This week’s 53rd annual Grammy Awards raised some eyebrows — and discussion — at coffee shops, in classrooms and in Twitter streams all over Hawaii.
And not because Lady Gaga arrived to the music awards show in an egg.
But because Hawaii-born Tia Carrere, a four-time finalist in the Best Hawaiian Music Album category, won a Grammy for the second time.
The album, “Huana ke Aloha,” is a collection of original Hawaiian-language lullabies. It beat out the other nominees: “Amy Hanaialii And Slack Key Masters Of Hawaii,” “The Legend” by Ledward Kaapana, “Maui On My Mind — Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar” by Jeff Peterson and “Polani” by Daniel Ho. (Find out where to hear the music here.)
Carrere over Hanaialii and Kaapana?
Hmm.
Some critics look at Carrere’s career, which more focused on acting than music. Some point out the fact that she, though a graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy, lives on the Mainland. And still others say the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences isn’t qualified to judge Hawaiian music.
You can argue that it doesn’t matter who wins — except it does. The Grammys puts Hawaiian music in the national spotlight, and it’s important that what the world recognizes as Hawaiian music is indeed that.
What do you think?
23 Comments
In this particular case, I agree. Carrere really doesn’t rate a Grammy over the others by a long shot.
But, in the past years, many were whining about slack key music winning all of the time… which I actually felt was a more appropriate winner for those years anyways. I really don’t find Amy Hanaialii all that great. I find that the Charles Michael Brotman or Daniel Ho produced slack key compilation CDs have been more worthy winners over the years, as they were. Led Kaapana should deserve a Grammy every time he’s up for one!
@MaxMaxMax it’s too bad the George Winston/Dancing Cat slack key artist recordings of the 90s couldn’t get a Grammy or two, some really great stuff there including “Led Live Solo”.
@808marv If there was “ever” an award worthy Hawaiian music production, it was the catalog of Dancing Cat. The first CD I bought from this label was the famous yellow covered Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters, and then the follow up. These changed my life as I learned slack key solely from these CDs. The I took lessons from Ozzie Kotani at UH (a master himself).
The other ones from this label that were great were:
• Cyril Pahinui (2 releases)
• Bla Pahinui (2 releases)
• Ozzie Kotani (3 releases)
• Sonny Chillingsworth
• Keola Beamer (3 or 4 releases) — I love his brother Kapono’s Great Grandmother Great Grandson CD. Maybe, in my opinion, the best slack key CD released in the last 25 years.
• Moses Kahumoku
• George Kahumoku
• Dennis Kamakahi (3 releases)
• Ray Kane
• George Kuo
• Cindy Combs (who wrote a great Olomana song “So Free”)
• Bob Brozman
• The Kihoalu Christmas CDs (2 or 3 releases… can’t ‘membah)
• …and the MAN… Ledward Kaapana (I think I must have bought 5 of his)
Some non Dancing Cat artists whom I feel are greta
• Makana
• Kapono Beamer
• Daniel Ho (his slack key instrumental CDs)
• The Charles Michael Brotman produced Slack Key Guitar (the first two releases won the first two Grammys!)
…what a wonderful, musical place Hawaii is!
@MaxMaxMax I had a friend who also studied with Ozzie Kotani and was able to tag along on one of Ozzie’s recording sessions for the second album I believe. It was interesting to meet George Winston and see how he worked in the studio. Seems like he really brought out the best in everyone that he recorded.
I see this as a case of brand name -vs- generic drugs. People like Tia and Daniel, deserving or not, are obviously more well-connected than most of their locally based nominees. They also enjoy the spoils of name recognition, with Daniel being a multiple-time winner, and Tia being Tia. That being said, they obviously represent the brand name. And people will always buy the brand name, despite the generics being less expensive and oftentimes better than the original.
But does that mean that they deserve a Grammy any more than anyone else? Well, yes and no. Like I’ve told my students time and again, awards and TV shows like Idol are all subject taste – and at the end of the program, it really comes down to a glamorized popularity contest. Music is, and always will be an art, and art is subjective. My suggestion would be to try and educate the voters about what our local culture looks for in Hawaiian music. Expose them to the Na Hoku Hanohano awards. Maybe even looks towards other sub-genres within the ‘American roots’ field and see if other artists are having the same perceptions.
Sadly, I’m not a voting member. But I still managed to listen to all 5 albums. Would I have voted for Tia? No, I wouldn’t have.
I really think Hawaiian music lovers, entertainers, and musicians need to recognize what the Grammys are and what they are not. And with that understanding, they would do well to let go any belief that the Grammy is the highest musical award that can be bestowed. It most certainly is not.
Why not? Because as with any award, it is who decides who gets the award that determines how meaningful the award is. The Grammy voting process is political and flawed. Do most Hawaii people believe Tia Carrere deserved this year’s award? Of course not. And that’s my point. This is why the Grammy should mean much less to those in the Hawaiian music business than the Hoku or some other award based on popular vote. That said, I doubt that any Grammy for Hawaiian music will be taken seriously until the group of voters for the award becomes more representative of the genre.
Isn’t this the same kind of whining we hear after the Hokus? Heck, unofficial marketing and name/face recognition plays a part in dog shows and political elections. Why should the Grammys be any different?
