Nahe Olu

– General Description:
“Nahe`olu” (pronounced NAH-heh OH-luu) means ‘sweet sounding and calm’. It's a hybrid word where NAH-heh NAH-heh means ‘sweet sounding’ and OH-luu OH-luu means ‘calm, the calmness’. Composer, author, and producer Patrick Landeza (pronounced lahn-DEH-zah) wants you to feel as though you are on the beach and listening to the water and smelling the salt air. These are original and traditional tunes with voice, slack key guitar and the guitarlele (a guitar-ukulele hybrid).

In interviews, Landeza explains slack tuning as evolving from Hawaiians developing their own tuning system to use with the guitars left to them by Mexican cowboys. It’s a fun story: cattle were brought to Hawaii by Mexicans and then Mexican cowboys later had to come and show Hawaiians how take care of their growing cattle population. Hawaiian slack key (ki ho'alu; pronounced kee-hoh-AH-luu) is an open tuning achieved by loosening or slackening the strings so that it matches the singer’s voice.

Landeza believes that the storytelling, the music, and the aloha (unconditional love) are all part of playing music. He has a lovely, smooth tenor voice with back-up vocalists supporting him. It is very interesting that when he sings in English some of the smooth falls away – but that is due to the language, not his skill. English is just a not happy language for singing. Too many consonants.

Landeza was born and raised in Berkeley to Hawaii-born parents and studied Hawaiian slack key from masters of the form, including Ray Kane, Cyril Pahinui and Rev. Dennis David Kamakahi. Landeza established The Institute of Hawaiian Music and Culture in 2004. He teaches and has also been producing Hawaiian concerts for over 20 years.

– FCC Compliant: YES
– Recommended Tracks: all of them - all these tracks are relaxing and gentle
– Track Reviews:
1. (4:26) Lei Nani - (pronounced: LEH-ee NAH-nee) “beautiful necklace of flowers”; sung in Hawaiian about a yearning love, asking love to be worn as a lei; Landeza’s mother sang and danced hula to this song
2. (2:58) No Ka Pueo - (pronounced: noh kah puu-EH-oh) sung in Hawaiian about love for the ship Pueo, which in Hawai’i is a poetic reference to a woman; ‘Pueo’ is also the name of the Hawaiian short-eared owl
3. (2:52) Keiki Lullaby - (pronounced: KEH-ee-kee lullaby) slack guitar solo; child’s lullaby
4. (2:38) Song For Kuo - (pronounced: song for KWOH) quiet slack guitar solo
5. (2:37) Lei Ko`Ele - (pronounced: LEH-ee koh EH-leh) “flowers tapping”; sung in Hawaiian (written by his teacher Rev. Dennis David Kamakahi) about a beautiful place with misted flowers on the island of Lānaʻi (pronounced: lah-NAH ee)
6. (2:30) Nani Wai`Ale`Ale - (pronounced: NAH-nee wah-ee ah-LEH ah-LEH) “beautiful Wai`ale`ale”; sung in Hawaiian about Wai'ale'ale which is the highest mountain on Kauai and one of the wettest places on the planet
7. (3:28) Monorail Slack Key - quiet slack guitar solo
8. (3:06) Pauoa Ka Liko Ka Lehua - (pronounced: pah-UU-oh-ah kah LEE-koh kah leh-HUU-ah) “Pauoa is the lehua bud”; sung in Hawaiian about a desired woman gracefully walking amongst lehua flowers in the Pauoa Valley; the lehua is the flower of the island of Hawaiʻi and Pauoa is the name of a valley there
9. (3:57) Waimanalo Hawaiian Man - (pronounced: wah-EE-mah-NAH-loh); sung in English about a strong, loving man who cares for the people, land and sea of Hawaiʻi
10. (2:45) Ma Ka Home - (pronounced: mah kah home) “my mother is home”; quiet slack guitar solo
11. (3:42) Lei Pua Kenikeni - (pronounced: LEH-ee puu-AH KEH-nee KEH-nee) “beautiful flower loose”; sung in Hawaiian comparing love to the beauty and perfume of flowers
12. (2:51) Papakolea - (pronounced: PAH-pah-KOH-leh-ah) quiet slack guitar solo; loosely means “breaking waves”; Papakolea is a green sand beach on Hawai’i
13. (4:28) Sweet Bye And Bye - sung in Hawaiian with English chorus; Hawaiian version of “In The Sweet Bye And Bye” (lyrics originally by Sanford F. Bennett, 1868) which tells of meeting on the beautiful shore of heaven and singing together
14. (3:52) The Journey - quiet slack guitar solo