fresh pacific
By Noe Tanigawa
We invest, we regenerate, we know our place in an abundant world. Aloha mai kakou!🌺
Find Noeʻs stories for Hawaiʻi Public Radio: www.hawaiipublicradio.org/people/noe-tanigawa
Find Noeʻs artwork here www.noetanigawa.com/
fresh pacificNov 13, 2023
Glimmers and Wala’ao with Florence
This program is, uncharacteristically, about me. After two shows working with Honoluluʻs unsheltered community, I made some paintings now at Bās Bookshop in Honolulu through 11/26/2023.
Wednesday 11/15, Erin Yuasa and I will be there at 5:30 to talk about work, and making. She’ll demo the handsome lei she makes from repurposed t-shirts. Please do come by. I feel like making the whole night about how we in Hawai’i can contribute to a unified world.🌺
And because of this show, my UH Manoa grad school studio mate, Florence Matsuoka, got the idea to interview me. Argh!
Plus, to make it an episode in my Fresh Pacific podcast.
See her twisting her long mustache…all part of a diabolical scheme! Florence, I find out has ascended to become General Manager at Hawaiian Graphics, the venerable and indispensable art supply store on Beretania. They’re mobilizing their facebook page, hoping to be a link for artists around the state. Hear about that, and reminiscences of Helen Gilbert and Prithwish Neogy in the new Fresh Pacific podcast.
Pacific Perspectives on Climate Rescue with Kamanamaikalani Beamer
“We’re the last generation that has a chance to solve the climate crisis.” Hear a Hawaiian view of where we are and how to proceed.
Kamanamaikalani Beamer applies a Hawaiian perspective to our future on this planet, incorporating environmentalism, economic justice, and indigenous knowledge. Author, thought leader, professor in the Hawaiʻinuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge and with the Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa, Beamer introduced me to the idea of "circular economies" in 2019. Itʻs one of those "duh" concepts that we seem to have forgotten. In this conversation he presents the concept of Degrowth, an expanding movement, especially in Europe. Kamana talks about how solving the climate crisis connects to reforming our economic system. The idea of not pursuing growth at all cost seems anti-capitalist. Yes, every part of the natural world is calling for profound and immediate change.
This episode closes with a song by U’ilani Tanigawa-Lum, U’ilaniʻs song celebrates the taro farmers of Waioli on Kaua’i, who organized to bring their crops and their lifestyle into the 21st century.
Itʻs from Huliamahi Volume I, a recording of contemporary songs celebrating the challenges and legal victories that preserve cherished land parcels and life ways. The entire album satisfies on so many levels. Proceeds from the recording benefit the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation.
http://www.kahulileolea.org/huli257mahi-vol-1.html
Lessons from Kahoʻolawe with Noa Emmett Aluli, Davianna McGregor and Franco Salmoiraghi
Aloha kakou! In this episode we are remembering a Hawaiian leader, Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli. A family physician and servant-leader, he shares valuable lessons about how resistance bears fruit and progress can be made. Among other things, Aluli was co-founder of a movement demanding that the Navy stop using a Hawaiian island for target practice.
Right now, Oʻahu is ramping up efforts to protect its drinking water from contamination by the Navy. (Toxic foam spill reported 12/6/22, UHWO guide ) It happens that challenging the U.S. military has been successful in Hawaiʻi.
How did the bombing of Kahoʻolawe stop? Was it logic? Not really--- it took an amazing confluence of forces. Professor Davianna McGregor of the Protect Kahoʻolawe Ohana explains.
Also, it was a heartbreaking loss that shook Hawaiʻi, Aluli recounts as much as is known about what really happened to George Helm and Kimo Mitchell in those rough seas off Kahoʻolawe. Importantly, Aluli and McGregor chart the spiritual and cultural foundation for Aloha ʻAina. Their colleague and friend, photographer Franco Salmoiraghi, begins the discussion with frank talk about landscape and the nautical introduction he got to Kahoʻolawe. Mahalo to Native Books/Arts and Letters and the Puʻuhonua Society for creating the occasion for this interview. Mahalo to Hawaiʻi Public Radio, where segments of this interview first aired.
