Palani Vaughan - Ka Ipo Lei Manu / Unchained Melody / I Will Always Love You (1997)
Details
| Title | Palani Vaughan - Ka Ipo Lei Manu / Unchained Melody / I Will Always Love You (1997) |
| Author | Ka Lāhui o Hawai'i Nei |
| Duration | 6:13 |
| File Format | MP3 / MP4 |
| Original URL | https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kkn-y2RjRRM |
Description
Vaughan's blending of "Ka Ipo Lei Manu" with "I Will Always Love You" and "Unchained Melody" is masterful. Queen Kapiolani wrote of her love for Kalakaua - but he died on the mainland and never heard it. Dolly Parton's composition has some similar sentiments, but Vaughan's use of "Unchained Melody" draws on cultural references that didn't exist when the song first charted in 1955 or when Phil Spector produced the definitive Righteous Brothers version in 1965. Pop culture memories of the 1990 film tearfest "Ghost" create the crucial connection.
PALANI Vaughan was a Hawaiian nationalist long before Hawaiian nationalism was fashionable. His Hoku-winning "Ia'oe E Ka La" albums commemorated King Kalakaua's struggle to preserve the freedom of the Hawaiian people and refuted the racist canard that Kalakaua had been a dissolute monarch. The "Kaulana Na Pua" series restates many of the same themes in the same instantly recognizable style but brings the story into the modern era.
