FAWWAZ JUBRAN

'Peace at Heart'

Island contemporary

Peace at Heart

Fawwaz Jubran's underlying theme here is love and harmony, peace and happiness. Perhaps being an Arab-American in these uncertain and unsteady times, his mission, through music, is hope and understanding.

Overview: Jubran is more a poet than a singer, with a marginal voice now transplanted in the Islands. His homage to his new homeland include "Hula Girl," an original not-Hawaiian in execution, but filled with his brand of aloha. His gift may be the earnest quest to find peace at heart.

— Wayne Harada, Special to The Advertiser

3 stars

'Good Fun'

Folk / contemporary

No label

Hapa Folk is just that — hapa folks Douglas Kilpatrick, Poki'i Vaughan and Kimo Stone who not only are ethnically mixed breed but play a smorgasbord of songs: folk, contemporary Hawaiian, light rock, old faves, in party-spirit harmonies that spell fun.

Overview: The act is an updated version of the Hawaiian trio playing guitar, fiddle bass and banjo — think Kingston Trio with lei and aloha shirts. Its catalogue will touch a nerve: "Can't Help Falling in Love," "If I Had a Hammer," "Kimo Hula," "Over the Rainbow," "Sloop John B," even "Hawai'i '78" — tunes attached to memories and moods from yesteryear.

— Wayne Harada, Special to The Advertiser

3 stars

'Bop Tribal'
Jazz, bebop
Pass Out Records

Bop Tribal is a creative, intuitive jazz group led by Satomi Yarimizo (piano). DeShannon Higa (trumpet, flugelhorn), Reggie Padilla (tenor saxophone), Shawn Conley (bass) and Abe Lagrimas Jr. (drums).

Overview: With a cosmopolitan membership, Tribal rites are varied and spirited, with individual musicians adding precious flavors and accents to the seductive, soulful stew of jazz bebop. Higa contributes four titles with decidedly local moods (including "Manoa Mist," "Jellyfish") and Padilla three. Expressions of brooding emotions thrive on Yarimizo's "Melancholic Toes." Old style uncorked by young souls.

— Wayne Harada, Special to The Advertiser
3 stars

'Live From the Operating Room'

Classical Live

From the OR, LLC

Dr. Jorge Camara is a classically trained keyboarder whose real job is professor of ophthalmology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. You might say that music is in his veins.

Overview: This one's a first — the first CD recorded live in an operating room. Music to operate by? Possibly. Music to recover by? Assuredly. Music that heals? Certainly. Camara utilizes his tunes to help his eye surgery patient prep for surgery. But there's more here than what meets the eye. Sounds soothing that you don't need surgery to enjoy, meditate, chill out, even sleep.

— Wayne Harada, Special to The Advertiser

3 stars