#kahoolawe #protectkahoolaweohana #shutdownredhill #kukiaiwai #oahuwaterprotectors #maunakea #wearemaunakea #alohaaina #hawaii #servantleaders #hawaiianhistory #kakou
Plant Medicine: Can psychedelic therapy enrich lives?
🌱Trying Plant medicine🌿 FRESH PACIFIC podcast looks at the possibilities of psychedelic therapies in Hawaiʻi.
“I have certainly seen depression rise, suicide thinking go up, Iʻve had some of my long term substance abuse patients that had been sober, alcoholics, for a long time have relapsed. Iʻve been dealing with a lot of increased demand for psychiatric services. My colleagues around Honolulu report the same thing,” says Hawai’i psychiatrist, Dr. Thomas Cook. “And thereʻs an uptick in child issues too, a lot of increased stress among children because of all the change weʻve seen.”
Addressing stress, depression, anxiety, and other issues must be tailored to each situation, each person. In some cases, Dr. Cook advocates the clinical use of psychedelics to treat some mental illnesses. He says depressed people, people caught in repetitive, hamster-wheel types of patterns can benefit. In 2019, the FDA called psilocybin "breakthrough therapy" for treating depression.
In November 2021, the New York Times reported on U.S. veterans lobbying for psychedelic therapy options. The Veterans Administration has launched at least 5 studies on the effectiveness of psilocybin to treat PTSD.
“The point of psychedelics is the altered mental state and the learning from the experience that comes with that.” Psychedelics get people off drugs they’ve been taking for years, and Dr. Cook explains how that works.
He also explains who might be against that. Guess who? Then, first hand experiences of transformation from a woman with brain cancer, and a Vietnam veteran who took mushrooms on Maui. Psychedelic therapies and recreation are already happening from Hanalei to Hawi.
There are a couple of entertaining articles in the New Yorker, one, from 2016 describes an ayahuasca boom in the U.S. Another article, printed in 2022 describes how one advocate of ingesting secretions from the back of a toad for psychedelic rebirth, "smoking toad," appears to have gone off the rails.
Michael Pollanʻs 2018 book, How to Change Your Mind, lifted the curtain on a re-examination of psychoactive drugs and their effects for a new generation. He does for organic psychedelics what he did for eating plants in 2006, with The Omnivoreʻs Dilemma.
It’s not for everybody.
Ashley Lukens is founder of the Clarity Project, advocating for clinical use of psychedelics. A brain cancer survivor, she attributes her wellness to therapies including ayahuasca and psilocybin. Meditation, mindfulness, psychoanalysis are all pathways as well, she says, but “I would argue there are a lot of people that do not attain the clarity that psychedelics provide you through meditation and psychoanalysis because there is a firmly entrenched mental block. Psychedelics have shown, time and time again to help you overcome that barrier.”
As for music in this episode, my deepest thanks to Kit Ebersbach and to Dae Han, both of whom deserve closer listening on their own!
Music List
Kit Ebersbach: Faux Lyre and Lull. Find his work on popular platforms and at Aloha Got Soul.
Dae Han. In a Dream.
Henry Kapono Kaʻaihue: C&K Soundtrack for a magic time
Henry Kapono Kaʻaihue is a giant in Hawaiʻi, his music was on the leading edge of the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970ʻs. He opened the door for contemporary local music in the 1970's. With partner, Cecilio Rodrigues, C&K provided the soundtrack for an era. The music still conjures good times in Hawaiʻi for generations of people. I am not licensed to play the music on this podcast, but here’s a link to a broadcast of this interview on Hawai’i Public Radio. I was able to incorporate some music in that version so it’s fun! Not full songs though, due to time constraints. Mahalo, HPR!
It was easy connecting through his wife and partner, Lezlee. Theyʻve got twins, teenagers now at Punahou. Such a pleasure to look at the work. In the C&K discography, Henry’s songs were Friends, Song for Someone, Sunflower, oh heavens, they just let it be beautiful. Highway in the Sun, so many.
