Entries Tagged 'Music' ↓

On Saturday, August 15, Ziggy Marley brings family time to Hawaii! In support of the non-profit organization Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center (HCDC), he will be hosting a free children’s show at the center and will be performing songs from his newest children’s albums, “Family Time” and “B Is for Bob.” Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis, no reservations will be taken for the event.

Growing up, music was a significant part of Ziggy’s childhood. And now, he hopes to share it with Hawaii’s children. “I know how important music can be in a child’s growth and development, and in a parent’s connection with their children,” he says. “Music helps children to grow with open minds and open hearts and this is my message.”

“We are thrilled to be hosting Ziggy’s children’s concert at the Discovery Center,” said HCDC President and CEO Loretta Yajima. “It is a wonderful way for families to connect through music, and we’re excited to be a part of this wonderful event.”

The children’s concert at HCDC will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a performance by local ukulele master Roy Sakuma. He will be joined by a few of his students, including a child who has learned to play the instrument with one arm. Sakuma is revered as Hawaii’s foremost ukulele teacher and has been teaching for more than 30 years. He currently has 4 studios opened throughout Oahu.

Ziggy will then take the stage at noon and perform until 12:30 p.m. After the show, he will be available for autographs.

“Family Time,” Ziggy’s first children’s album, offers a collection of family-oriented reggae tunes and features the likes of Willie Nelson, Paul Simon and local Hawaii singers Jack Johnson and Paula Fuga. In this record, which was released in May, he shares with families his love of music through themes of love, unity, freedom and fun. Ziggy says that this record represents his daily family life and was inspired by his four-year-old daughter Judah and baby Gideon. Judah even lends her voice to the album’s title track. For his second children’s album, “B Is for Bob,” Ziggy re-imagines a collection of classic tunes of his legendary father, Bob Marley. This album was just released in late June.

Ziggy says, “’Family Time’ is for all families and especially the world family.” He hopes to share the message of Family Time with children and families around the world and has already performed other children’s shows at Boulder, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Santa Barbara.

Ziggy has long been involved within the children’s community. His works include: a rendition of “Give A Little Love” with the Melody Makers on the 1991 Disney compilation “For Our Children,” the theme-song for the PBS series “Arthur,” and most memorably, a role in the movie Shark Tale as the voice of the Rasta jellyfish, Ernie. He has founded the non-profit organization Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment (U.R.G.E.), which serves a number of charitable children’s causes in Jamaica and other developing countries. He is also an active supporter of Little Kids Rock, which provides children attending public schools with free musical instruments and lessons.

Seating for the children’s concert will be limited in a courtyard at the HCDC on the grass and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations will be taken for this event. Space is limited to about 200 people. While the concert is free, entrance to HCDC activity galleries requires paid admission.

For more information on the children’s show at the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center, please contact Liane Usher at (808) 524-5437 ext. 23 or (808) 375-5437 or e-mail liane@discoverycenterhawaii.org.

Later that night, ‘Ziggy Marley Live in Concert’ will be held at the Waikiki Shell. Thompson’s Productions has partnered with Clear Channel Communications and Cox Radio to bring this special event to Hawaii. The concert will start at 5:00 p.m and continue until 10:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $35, $45 and $55 and can be purchased at the Blaisdell Box Office, online at Ticketmaster.com and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including select Macy’s. To charge tickets by phone, call (800) 745-3000. For more event information, please call Hawaii Pacific Entertainment at (808) 237-3675 or e-mail umma@hawaiipacificentertainment.com or log on to www.hawaiipacificentertainment.com.

Ziggy’s concert will bring together a list of other dynamic international artists including Mysterious, the man from Trinidad; one of Jamaica’s hottest singers, Rovleta Fraser, who will break from touring with Jr. Gong and Nas to perform in Hawaii; rock, reggae and folk musician Joseph Israel and the Jerusalem Band; the young and energetic Blak Diamon from Jamaica; and the Virgin Islands’ very own reggae musician and songwriter Zion.

Major sponsor partners of “Ziggy Marley Live in Concert” are The Waikiki Park Shore and The Hotel Wailea of The Aqua Hotels & Resorts chain, Hard Rock Café, Maui Brewing Company, Mana Foods, Land of Organica, Love Fatigues and more.

