Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai makes a musical journey to the verdant islands of Hawai'i to create a new sound with famed slack key guitarist Keola Beamer. The haunting sound of the traditional flute blends with the harmonies of the richly expressive slack string guitar and accents Beamer's soulful vocal renditions of traditional Hawaiian songs as well as new compositions. Canyon. 2005.
Hawaiian slack-key guitar and Native American flute aren't the most likely combination one could think of. Slack-key guitar is a sound both laconic and light, made from loosely tuning the guitar strings. The Native flute is renowned for its frail, lonesome call. But two masters of these instruments, Keola Beamer and R. Carlos Nakai, find common ground and lay some new turf on their first full collaboration, Our Beloved Land.
Beamer is a guitarist who makes it look easy as he peels fingerpicked melodies from his instrument the way Tiger Woods peels off a long drive. All but three of the tunes on this album are either traditional Hawaiian songs he arranged, or his own originals. Hawaiian and Native American chants share a certain sound, and you can hear that when Nakai joins in singing on "E Manono." On "Lapule (Sunday)," Beamer picks up the Hawaiian nose flute and duets with Nakai over the sounds of a rain forest. Together, they create a sound far from the tourist music you may have heard before. Instead, they orchestrate a tribal mood full of ambience and rumination. Shakers, rattles, double gourd drums, and coyote echoes encase their often fragile melodies. R. Carlos Nakai has a knack for bringing out the more soulful side in musicians, but Keola Beamer probably didn't require any prompting. He remains the most original and exploratory of modern slack-key guitarists. --John Diliberto
The inspired teaming of Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai with one of Hawaii's most gifted artists has produced an extraordinarily beautiful recording.
A contemporary pioneer of the native flute, Nakai is probably the best-known American Indian musician. Worldwide, he has sold more than 3 million records. His partner in this landmark cultural interchange, multiHoku Award winner Keola Beamer, is known for creating exquisitely crafted works of contemporary Hawaiian music. A master slack key guitarist and modern pioneer of the ohe hano ihu, the ethereal sounding Hawaiian nose flute, Keola has long been an innovator.
'Our Beloved Land' blends Nakai's haunting flute playing with Keola's gorgeous guitar and vocals to create rich, soothing, healing soundscapes that nourish the soul. One would be hard pressed to find a more sublime contemporary recording.
'It was a wonderful experience recording with him and following up the record with some performances on the East Coast,' says Keola. 'He's a very intuitive musician with that mystical sensitivity that great musicians possess.'
On this seamless collaboration, recorded at Nakai's Canyon Studio in Arizona and on Maui at Keola's home studio, the musicians interpret a number of traditional Hawaiian songs along with a few new compositions by both artists. One of the most memorable tracks, the seven-minute original composition 'Sunday,' transports the listener to the heart of the rain forest lulled by gentle sound of the Hawaiian nose and Native American flute. It's a perfect prescription for unwinding a day's stresses.
'There was an amazing commonality between the music of the two cultures,' says Keola. "The themes of love for home and family and tribe and the spiritual connection with our ancestors reoccur throughout the music. It's so nice at this part of my life to be able to do these kinds of collaborations with other artists. It's been a mind-expanding and cultural expanding experience.'
At the end of Octobber, the duo will play shows on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, but no Maui concert is planned --By Jon Woodhouse - Maui News / September 15, 2005
Genre: A blend of two cultures: Native American and Native Hawaiian.