Henry’s all about forward momentum. His website, Henry’s House is a fountain of positivity. He has an artist-to-artist program starting this fall. In this interview, Henry recalls how the Hawaiʻi diaspora saved a gig in Palo Alto, and how that led to their Columbia contract. Frank Zappa figures in a great story about how C&K first broke in Honolulu. Over the pandemic, Henry released an acoustic version of his Dylanesque rocker, One Man.
One Man 2020 shows that all Henry’s positivity is a choice. Because in 2022, our eyes are open, we see cruelty, we see suffering, and we see the grind that makes us so unhappy with ourselves and each other. I worry about the pressure on people who choose to live in Hawaiʻi.
We have a lot in common, just committing to live here. Henry’s music is a heartful connector. Dive into the C&K discography for a fun Aloha Friday happy hour, my friends, or dust off that black vinyl. These really are the good times together.
Hawaiʻi Public Radio Aloha Friday Conversation with Henry Kapono of C&K, Kirk Thompson of Kalapana, and Starr Kalahiki of the Liliʻuokalani Project
Kahu Roddy Akau: Indigenous insights around Kapūkakī/Red Hill and Moanalua
Welcome to a different reality! Hear Kahu Roddy Kawailualani Kawehi Akau of Moanalua in a free flowing interview about Kapūkakī, Red Hill, and the surrounding Moanalua ahupuaʻa. He throws off ideas and cultural references like sparks as he explains the cultural and spiritual significance of the area.
A few days ago officials found fuel chemicals in a monitoring well outside the Navy’s Kapūkakī/Red Hill fuel storage facility. The Honolulu Board of Water Supply says civilian drinking water system is still safe, but data released by the Sierra Club shows the storage facility has leaked more than 188,000 gallons of chemicals into its surroundings since 1947.
In March this year, the Navy reversed itself and agreed that the facility is dangerous. The Navy submitted a plan to remove the fuel by the end of 2024. Hawaiʻiʻs Health Department has rejected that plan as too vague. A new plan must be submitted by September 7, 2022.
Meanwhile, Oʻahu's largest freshwater source, the Hālawa Shaft, has been shut down, along with two others. Residents have been asked to cut water use by ten percent, and concerns about ongoing contamination fuel nightmare scenarios.
So grateful for the opportunity to share this rare conversation with Kahu Roddy Akau. We first met in 2015. That year, he wrote a widely circulated editorial stating the significance of Kapūkakī, Red Hill. He warned of the danger to Oʻahu's water supply, and requested that the Navy move the storage facility.
UHWO compilation of resources about Oʻahuʻs water crisis:
https://guides.westoahu.hawaii.edu/c.php?g=977248&p=7079960
More about beautiful Moanalua Valley, purchased by the state and the Trust for Public Land in 2008
Ted de Oliveira: FRNT BZNZZ is all about contemporary Honolulu
Aloha mai kakou! Contemporary Honolulu is such a vibrant mess! In this episode, you'll meet a musician who blends cultures and influences in a way that really gets at it. Multi-instrumentalist Ted de Oliveira is a performer, composer and music producer under the name: FRNT BZNZZ.
Ted's dad is legendary percussionist Carlos de Oliveira---who once bested 499 others to be crowned the champion Pandeiro, or tambourine, player in Brazil. You can imagine the competition.
Ted's mom is singer, ethnomusicologist, Sandy Tsukiyama, the host of Brazilian Experience, one of Hawaiʻi Public Radio's most popular programs.
Here, Ted describes his particular confluence of cultures, and takes music making apart, to how itʻs done collaboratively by guys with synthesizers. Fun! Ted hasn't scrimped on living, and he brings in aspects of culture so easily. Heʻs a communicator who has thought about things. And the music is great.
Hear the entire Festivao de Azeitona, Festival of Olives, recording
https://frntbznzz.bandcamp.com/album/festival-de-azeitona-olive-festival
Finding FRNT BZNZZ music online has gotten a lot harder in the last year, or is it just me? Glad I purchased all my downloads.