Popular Hawaiian slack-key guitarist John Cruz will join students from the A+ After School Program at ‘Ele’ele Elementary School on Kauai on Monday as they receive a gift of 20 Tangi ukuleles from the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation and Sprint Hawaii.

As part of a program to promote Hawaiian music education in public elementary schools, Sprint Hawaii arranged for the donation of 20 premium ukuleles. Kupuna Janet Kahalekomo, who oversees the Hawaiian Studies program at the school, will be accepting the donation on behalf of the school.

This program is part of a larger community relations initiative launched in May 2008 by Sprint Hawaii and Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation to donate instruments to music education programs in Hawaii. A portion of the profit from every new Sprint activation and phone upgrade of a qualified music phone will be donated to the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation in support of the Hawaiian music initiative.

Also, when customers download music from the Mountain Apple catalogue – available on Sprint phones and featuring tracks from Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (Braddah Iz) and The Brothers Cazimero — a portion of the profit will be donated to the music education program.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa Music Department and Outreach College present A Night with the Korean Zither Musicians’ Association on Saturday, October 4 at 7:30pm in the UH-Manoa Orvis Auditorium. The program is sponsored in part by the Korean Arts Council.

Often described as expressive, subtle, with a tone like the human voice, the kayagum (or gayageum) is the national instrument of Korea. A 12-stringed zither which is played on the floor, the kayagum is related to the Chinese zheng, Japanese koto, Mongolian yatga, and Vietnamese dan tranh, but distinct from other zithers in the region because of a separate piece of hardwood at the base shaped like ram`s horns. This performance by masters of the Korean zither showcases the range and beauty of the instrument in traditional and new compositions.

The Korean Zither Musicians’ Association is comprised of 50 performers (20 will be coming to Hawai’i) who are teaching at major Korean universities — Seoul National University, Hanyang University, Busan National University, and others. The group was established in 1993 to promote Korean zither music and to foster exchange with zither artists from other Asian traditions, such as the Chinese zheng and chin, Japanese koto, Mongolian yatak, and Vietnamese dan tranh. The Association holds an annual concert in Seoul and has toured widely, from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to Ulan Bator, Mongolia, and to cities in the UK, US, Canada, China, and Southeast Asia.

Tickets are $5 to $15 in advance, $10 to $20 at-the-door. To purchase, visit www.etickethawaii.com, call 483-7123 to charge by phone (Aloha Stadium box office, M-F 9am-5pm), or visit any UH Ticket outlet (Rainbowtique stores, Stan Sheriff Center, UH Manoa Campus Center ticket office, Windward Community College OCET office); service charges apply. Advance sales end 4 hours and 30 minutes before the performance. At the door, sales begin 1 hour and 15 minutes prior to the performance. For more information call 956-8246 or visit:

http://www.outreach.hawaii.edu/community

‘Ukulele legend Bill Tapia will celebrate his 99th birthday with two nights of performances in downtown Honolulu. Tapia will show off his jazz chops and reminisce about his musical career and pre-WWII Hawai‘i on Thursday, Jan. 25 and Friday, Jan. 26 at the rRed Elephant (1144 Bethel St.). Tapia got his first ‘ukulele 92 years ago, and hasn’t stopped playing since. “The ‘ukulele is a powerful instrument… It’s been so important to me, it’s like a friend,” he said in recent interview with the Houston Chronicle. “It hardly leaves my hands.”

Tapia has played with Charlie Barnet, Billy Holiday, Fats Waller, Bing Crosby, and — during his days in Hawai‘i— led a big band and worked with prominent musicians like Sol Hoopi‘i and Johnny Noble. And he marvels that he’s lasted this long. “To tell you the truth I don’t even know how I’m living because I didn’t have an easy life,” Tapia recently told the Redding Record Searchlight. “They took me out of school when I was 12 and half years old… so I worked in vaudeville. I worked all the time until now.”

Tickets are $27.50 and available by calling (808) 550-8457 or by visiting HonoluluBoxOffice.com.