I generally boycott the daily paper, but Leah Bernstein’s remarks the other day were spot on https://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110215_Grammy_fractures_Hawaiian_music_circles.html
The 11,000 voting members were given a list of 23 Hawaiian albums and had to winnow it down to 5. I doubt many of those 11,000 sampled tracks from each of those 23 albums, so of course they choose the ones they had heard of. More HI artists need to become members so that they can cast a vote that will reflect their own personal choice of who is best.
The part of this that I find most annoying is how some people say that someone is not Hawaiian or not Hawaiian enough to win an award. All the songs on that “non Hawaii/insufficiantly Hawaiian” album were sung in Hawaiian. So why would that NOT be considered Hawaiian music?
I’m not gonna go out and buy and Tia Carrere’s music, and I already own most of Amy’s music. I placed my vote with my pocketbook. And I deleted all my Dennis Kamakahi music–after seeing him on TV and reading his rants, I can’t listen to his music w/o getting annoyed. I can understand his initial tweet, but he’s had enough time to calm down and show some class.
@J_Bee “I placed my vote with my pocketbook” — well said.
I don’t give much credence to the Grammys
My all time favorite band, Led Zeppelin, has never won a Grammy.
They were “awarded” a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2005
One of the all time greatest, most influential rock bands in history never won a Grammy.
Go figure.
@CodyZamboni I know, fo’ real, yeah? That speaks volumes!
@MaxMaxMax @CodyZamboni Also Rolling Stone magazine panned every Led Zep release that ever came out, then in the late 80s they put out a tribute issue and gush all over them. Uh, I thought you hated Zep. *rolls eyes*
@808marv @MaxMaxMax @CodyZamboni Has The Cure ever won a Grammy…?
@Cat @MaxMaxMax @CodyZamboni think they got nominated but never won.
Hello Cat!
Those judges needs to be educated on Hawaiian music.
All the whineing sounds like a lot of sour grapes to me. I’ve listen to her album and it is good, grammy quality well look at a lot of the other grammy selections. If the local artists are griping join the academy so you can vote. Tia began her career singing, then wnet to acting then back to her first love singing. To me her voice is a lot better than “slack key” Kudos to Dan Ho for good to excellent production.
@EdW I’ll have to disagree with you there. Slack key is one of the few uniquely Hawaiian things that originated in the islands, and didn’t begin from another culture and become Hawaiian. The technical ability needed to play in multiple tunings (which would be similar to a polyglot) and to play both melody and bass at the same time far exceeds Tia’s talent of her singing “hobby.” She’s a good singer, but not an upper echelon type.
…my $0.02
Tia has taken her share of hits from the homeland over the years. i remember a column by Lee Cataluna about Tia that generated a torrent of input and got ramped up to road rage proportions.
an actor, singer, beauty has a career that’s in most cases shorter than an NFL linebacker. Tia does what she does and she does it well. she’s not on the A list, she’s not got the world music cred of Chandra or the acting resume of Jolie. her claim to beauty is mostly as a ‘robo-babe’. but she’s out there making a living like we all are. like Rick said: ‘you can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.
let’s take the focus off Tia and put it where it belongs; the music BUSINESS. when Hawaiian music is cared about and understood by the Academy of BUSINESS it will be because it can generate BUSINESS, or, as we say in Texas, ‘BIDNISS’
there’s more than one ocean to swim in. and there’s a lot of great music out there yet to be discovered and appreciated. the Grammys are the Grammys but they aren’t the measure of all things musical. and they don’t know jack about art. so let it lie. the day will come. and it may come in ways we haven’t thought of yet. Hawaiian music, Hawaiian culture, Hawaiian society will have a bright future, because of all of us who love it and believe in it. now pick up your ukulele and play me something BEAUTIFUL!
@turkfontaine well I agree that Tia should not become symbolic of all that is wrong with this award when the Grammys themselves are a load of BS to begin with. Not her fault, like you said; she is a ‘BIDNISS’ veteran and is taking advantage of an opportunity presented to her. It’s just too bad that this category has stirred bad feelings because of ‘BIDNISS’.
By the way nice choice of pic catherine toth hehe.
Just to put all this into perspective, Britney Spears earned a Grammy in 2005. And she doesn’t really even sing.
@Cat and of course a lot of us remember Milli Vanilli’s win and subsequent return of the Grammy!
It’s a popularity contest, nothing more.
Hey gang–let’s not shoot the messenger (blame Tia). This one’s about producer prowess, combining categories to garner votes. Original Hawaiian-language lullabies has all the trappings of “best new…”(original), “Hawaiian”(Hawaiian-language), and ” children’s lullaby”(lullabies)–all three of which are categories. Now, freedom of press is very cool and I (totally?) agree with one basic definition of journalism–“…to report the news and say what it means…” –but at the interface of art and commercialism, the lines blur and most (predictable) bets are off (exhibit A: Justin Beiber’s loss)–but, I digress. The winning number (pun intended) in this particular contest is “packaging.” Sorry, Tia wins.
@edmorita Actually, he didn’t produce the first one. That was Brotman. But yeah, sounds like he knows how to play the game!