This is two good tracks and a Soundcloud interview
https://soundcloud.com/alohagotsoul/sets/ags-7009-frnt-bznzz
An example of the Aloha Got Soul releases
https://alohagotsoul.bandcamp.com/track/separation-anxiety-2
#hawaii #music #honolulu #freshpacific #party
Waikīkī surf breaks and stories with John Kukealani Clark
Epic sunsets, sparkly surf, thatʻs summertime! Waikīkī stories this week on FRESH PACIFIC. Sit back and enjoy surf historian John Clark describing Waikīkī in terms of its water flow and its people. He describes the pivotal Ala Wai dredging, then the hotels starting in the 1900ʻs. The beach boys! WWII, then movie stars and statehood. Throughout, the amazing lacy surf breaks that attracted aliʻi (royalty) of old, and continue to distinguish Oʻahuʻs South shore today.
John adds Kapiʻolani Park history and the competitive swimming culture of the 1920ʻs onward. Olympic swimming champion, Duke Kahanamoku, who practiced in Honolulu Harbor and at Waikiki beach, was a bridge between Hawaiʻi and the rest of the world.
ʻWhen he actually got into swimming pools, he was into fresh water and walls where you could make a turn and push off, so his times got even better." John describes one of Dukeʻs unforgettable rides, one that people are still trying to match.
I have to gaze skyward in thanks when John points out that Kapiʻolani Park could very well be a mish mash of hotels right to the foot of Diamond Head if King Kalākaua had not set that glorious acreage aside, a tribute to his wife, Queen Kapiʻolani.
Music this week is from Steve and Teresa. Their distinctive sound has never been duplicated. Or surpassed. Their first release, Caching a Wave, was recorded in one 3-hour session in 1981, just the two of them. Itʻs a killah. Iʻve bought and given away three copies of the vinyl re-release since it came out at Aloha Got Soul. So happy to play a few cuts for you with this week.
John is equally engaging on camera, you may enjoy this Hawaiʻi Department of Education video that features John on the topic of Waikiki surf breaks.
https://uhalumni.org/manoa/story/historian-firefighter-writer-says-place-names-capture-history
I never forget the amazing book from UH Press called Waikīkī, A History of Forgetting and Remembering by Andrea Feeser and Gaye Chan. I love this book for helping me sort out my emotions about Waikīkī.
Because everything they say about it being totally magic? Itʻs true despite everything weʻve done.
Feeser and Chan help me see tension inherent in the concept of "vacation mode"-- a state of entitlement with no responsibility. How can? I see us now trying to get tourists to care. And itʻs deeper than that.
Feeser and Chan contend that the logic of colonialism and capitalism is what makes us desire this exploitative idea of the "good life."
And for people who have saved 20 years for this very special vacation in Hawaiʻi, what you seek really is here!
And weʻre looking for ways to share it with you.
#Waikiki #Surf #Hawaii #Surfing
Street Poet Royce: Chinatown stories you've never heard before
"There is no Can't, only How." Royce has been living on the streets in Chinatown for 22 years. She lives in a wheelchair now, youʻll hear how she got there. Sheʻs always brightly dressed, smiling, with flowers in her hair. We were first introduced by a wound care specialist who was treating Royce's recurring leg sores. Last evening, we met just off Hotel Street, sitting on the stone wall above Waolani Stream. Behind Royce, the sun was setting gold into Honolulu Harbor and two men lounged on the curving bridge where King Street crosses the stream. Royce was introduced to me as a poet, and she has them all in her head. The scene, all pink and gold is burned into my mind. This interview we did was deep and real. And to be able to combine it with soul stirring music by FRNT BZNZZ, I'm in awe of what they say together. This is the new episode of FRESH PACIFIC. I hope you enjoy. #chinatown #poet #Hawaii #Honolulu #freshpacific #houseless #homeless #unsheltered #podcast #asianamerican #aapi #inspiring #music #
Royceʻs debuted a series of poems at Native Books/Arts and Letters Gallery, July 1 2022. Her first collection, a chapbook entitled, The Heart of Chinatown published by Native Books, is available at the gallery, 1164 Nuʻuanu Avenue. @nativebooks
Song List
All songs are from the astonishing album, Festival de Azeitona, made in Hawaiʻi by FRNT BZNZZ, aka Ted de Oliveira.
