One of Kaila Hawai‘i’s favorite clips on YouTube recently has been the debut video from Tikahiri, “Tapea te paari”, off their first album, Tamaki Hope’a. Firstly, the song is killer, combining acoustic rock and Tuamotu language—a totally unique sound for Tahiti and the rest of Te Ao Mā‘ohi. But stylewise, we’re digging brothers Aroma and Mano Salmon’s combination of tātau (tattos) and leather with a goth edge. (You’ll have to see the whole clip to understand.) Kudos to their stylist. When we finally get into Pape‘ete some time soon, we’re going to have to make a stop at the Salmon’s brother tattoo studio to get inked. In the meantime, we’ ll be following them on Facebook.

I’ve been hooked to Māori spin doctor Tiki Taane since I first caught a glimpse of his mindblowing video clip “Tangaroa”, off his debut album album Past, Present, Future. For those unfamiliar with Polynesian mythology, Tangaroa is the Māori god of the sea, corresponding to the Hawaiian akua Kanaloa. The track is a shock to the system, combing traditional Māori chant with a raging dancehall-style beat.

Tiki composed “Tangaroa” in response to the 2004 tsunami and humanity’s lack respect for Tangaroa and his ocean realm. In their first collaboration as father son, Uekaha Taane Tinorau, Tiki’s father, composed the following haka, or chant, for Tangaroa, channeling the spirit of Tangaroa as a force for change. (You can read Tiki and Uekaha’s full commentary on “Tangaroa” here on the Tikidub Productions website.)

Ko Papatuanuku me Ranginui nga matua o te ao
I puta mai nga tamariki nga Atua o te ao
He Atua o te moana
Ko Tangaroa he Atua o te moana
Tu mai te ihi
Tu mai te wehiwehi
Tu mai te wanawana e
Hi ha aue

From the divine heartbeat of Mother Earth and the ever-elusive constant of Sky Father
all descend and all ascend the natural world
The timeless current of tranquil stillness
the harmonic music of ones infinite ocean
Resilient are the vital influences of the universe
Stand liberated by the inner radiance
Be still be silent and all shall be revealed

Na Uekaha nga kupu Maori, na Tamiaho te whakapakehatia

Te Moananui aa Kiwa (The Great Ocean of Kiwa), Kanaloa Series by Māori artist Rua Pick

As someone who’s felt a close kinship to the moana, or the ocean, and to Kanaloa, I felt something deep and familiar when I saw “Tangaroa” for the first time. When it seemed so few remembered to honor our god of the sea, here was an homage to the God of the Sea appropriate for our time but based on the past, modern yet grounded in antiquity. In the video, Tiki looks out in the ocean only to see an ancestor appear to him on the shore. How times have I sat facing the sea or going into waves and felt something great, vast, and powerful, beyond the limits of my rational, Western education, knowing that generations past were with me in the waters.

I know that Kanaloa, our manifestation of the ocean deity in Hawai‘i, is alive. I’m always reminded of him when I see the expanse of blue ocean, hear the roar of the surf, or see his kinolau, or body form, such as the mai‘a (banana), the he‘e (squid or octopus), the koholā (whale) and other forms of ocean life.

FOR MORE INORMATION ON KANALOA/TANGAROA

Learn more about Kanaloa/Tangaroa on Blue Coast’s Kanaloa page or in Martha Beckwiths’s Hawaiian Mythology. For more on Tangaroa, Te Ara Encylopedia of New Zealand has developed a beautiful web page, Tangaroa – The Sea.

FOR MORE ON TIKI TAANE

“Tangaroa” was the first single off of Tiki’s debut Past, Present, Future, which you can purchase at the Tikidub shop as a digital download or CD, shipped directly from Aotearoa/New Zealand to you.

Kahi (The Place): Tahiti, Te Ao Ma’ohi/French Polynesia

Think of music from Tahiti, and you’ll think of the gentle sway of the ‘aparima or the pulsing, multi-layered rhythms for an ‘ote’a. But the music of our cousins to the south goes beyond the melodies of the Heiva. Take an act like Tikahiri,fronted by brothers Aroma and Mano Salmon–who also run a tattoo shop in downtown Pape’ete. For this part of Polynesia, the band is rather unique. (We can’t  forget to mention, though, the ma’ohi rock band Manahune.) Live or on their studio album, Tamaki Hope`a, Tikahiri’s arrangements are deceptively simple (bass, guitar, drums, cello) but full of sound, emanating a complex, brooding personality one wouldn’t necessary expect from islands in the sun.

But look past the sunny surface of the Pacific archipelagos of Te Ao Ma’ohi/French Polynesia and you’ll discover another face. In an interview on the French network France O, Aroma says their music is a paradox, like life in the Tuamotus, the low-lying atolls northeast of Tahiti where they grew up. A storm can destroy eveything one day . Then the sun can return the next. This inherent contradiction gives Tikahiri’s music a darker–dare I say, gothic-edge, a adrenalin-rush unexpected from what’s basically an acoustic band. The name Tikahiri itself means “blood” or “life” in pa`umotu.  Add to this that the brothers sing in pa’umotu and English (they spent part of their childhood in Aotearoa/New Zealand), setting them apart from a scene mainly in Tahitian and French.  In any case, Tikahiri’s popularity is growing. The band performed at the Francopholies in La Rochelle in the summer of 2008 and just finished their first video this spring. (Check out the report in Les Nouvelles de Tahiti - In French)

Tikahiri performing “Heva Koe” on Fenua Live on TNTV

A special feature on Tikahiri from 9 semaines et 1 jour from France O (In French)
Closes with live performance of “Tape’a Te Pa’ari”

[Info/Photo Source: Les Nouvelles de Tahiti]

Tikahiri - Tamaki Hope'a

Erykah Badu  Live at Aloha Tower on May 29

Kahi (The Place): Honolulu, Kona, O’ahu-a-Lua

I remember when I got my hands on Ms. Erykah Badu’s debut album Baduizm back in the nineties. I had “On and On” on repeat, back in the day when we used to jam on the Sony Discman. She was fresh out of the group Arrested Development. (I still remember her killer vocal hooks on the track “Tennesse”). And, of course, who could forget her signature head wraps!

Nowadays, Ms. Badu is still going strong, all freshened up with a killer doo. Her latest release New Amerkah Pt. 1, 4th World War is tight: an eclectic mix full of soul, not to mention some ingenuous beats. Her video “Honey, directed by Chris Robinson, took “Best Direction”  at MTV’s Video Music Award (VMA) back in the fall . And not one to be limited to to just music, Ms. Badu, a dedicated vegan, is also currently up for PETA’S Sexiest Vegetarian Alive, so be sure to cast your vote, whatever your dietary preferences.

For all of us who are lucky enough to live in the pae‘āina o Hawai‘i, Ms. Badu will be serving up her signature sounds on May 29 at Aloha Tower. Tickets available for $50 at Honolulu Box Office.

[Images taken from "Honey" video directed by Chris Robinson]

Now enjoy the taste of “Honey”, Ms. Badu’s funkilicious first single from the new album, performed live.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hyDxwJB-4M&hl=fr&fs=1]

“Honey” and the rest of New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War) is availalable on iTunes.