HONOLULU, Hawai'i, August 19, 2009 -- What does a cooler, dried aku and Amy Hanaialiʻi have to do with a new wonderful CD? Weʻve got the answers and a CD Review...

Amy Hanaialii's new CD Friends and Family of Hawaiʻi" is a wonderful mixture of genre and language that have one thing in common, Amy Hanaiali'i is singing with a plethora of extremely talented male singers that make Hawai'i their home. They range from Na Hoku Hanohano award winners to some of the best in our Hawaiian Music Industry.

It features in alot of the songs, the Matt Catingub Orchestra which gives the CD a very rich full feel. Some of the songs have a jazz feel, orchestraic feel mixed in with a hawaiian feel. Palani Vaughn's voice is rich, Fiji is...well Fiji, even Rebel Souljahz does the music in their style. This CD called very well be called "The many sounds of Amy" showing her wonderful versatility.

There are also many stories behind the music, as she recently shared at an invitation only CD Listening Party. Jack Hammers, coolers and dried aku are just some of the stories shared about the "Behind the Scenes" stories that are a part of this wonderful release. I donʻt want to spoil any of Amyʻs stories here, but it will suffice to say sometimes you have to bribe with just the right stuff to get construction people to stop when recording and album; and certain musical artists have their vices (dried aku) to "help" them in the recording studio.

Personal favorties so far are Pā Aheahe with Kealiʻi Reichel, Hoʻonanea with Darren Benitez and Everybody Plays The Fool with Rebel Souljahz; but there is so much on this 16 cut release. Definitely you get your moneys worth on this CD.

I wish there were words and explanations on the hawaiian language songs on this release...none are given in the liner notes. Makaʻalohilohi is another song I like but for a purely selfish reason; that is my wifeʻs middle name.

One thing is for sure. This will open the doors to all kinds of people that love hawaiian music. This will expose them to a kind that may be more palatable for a wide range of audiences. This is a wonderful thing; that brings people to discover more about hawaiian music as a whole, with wonderment of what other music they will find in this genre. The definition of WHAT is hawaiian music is growing by leaps and bounds and will be drawn into every genre of music conceivable. In the circle of music that is our industry, this is a good thing. For every person that stretches those bounds, there is also someone who keeps playing what is conceived as traditional hawaiian music. It can only mean good things for our industry, which is something that Iʻm sure every musician and recording artist thinks about; and is what Amy knows all too well.

Personal note: I think this could have very well been 2 releases in 1. I want to hear Amy sing traditional, then I love when she steps out of that world and sings her contemporary world as she has done many times before. I would just like to have had the two genre on separate discs.