https://frntbznzz.bandcamp.com/album/festival-de-azeitona-olive-festival
https://music.apple.com/us/album/festival-de-azeitona-olive-festival/1534348151
https://open.spotify.com/album/1V4GzBK4w62JKuownRw1t5
5 SPELLS
DMTSX
DONT LOOK BACK
5 SPELLS
A WAY FORWARD
MATTRESS featuring Jabari Prevost
EMBERS
YOUR BRAIN AS SEASHORE
Katsu Goto: The lynching Hawaiʻi would rather forget
Lynching in Hawaiʻi--it's true, and few people even know it happened. Itʻs part of the weighty legacy we carry from plantation days in the islands. Thanks for sitting in on this episode with a lot of angles.
1889 seems so long ago, but this recent visit with Patsy Iwasaki reminds me that the famines, migrations, and worker exploitation we see around the world today happened before. Here.
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo professor Patsy Iwasaki has been studying Katsu Gotoʻs little known lynching for over 30 years. Weʻll head to Honokaʻa to meet her at the site of the crime.
Goto's murder was a hate crime, meant to frighten plantation workers. Those workers began to organize and had sons and daughters who remembered their upbringing on the plantations. Former legislator, labor lawyer Dwight Takamine paints an inside picture of how protections for workers in Hawaiʻi began to take shape after the Democratic revolution in 1954 and statehood in '59.
Struggling for equal rights is the way immigrants help shape the U.S. justice system. Asians have had a hand in that, from the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 through Japanese incarceration during WWII.
This history of discrimination, then validation in the courts may not continue, but it is our story.
As accompaniment and counterpoint to the stories above, the musical through line this week is an exploration of identity by hyphenated Americans living in Hawaiʻi. Nick Kurosawa and Ohtoro chart facets of the immigrant experience in their recording, Yonsei. They reflect on the alienation that persists for non-white Americans. Yonsei means fourth generation.
Music List
Nick Kurosawa + Ohtoro. Yonsei. Yonsei (Generation I & II)
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/album/yonsei
Nick Kurosawa + Ohtoro. Yonsei. Downhill (with Maxmo & Neal Chin)
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/album/yonsei
Nick Kurosawa + Ohtoro. Yonsei. So Called Theory with Illis It
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/album/yonsei
Nick Kurosawa + Ohtoro. Yonsei. Plantated
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/album/yonsei
Zachtoro. Paradiseʻs Revenge INSTRUMENTALS. Are You Not Amused?
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/album/paradises-revenge-instrumentals
Ohtoro. Kumamoto LP. Farmer and Samurai with Cookie and Nicholas Kaleikini.
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/album/kumamoto-lp
Nick Kurosawa + Ohtoro. Yonsei. Tumult the Day
Hawaiʻiʻs Golden Era of Music: 1940ʻs-ʻ60ʻs
Firsthand account right here! Honoluluʻs Chinatown was hopping with great players at Two Jacks, the Swing Club, and Brown Derby, where Louis Armstrong performed. In this interview, drummer Harold Chang talks about how military bands changed the scene, and how Hawaiian swing evolved. Pua Almeida, Richard Kauhi, Sonny Kamaka, Martin Denny, Chang played with the greats as part of Hawaiʻiʻs pumping music scene after WWII.
Harold Chang is primarily known for his role in the Arthur Lyman Group. Their first album, Taboo, made the Billboard national Top Ten in 1959. They recorded dozens of albums and won three gold records. Their brand of jazz inflected Exotica had a heyday through the 1960ʻs, when "tikis" and "tiki bars" sprang up all over the world.
By the 1970ʻs, folk and rock entered the picture and Exotica slid into disco-inflected crossovers. An exotica revival was reported in the 1990ʻs, and pockets of aficionados bide their time.