Distinguishing notes: Talk about cultural integration and harmony: Nakai's Native American flute artistry is a perfect match with Beamer's Hawaiian ki ho alu mastery; the songs are largely Hawaiian in spirit and motif, largely composed by Beamer or arranged or adapted by him, with on esignificant collaborative effort, 'Lapule - Sunday,' co-authored by the two artists. The flute yields a soothing, new-age type tranquility to the vocals and instrumental eloquence of Beamer, who continues to ponder themes and places close to his Island heart; numerous authentic instruments (ipu or gourds, pahu or drums, 'ohe hano ihu or Hawaiian nose flute) create tranquility and serenity with exquisite precision, and a reflective tone is omnipresent, wheather the recollection is of a person (Waip'o Paka'alana), place (Aia I Moloka'i Ku'u 'Iwa) things (Ka Mano - 'The Shark) or history (Ke Ha'a Ala Puna). The cross-cultureal elements permeate a couple of Hawaiian melodies, when Native American lyrics dominate - pause and applaud 'E Manono' and 'The Good Road.' Note, however, that the mana'o of the music is decidedly more muted and controlled, more atmospheric than flashy, more academic than entertaining - but still wonderously seductive in the end. The effect is a slo-mo, dream-like journey with pastoral and environmental elan, like coasting over a verdant valley or soaring over a vast desert - exemplified on 'ke Ao Nani (The Beautiful World'), with Beamer singing Hawaiian lyrics and nakai reciting the Dine (Navajo) trnslation.
The outlook: Nakai is an eminent and expressive flutist of Navajo-Ute heritage and Beamer is a valuable and trusted resource for things Hawaiian, so this joint effort embodies two two titans on a common mission - to preserve and perpetuate, through performance and sharing, their respective artistry.
Our take: A very significant celebration of cultural diversity. --By Wayne Harada - Honolulu Advertiser / June 5, 2005
Keola Beamer is looked up to by other slack key guitarists the same way classical guitarists looked up to the late Andre Segovia - and with good reason. One never seems to know what musical treasure his seemingly endless creative wellspring will next unearth.
Beamer and wife Moanalani team up with R. Carlos Nakai, a Native American (Navajo / Ute) flutist who, like Beamer, has achieved both artistic respect and commercial success. Our Beloved Land combines both the delicate beauty of Beamer's playing with the ethereal, plaintive starkness of Nakai's playing. Keola and Moana Beamer also play Native Hawaiian percussion and implements on the CD. This is music that washes over one's body, mind and spirit with the tragic quality of centuries of oppression and genocide suffered by both the Native American and Native Hawaiian people.
Ten of the eleven songs are Hawaiian; the final cut on the CD is the Nakai composition 'The Good Road.' Two songs, 'Ka Honua - 'The Earth' and 'Ka Mano - The Shark' are Beamer compositions. One songs, the instrumental prayer 'Lapule - 'Sunday' was co-written by Beamer and Nakai. 'Ke Ao Nani - 'The Beautiful World' was composed by the late Hawaiian lexicographer Mary Kawena Puku'i. All the others are traditional songs arranged by Beamer. Most of the songs are arranged in minor keys, purposely, to give them a haunting quality that touches on several levels: emotional, visceral and spiritual.
From the opening of the first cut, the traditional 'Waipi'o Paka'alana' with the ipu heke (double gourd drum), the conch, the Native American flute and then a minor-key, classically influenced guitar building to Beamer's vocal, one senses the anticipation of musical greatness, which is ultimately rewarded. The next song, 'Aia I Moloka'i I Ku'u 'Iwa' features a hypnotic up-tempo rhythm and rare bass-voiced chant by Beamer with a contrapuntal interplay between Beamer's guitar and Nakai's flute. 'Ka Honua,' like the majority of the music, is marked by a somnolent, seductive quality, a dream in which on wishes to keep sleeping forever. On 'Lapule,' the interplay between Nakai on Native American flute and Beamer on Hawaiian nose flute with the sound of the rainforest in the background gives one the feeling of standing on sacred ground.
Just when you think Beamer's music can't possibly get any better - surprise! Simply put, this cross-cultural musical interchange is not only academically significant, it is the best new CD I've listened to so far in 2005. --By John Burnett - Journal / Aug. 1-15, 2005 'Collaborations of Note / Keola Beamer and R. Carlos Nakai'
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