The life of Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole, whose big heart and gentle voice won him fans around the world, is being told in a new book that offers an unprecedented look into the musician’s professional and personal life. ‘IZ: Voice of the People‘ is a large-format, 190-page chronicle that benefits from unprecedented access to Kamakawiwo‘ole’s friends and family, including dozens of never-before-published photos and behind-the-scenes anecdotes that show both his admirable and not-so-admirable traits. “This is a beautiful picture book and an impressively honest biography of a talented and very human man,” writes Star-Bulletin entertainment writer John Berger. “[IZ] did the best he could to keep his personal demons at bay for as long as he could, and none of us can do more than that.” In an interview with Honolulu Advertiser book writer Wanda Adams, Carroll says he was originally going to publish the book on his own. But his vision soon won over Mountain Apple’s John DeMello, Kamakawiwo’ole’s widow Marlene, and local publishing company Bess Press. In announcing the book, the company describes it as “a story about fame and celebrity and triumph over adversity, about a boy who rose from humble origins, overcame drugs, youth gangs, and the loss of his parents and his only brother to give hope to others.” The big book is a big step for the publisher and the author, with Barnes & Noble to sell it nationwide and with most of its 25,000-copy first run already sold.

The life of Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole, whose big heart and gentle voice won him fans around the world, is being told in a new book that offers an unprecedented look into the musician’s professional and personal life. ‘IZ: Voice of the People‘ is a large-format, 190-page chronicle that benefits from unprecedented access to Kamakawiwo‘ole’s friends and family, including dozens of never-before-published photos and behind-the-scenes anecdotes that show both his admirable and not-so-admirable traits. “This is a beautiful picture book and an impressively honest biography of a talented and very human man,” writes Star-Bulletin entertainment writer John Berger. “[IZ] did the best he could to keep his personal demons at bay for as long as he could, and none of us can do more than that.” In an interview with Honolulu Advertiser book writer Wanda Adams, Carroll says he was originally going to publish the book on his own. But his vision soon won over Mountain Apple’s John DeMello, Kamakawiwo’ole’s widow Marlene, and local publishing company Bess Press. In announcing the book, the company describes it as “a story about fame and celebrity and triumph over adversity, about a boy who rose from humble origins, overcame drugs, youth gangs, and the loss of his parents and his only brother to give hope to others.” The big book is a big step for the publisher and the author, with Barnes & Noble to sell it nationwide and with most of its 25,000-copy first run already sold.

The sleepy town of Hilo might not be described as urban, but big city music clearly has fans there. Hip-hop legends Naughty By Nature are coming to the Big Island for what what is billed as the inaugural “Urban MusicFest.” The group will be joined by local artists Sudden Rush and Times Five. The concert will be held April 17 at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, and tickets go on sale next week for $25 at Big Island music stores CD Wizard in Hilo and Melekai Music in Kona. Admission at the door will be $30. Concert organizer R&R Productions hopes the all-ages, alcohol- and drug-free concert will become an annual showcase of “hip hop, rap, rock, R&B, and reggae.”

The sleepy town of Hilo might not be described as urban, but big city music clearly has fans there. Hip-hop legends Naughty By Nature are coming to the Big Island for what what is billed as the inaugural “Urban MusicFest.” The group will be joined by local artists Sudden Rush and Times Five. The concert will be held April 17 at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, and tickets go on sale next week for $25 at Big Island music stores CD Wizard in Hilo and Melekai Music in Kona. Admission at the door will be $30. Concert organizer R&R Productions hopes the all-ages, alcohol- and drug-free concert will become an annual showcase of “hip hop, rap, rock, R&B, and reggae.”

The sleepy town of Hilo might not be described as urban, but big city music clearly has fans there. Hip-hop legends Naughty By Nature are coming to the Big Island for what what is billed as the inaugural “Urban MusicFest.” The group will be joined by local artists Sudden Rush and Times Five. The concert will be held April 17 at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, and tickets go on sale next week for $25 at Big Island music stores CD Wizard in Hilo and Melekai Music in Kona. Admission at the door will be $30. Concert organizer R&R Productions hopes the all-ages, alcohol- and drug-free concert will become an annual showcase of “hip hop, rap, rock, R&B, and reggae.”

Hip-hop fans might not be the state’s target market for promoting Hawaii tourism, but a music video for popular artist LL Cool J is nonetheless filling their heads with visions of palm trees and black-sand beaches. The video is for the aptly-named single “Paradise,” off LL’s latest album ‘ target="_blank" class="hncopy">X‘ (or ‘ class="hncopy">10‘). Costarring rising R&B star class="hncopy">Amerie and featuring Gabrielle Union, the video opens with sweeping aerial shots of Maui’s gorgeous shores and mountains, and is packed from start to finish with lush tropical imagery that — particularly in the deep of winter — would make anyone forest-green with envy.

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