take “In A Moment Like This”. The exclamations at the end say it all. And ready to move to the next song.

The process as it “puka”s out to others. Another story song of friends as they stood outside a beautiful Waimea night under the stars looking towards Mauna Kea from Kawaihae Road near ‘Ōuli.

Above. Day Three. Recording “Star Gazing” — a connected hui that has become one. Living together, eating together, being together. A special time with Kumau.

Above. Day Three at the end of recording. Time to take a deep breath, shift and re-group. But before the scramble of re-organizing, packing and planes to catch–donʻt forget photos. Missing Jilleen and Ricardo who are off-ranch—mahalo nui again. And, mahalo Shawn for a wonderful bass.

Followup Snippets At Our Home Kinda Studio

One & Two Years Later After Plenty Stuffs

Back at the Analog Rock Studio

in the historic Blaisdell Hotel located in the heart of Honolulu’s Chinatown

Next Steps coming soon In A New Post.

Part two. Lock Mixing, Engineering in his studio and Editing with Keoki and Yvonne.
Chinatown was old stomping grounds as small kids when still a “Territory”…such rich memories.
Plenty, plenty music And then the late 60s and 70s explosion.
The awesome mele aunties on their upright basses, pianos, strings and honey voices.
Homecooked ono-kine food for the kind and generous customers.
And then a couple doors down the Glades, and further; Territorial Tavern and bugaBuga, Tremaine, and on and on.
Downtown, still a vortex of grassroots, untamed, Energized trailblazing Creatives.
Each cycle ampliyfing the next.

Above. November 2019 at Analog Rock Studio–Lock & Chris Chorneyʻs in Chinatown. Yvonne has imagined a cello on this song for years. This was the moment, late at night, after Chorney and two others finished a couple hours of experimental improv. Glad Keoki and I were in Honolulu for dear Pua and “Cowboyʻs” wedding. The wonders of longtime friends must have energized healing and some surprizing studio time for vocal tracks, cello and Barn Session editing with Lock.

Kahilu.TV reaches out to community during COVID and creates a new venue.

‘Āina Pilina, Community Aloha, Gig—Sharing On Stage, Music Stories, South Kohala, Video Stories

Sweet Pilina of Music, Leo, and Place. Ola!

Mahalo Kahilu for virtual online music concerts to balance pandemic challenges,
soothing and nurturing community spirit during statewide quarantine.

From the Kahilu.TV March 26, 2021 virtual performance to 13 ohana collaborators sitting in the back of the theatre, and two rows of life-sized cutouts in the front, the awesome crew and plenty folk who watched via the world-wide-web, from near and far. Mahalo to Ku‘ulei Keakealani, her daughter Nahe, Keola Grace, and Leila Dudley who joined us.

Hereʻs the entire program from Kahilu.TV.
Keoki was happy to reach out…yet at the same time missed the energy of others.
He said, ” Plenty different playing to an almost empty theatre with cardboard cutouts in the front seats. But a few ʻohana in the very back shadows made plenty joyful sounds and clapping. Mahalo nui!”

Navigate the sections and movements by the bottom bar of circles.

Parts:
1: Ku‘ulei and Nahe grace the evening with opening oli and connecting to the waters of Waimea.
2: Kīhoalu Keola & Keoki
3: Sweet Nani. Hula with lovely, oluolu Lēila Dudley
4: Puukawaiwai. Kīhoalu and hula with Lēila Dudley
5: ‘Āina Kakou borne in waters and drylands of Makaha
6-9: A mix of baritone uke, guitar & island jazz
10 & 11: More stories to tell, Mahina Love & Byways

FROM KAHILU.TV
Apokolani & Friends performance on Kahilu.TV on Friday, March 26, 2021. Honoring the special place of North Kona and South Kohala, Waimea and its waters with a mix of kīhō‘alu. Keoki Apokolani Carter takes the Kahilu stage with Yvonne Yarber (Carter) and special guests Ku‘ulei Keakealani, her daughter Nahe, Keola Grace, and Leila Dudley.

Keoki Apokolani Carter is a songwriter on Hawaiʻi Island who performs most often as the trio “Apokolani.” His original music is composed on baritone ukulele or guitar. Lyrics tell of life, love, spirit of place and each other, with occasional humorous twists. Keoki often writes in collaboration with his “puʻuwai” and vocalist, Yvonne Yarber (Carter). The island sound of Apokolani pushes boundaries, weaving together jazz with island sway— whatever rhythm fits the story— slack, blues, or any kind. Compositions rise up out of his Hawaiian heart, soul, and experiences. From kīhō‘alu with a unique twist, to contemporary guitar and baritone ukulele that melds genres.