For us, the social history is the juiciest part here. Weʻre getting an eye opening picture of the post-World War II entertainment scene in our Honolulu.
Mahalo, again to todayʻs musicians, all Hawaiʻi based, as usual. In the Don Tiki band, Hae Jung and Sherry Shaoling, mahalo for delivering those crisply seductive vocals.
Thanks so much, for what you do, Roger Bong of Aloha got Soul!!! Debbie Yeoh, mahalo for tactical support!
If anyone out there knows the name of a woman who produced a video called Swingtime in Honolulu for PBS, Harold would like to know. We were looking at her reference materials doing this interview. You can email me at noe@noetanigawa.com.
Also, if you know about Richard Kauhiʻs life and career, especially on the U.S. continent, drop me a line!
Song List
HOT LIKE LAVA. Don Tiki. Hot Like Lava, vinyl revival, 2021.
OCCASIONAL MAN. Don Tiki. The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki, 1997.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/an-occasional-man/60933730?i=60933600
SWINGTIME IN HONOLULU. Alika Lyman. Leis of Jazz Volume 2, 2014.
CLOSE YOUR EYES into POLYAMORE. Don Tiki. The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki, 1997.
https://open.spotify.com/track/10vYI0q9GzohaNcJ8TRlB4?autoplay=true
WAIPIʻO. Arthur Lyman. Island Vibes, 1980. 2021 reissue
https://arthurlyman.bandcamp.com/
ITCHY PALMS. Don Tiki. The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki, 1997.
https://www.dontiki.com/about-don-tiki/
MANU OʻO/YELLOW BIRD Arthur Lyman. Island Vibes, 1980.
https://arthurlyman.bandcamp.com/track/medley-manu-o-o-yellow-bird
Mahalo!! Look for another episode in two weeks! ❤
Hula 2.0: Hula in the 21st Century
Still buzzinʻ about the 59th Merrie Monarch Hula Competition in Hilo! Truth is, especially since the Covid pandemic, Hula masters in Hawaiʻi are looking to the future. In this episode of fresh pacific, we see the stirrings of a movement. Meet Maui Kumu Hula Hōkūlani Holt, former Director of Hawaiian programs at Maui Community College, first Cultural Programs Director at Maui Arts and Cultural Center, she started Hula Halau Pa'u o Hi'iaka in 1976. Aunty Hōkū is joined by Cody Pueo Pata, an educator and cultural practitioner from Pukalani. He is Kumu Hula of Ka Malama Mahilani with branches on Maui, Oʻahu and in Japan. They and about 200 other Hula teachers helped formulate the Huamakahikina Hula Declaration, which documents fundamental understandings about Hula.
The energy of coming together is gathering momentum now. Maui county is jumping in, with land to create a Hula center. The Maui center would be a prototype for Hula centers across the islands. Thereʻs so much to learn just in how this is getting done. Portions of these interviews have aired on Hawaiʻi Public Radio, and can still be found on their website.
fresh pacific will be dropping every other Aloha Friday! Thank you so much for listening. Ol' buddy Kimo Kahoano was back emceeing this yearʻs Merrie Monarch. I think we should have him on next time to tell us about that Aloha Friday song, and how aloha Friday is supposed to be done. Hope youʻre enjoying the ride!
Tropical Fish Colors are the New Black
Post-pandemic, or just ʻcuz, toqa designs blow your eyes out with color and make you feel great. Aiala Rickard and Isabel Sicat source deadstock fabric in the Philippines. Thatʻs perfectly good fabric that is no longer produced, so every season has a finite amount of raw material. Toqa shirts, hats, blouses, bags, wraps, dresses, etc. feel great to wear. To cut waste, everything is made to order in the Philippines. Toqa recently held a Panel, Pop-up and Party at the very conducive Kaimana Hotel (apparently under enlightened management.) In this episode, youʻre dropping into toqaʻs installation at Foster Garden and hearing the panel at the Pop-up Party. Tough audio? Just flow with it, youʻll get the feeling.
toqa's interactive exhibit at Foster Garden in Honolulu is called Midnight Smoothie, itʻs part of the Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022, E Hoʻomau no Moananuiakea.
