CD Review of Nā Mele Hawai'i
American Record Guild
January/February, 2008
(excerpt)
. . . How beautiful the music is! Hymns were introduced by missionaries in 1820, and the Hawaiians really took to them. The style of our hymnody suited them perfectly, and they adapted the tunes to suit their language. You will recognize a number of English and American hymn tunes from the 18th and 19th centuries. For example, you can’t miss 'From Iceland's Icy Mountains' by Lowell Mason, which was quoted by Charles Ives later on, and 'I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord.'
There are also a number of songs by Queen Liliuokalani, including the one everyone knows, 'Aloha Oe', published in 1884. This pure singing of it will amaze you — it's gorgeous. The queen was a talented song composer. 'Sweet Lei Mamo' may be the most beautiful item here. It is sung by Mark Dietrich, who accompanies himself on the ukulele. It's just perfect — the instrument is ideal, and the baritone voice sounds very Hawaiian to me — like native singers I have heard in Hawaii. Anyone I play this for is almost in tears by the end.
I guess the Rose Ensemble is branching out! Whoever expected this from an early-music group? But it's very beautiful music, and what little of it is heard is in trashy arrangements, so the Rose Ensemble has done something noble in rescuing this music and letting it be heard by real music lovers like us. Yes, it's all 19th Century in sensibility — it may remind you sometimes of Stephen Foster — but it’s still very Hawaiian; whatever the source, they made it their own.
--VROON