Name the artist with Hawaii ties who:
1) released a single with Celine Dion on January 16, 2008.
2) was nominated for 3 MTV Video music awards in 2006 and 2007?
3) released a platinum selling album in 2006 under the Sony label?
4) is hosting a music TV show with a worldwide audience?
Jasmine Trias or Jordan Segundo of American Idol fame come to mind, but that would be incorrect. Keali’i Rachel, Jake Shimabukuro and Iz (r.i.p) are talented and well known beyond Hawaii, but they would also be incorrect.
Correct answers: 1) Yuna Ito, 2) Shen Brown, 3) Angela Aki, 4) Melody Ishikawa
Never heard of them? Join the club. The reason is that all have left Hawaii and have reached a level of fame, not in the US mainland, but in Japan. How good are they? Let me introduce a bunch of music vidoes and you can judge for yourself. Even if you don’t have time to watch the whole video, please take a moment to play at least a little of each one; you’re in for a real treat. When you’re done, please ask yourself, why don’t more people (in Hawaii at least) know who they are?
Yuna Ito
A 2001 graduate from McKinley High School in Honolulu, Yuna Ito is one of Japan’s hottest stars today. Her January 16, 2008 single with Celine Dion is climbing the Japanese music charts. But the proof is in the music. Please enjoy the following music videos.
Here’s another Yuna Ito video filmed in Hawaii called “Mahaloha.” The man appearing the video is Micro of the group Def Tech (read on about Def Tech).
Shen Brown of Def Tech
Shenan Brown out of Iolani School is part of group that is bringing Jawaiian music to Japan. Def Tech’s music marries English, Japanese, Hawaiian and Reggae together in a unique blend that deserves to be heard. Shen’s partner is Micro, who sang with Yuna Ito in the “Mahaloha” music video. The following video is live recording of Def Tech’s hit called “My Way.” Pay attention to the English lyrics and you’ll notice there’s a refreshingly positive message in Def Tech’s music.
Here’s a professionally produced music video of Def Tech’s single “Catch the Wave.” Hawaii visitor industry people: note the strong Hawaiian influence seen in living rooms all over Japan.
Angela Aki
Angela Aki is a singer/songwriter/piano player who was born in Japan but graduated from Iolani School (go Raiders!). Angela, who is happa (her father is Japanese and mother is American) has made forays into the US music scene but made it big in Japan in 2006 with the release of her platinum selling album “Home” which peaked at number 2 in the Japanese music charts. Here’s the music video of the album’s title track, “Home.”
Sadly, the following song has no music video, but it was included here because it was a great example of Angela Aki’s English voice. This song, “Surrender” is from her album entitled “Today,” which was released in September 2007.
melody.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Melody Ishikawa (aka ‘melody.’) has established herself as star in the J-pop music scene with a string of hits dating back to 2004. Here’s a music video of her breakthrough single titled “Realize.”
In April 2007, Melody was picked to host an NHK Japan produced, English language music TV show entitled “J-Melo” (seen on NGN in Hawaii). J-Melo is shown worldwide and is intended to share Japanese music with a world audience. Here’s a clip from the TV show where Melody interviews a Japanese/African-American singer, Crystal Kay (watch through the video to hear some Crystal Kay’s R&B J-pop music).
For more info about any of these Japan/Hawaii stars, check out these Wikipedia articles for Yuna Ito, Shen Brown (Def Tech), Angela Aki and Melody. Of course if you want to hear more of their music, YouTube.com has a wealth of content from each artist.
I would certainly love to hear your feedback about these artists with Hawaii ties. Do you think any of these performers could have popular commercial appeal outside of Japan? I’m taking a poll…so let me know what you think.
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I really really liked Angela Aki. As an American living in Tokyo, I think I could really get into some of these types of Japanese-English songs because I love absorbing the local trends and modern culture of Japan. However, I don’t think it would really have a lot of commercial appeal in the lower 48 (I think maybe the more Hawaiian-inspired music has the potential to have a huge following in Hawaii because all of the artists have roots there and their music lets that show). I also liked Yuna Ito, but Melody was a little too pop for my tastes. I can see, though, how she would be very popular here in Japan for the 40 and under generation who is really into that type of music. I didn’t expect to like Def Tech, but I think they have a really good flow together, and I always like the mixture of language that Japanese music brings. I was impressed with all of these artists. Thanks for sharing! I will be looking for their music when I shop!
Left by Tara on February 9th, 2008
I love Yuna Ito especially the duet she did with Celine Dion. How many artist get to sing with Celine. She is one lucky girl. I really don’t know why the single didn’t do too well on the Oricon chart. I would think with a fan base of both artists, this single would propel to the top spot, but failed to do so. Anyway, as for the song Mahaloha, I remember passing by the park (Mother Waldron Neighborhood Park) in Kakaako and saw a Japanese crewing filming the music video.
Left by Stephen on July 29th, 2008