Join toqa at Foster Garden for a twilight viewing May 15 and 16, 2022, arranged by Hawaiʻi Triennial. Evening tours will highlight other Triennial artists, for example, Ai Weiwei. His works on the Gardenʻs upper field are moving, indeed.
This past week, in Hawaiʻi we so enjoyed the 59th Merrie Monarch Hula Competition in Hilo. With this in mind, next up this Aloha Friday, I'll post an interview with kumu hula (hula teachers) Hokulani Holt and Cody Pueo Pata. Theyʻll explain about a convention of hula masters that was held in 2021, The resulting declaration is designed to protect this precious art form for future generations.
As always, music from Hawaiʻi artists.
Nick Kurosawa + Ohtoro. Tumult the Day
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/track/tumult-the-day
FRNT BZNZZ. My House Under the Overpass.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1a6ejTcbl1zIMpHECBaNP3
Maryanne Ito. How I Feel.
https://alohagotsoul.com/products/maryanne-ito-live-at-the-atherton-ags-021-r
Nick Kurosawa + Ohtoro. Plantated.
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/track/plantated
Super Groupers. Make Today Great with Punahele.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5GlMa5U6lNSHAPHdRh40Mf
Toqa Midnight Smoothie soundtrack.
Ohtoro. Is All a Dream with Montclaire
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/album/kumamoto-lp
❤️ Mahalo for your artistry!!Maori means Human: Richard Bell
Heading south from Honolulu today to Australia---like most places, a land still reckoning with its history.
In 1972, four aboriginal Australian men set up umbrellas outside the old Parliament House in Canberra. They called it the Aboriginal Tent Embassy because they felt treated like aliens in their own homeland and were demanding land rights. That protest mushroomed, footage was viewed in 86 countries, it is the longest running continuous protest for indigenous land rights in the world. 50 years this year.
In 2013, artist Richard E. Bell created a traveling "Aboriginal Embassy." Every time it goes up around the world, discussions about land rights and sovereignty are held inside. Material from previous iterations is incorporated at each new location.
Bell is also a painter. His muscle-y paintings jump off the walls. Arresting colors in a patchwork, often with text, kind of Barbara Kruger meets Rauschenberg. With words like: "Pardon me for being born into a land of racists." And "You can go now."
Also, "We know how to wait."
Richard was due in Honolulu soon, so I caught him on a Zoom recently. I think youʻll enjoy him, I know I learned enough to need to know more.
Richard Bellʻs "Embassy" is coming to Honolulu May 6 and 7. It's part of the Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022, "Pacific Century: E Hoʻomau no Moananuiakea" through May 8, 2022 at seven venues in Honolulu.
This "Embassy" has gathered steam already in Moscow, New York, Jakarta, Jerusalem and Sydney. We will gather to add our manaʻo from Hawaiʻi on Friday, May 6, 5-6pm and Saturday May 7, 2-3 pm at the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum.
Issues of land and sovereignty could not be more pressing, as we bleed with the resistance in Mariupol.
We send these Brolga Bird Clan Songs to the resistance. By Dabulu and Magern, hear Australian aboriginal sounds on Smithsonian Folkways.
We offer this chant from the Pacific in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance.
Next up on fresh pacific, the fabulous girls from toqa.
Hawaiʻi 💕 Puerto Rico: Beatriz Santiago Munoz
Aloha mai kakou! This podcast series is kicking off with four artists featured in the Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022, "Pacific Century: E Hoʻomau no Moananuiakea." HT22 continues through May 8, 2022 at seven venues in Honolulu, so weʻve got to get cooking!
Today, we meet featured artist, Beatriz Santiago Munoz, who lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She exhibits her art internationally. The works are primarily video and installations, dealing with place, politics, history, memory. Munoz works inside and through issues that Honolulu and San Juan have in common, including gentrification, militarization, changing communities, and wealth disparity.
