The third Hawaiian Grammy was awarded last weekend, and once again the flames are raging. I’ve become privy to a number of email exchanges among members of the industry, the press, fans and even some of the winners of the award. It is pretty clear that maintaining the status quo is going continue to cause division and hard feeling among members of the industry and fans alike. Here’s my 200 cents worth. For the record, I am a voting member of both NARAS and HARA, and a member of the academic associations Society for Ethnomusicology and the International Council For Traditional Music.
I guest authored a column that will appear in this Sunday (2/17/07) Kauakūkalahale, the Hawaiian Advertiser’s weekly Hawaiian column. This week I cover the history of the development of the award. The second part of the column, which discusses the discord within our community and my suggestions for fixing the award, will be printed the following week. I offer my thanks to Laiana Wong at UH-Manoa for allowing me to share my thoughts on this issue, and for his careful editing of my thoughts as it has helped clarify some of the issues for those that are less familiar with the process which led to the establishment of the award as well as the continuing controversy. This is not a translation of either half of the article; some thoughts are similar and others not found in that article.
When the first Hawaiian Grammy was awarded, my personal issue with it (and that of many others) was that there was no Hawaiian language present. The producers of this year’s winning release, Legends of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar- Live From Maui have addressed that adequately with about half of the cuts featuring Hawaiian language vocals. What now is gnawing away at me is the fact that because all three winners have been compilations, only the producers get the awards. This means that there are only three performers who have actually won the award, when more than a dozen Hawai‘i recording artists have contributed to the CDs. Does this mean that every one of them should get a Grammy? I have an issue with that as well. To me it cheapens the award, and if Hawaiian releases were submitted with a dozen producers listed, I’m fairly certain that NARAS would put an end to it quickly. Does this mean excluding compilations and only allowing releases from individual artists? Maybe, I’m not sure I’m ready to advocate this, but I am putting everything on the table.
One correspondent in the exchanges I’ve read claims that this is and industry issue, a NARAS, not one that involves Hawaiian cultural and educational interests. Wrong. When you put the term “Hawaiian” on it you make it a cultural issue, whether you like it or not, and Hawaiian people, recording artists, industry people or not, their voice needs to be heard. If they are not then the voices will continue to rise until NARAS gets the message and either acts to institute change or eliminates the category altogether.
Take a look at these lists. If your sense of propriety is not offended, then you are probably one of the five in the first category, related to or a fan of them. I have no issue with that, simply stating my opinion.
List of Hawaiian Grammy Winners:
Charles Michael Brotman, Daniel Ho, Paul Konwiser, Wayne Wong, George Kahumoku.
Partial List of Hawai‘i Artists Who Played On the CDs But Who Do Not Have Grammys and Cannot Call Themselves Grammy Winners (But Some Do Or Have Anyway):
John Cruz, John Keawe, Led Ka‘apana, Cyril Pahinui, Dennis Kamakahi, Martin Pahinui, Richard Ho‘opiʻi, Sonny Lim, Jeff Peterson, Randy Lorenzo, Ken Emerson
Hawai’i Grammy Finalists Who Have Not Yet Won
Keali‘i Reichel, Ho‘okena, Brothers Cazimero, Amy & Willie, Amy Hanaiai‘i Gilliom, Raiatea Helm, Henry Kapono, Kapono Beamer
Partial List of Hawai‘i Artists Entered In The Past Three Years But Who Have Not Even Made The Final Ballot:
‘Ale‘a, Holunape, Kenneth Makuakane, Natalie ‘Ai Kamau‘u, Aaron Sala, Kaumakaiwa Kanaka‘ole, Hapa, Halau O Kekuhi, Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, Dennis Pavao, Sean Na‘auao, Pali, Darlene Ahuna, Kimo Alama Keaulana & Lei Hulu, Kaukahi
The issue of mainland voting has been brought up frequently, even by the winners of the awards. I first looked at them as interlopers who were biased toward slack key releases and performers, but the issue is far more complex than that. Many are knowledgeable about many Hawaiian styles, and indeed some mainland member of NARAS may be native Hawaiians themselves. Mainland members of NARAS were also involved in the discussions and supported the establishment of the category. This issue needs to be examined closely and carefully.
How do we fix this? I don’t know, but everyone with an interest in the award needs to get involved. Once the criteria are tweaked to our satisfaction and winners selected, the grumbling needs to end as long as the winners meet those criteria. One of the major issues I’ve addressed in the Kaukūkalahale article is the fact that a significant change was made to the awards criteria after discussions with the Hawai‘i members and industry which was not agreed upon by us, that change being that purely instrumental releases were allowed if the contained a significant amount of “traditional” elements. This was not discussed at any of the meetings that I attended, and was agreed upon without our participation. Whether these kind of releases and compilations continue to be allowed remains to be seen. However, NARAS does need to reopen discussions with local members, and include cultural practitioners, academics and educators if they wish to continue to use the term “Hawaiian” in the award.
Hopefully these will be my last public thoughts on the matter. I believe that further discussion needs to be made privately among the groups I’ve listen above, and taken out of the spotlight for a while.
Keola