Munoz made "Gosila," for example, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2018. Munoz mixes news of devastation with uprooted trees and demolished homes which end up being visual metaphors for what happened.The power grid collapsed, leaving many without food, water, or electricity, as a history of corruption and lack of investment was laid bare.
Munoz keeps her camera on what the people of Puerto Rico went through. Then, the slow human process of rebuilding. The video is projected through a fragment of lens found near Maunabo, Puerto Rico.
In the HT22 installation, Munoz shows Post-Military Cinema, 2014, a rumination surrounding an abandoned cinema on a defunct U.S. Naval base. Otros usos, 2016, is shot from an old fuel dock for battleships, now used by fishermen. Their hands tell the story of their rugged days. Ojos para mis enemigos, 2014; and Black Beach/ Horse/ Camp/ The Dead/ Forces, 2016, are also there.
Multiple giant screens juxtapose images in the mind at once: a horse grazes quietly, then turn a corner, waters churn in widescreen on the left, while on the right, a manʻs gnarled hands gather fuel for a blaze. Itʻs a tactile, breathing world that can be absorbed more than deciphered.
Munoz has exhibited at the Tate Modern, the Whitney Biennial, the Guggenheim Museum, and other international venues. Right now, her work is featured in a refreshing outpost of the Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022, at Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki. Go Diamond Head on the third floor, on the mauka side.
Youʻll see a cheery exterior and glimpse Momoyo Torimitsuʻs Pink Bunny. Inside, youʻll find Munozʻs videos, Lawrence Sewardʻs sly newspaper/lemonade stand, and in a viewing room, Hong Kong artist Zheng Bo shows tender, sexualized explorations of the forest. Thereʻs VR too, of course, Miao Ying hints at a brighter, less structured world. Others, including Herman Piʻikea Clark, also on view there. I ended up spending a couple of very satisfying hours.
Please local people brave Waikiki. I went there last night -- after the show closed, itʻs only open 12-7. Today, someone dropped me off while they did errands in town. That strategy may work for you! Otherwise, from what I can figure, itʻs 1 hour free parking with a $10 purchase validation or $12 per hour with no RHC validation.
Next up, Friday, I think! Richard Bell, his installation/intervention, Embassy, a wry comment on statelessness---is going up at the Hawaiiʻi State Art Museum May 7 and 8 for the Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022.
Beatriz Santiago Munoz podcast song list:
Super Groupers. Smoke Signals featuring Exile.
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/track/smoke-signals-featuring-exile
Ohtoro. Leafbrella with Kizuna
https://ohtoro.bandcamp.com/track/leafbrella-with-kizuna
Maryanne Ito. Double Talk
https://open.spotify.com/track/5A8tr3QGKdZjVSXjhyV11Z
Ohtoro. (Kiva) featuring YB by Cooki3 + Ohtoro.
https://zenburecords.bandcamp.com/track/kiva-feat-yb
Super Groupers. Shine Thru featuring Punahele. Learn to Fly.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/shine-thru-feat-punahele/1132411809?i=1132411987
A hui hou!
Sensuality is Pacific: Haunani Kay Trask & Kainani Kahaunaele
Haunani Kay Trask (1949-2021) was a Hawaiian leader, an intellectual, an organizer, and a poet. She is a featured artist in the Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022 at the Honolulu Museum of Art through May 8, 2022. In that collaboration, Trask provides commentary for Ed Greevyʻs explosive photographs of wrenching land, access, and identity struggles in Hawaiʻi through the 1970ʻs.
With the publication of her book, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi, 1993, Trask stoked a conceptual evolution for Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike. Known for unstinting candor, we hear an example, Trask was also a published poet.
In this episode, Hawaiian composer, singer, and educator Kainani Kahaunaele offers an interpretation of Trask's poetry. Kainani embraces Haunani Kay's fierceness and follows it deeper. It is rooted in love. Love for this place, recognized through sensuality.
We close with Kainaniʻs composition, Waipunalei, an example of the richness that a sensual interpretation of history and landscape can convey.
Eros c'est la vie.