Suggestions of Excellent Hawaiian music?

(Shameless self-plug!) I am biased, but I think our band's recording is one of the best quality recordings out there. Recorded onto 2" analog, then mastered onto HDCD. Check it out at:

www.islandriddim.com

-Kevin

I've got to agree with Paul above: "Facing Future" has some nicely recorded tracks (with others being very over-produced), especially "Over/Wonderful" from "Finding Forrester" (and "Meet Joe Black" and the eToys commercial). These folks chose it for a reason and I think you'll find brudda Iz' voice irresistable. I have noticed that my CD-R dubs of Israel's CD's sound better than the originals.
Also, I'd check out the Dancing Cat series of ki ho'alu music (Dennis Kamakahi, Cyril Pahinui, etc.). These were fairly well-produced by George Winston.
Finally, there are a few modern Hawai'ian CD's that aren't too shabby. John Cruz - "Acoustic Soul", Colon - "The Groove Machine", Guy Cruz - "Judgement Time". I haven't listened critically to these CD's, but I'll throw 'em in the Theta tonight. They're not 5 star audiophile recordings, but probably 3-4 star recordings of acoustic guitar and vocals. Email me for other suggestions if you like these - I've got over a hundred Hawai'ian CD's ([email protected]).
Cole
PS Kevin, thanks for the heads up, I'll have to add your CD to my collection.

I second the IZ recommendation above, though some tracks are recorded better than others. Also, check out Kealii Reichel, Sister Robi (Kahakalau), and the newer Brothers Cazimero cds, as all have excellent recording quality.

There is a wonderful guitar player from Hawaii named Keola Beamer. One of the world's greatest custom guitar makers, Steve Grimes, has designed and named a guitar for Mr. Beamer.

Check Amazon and or a search engine like Gogle for more info.

At the moment, I am listening to Keola Beamer playing a duet from an album called Wooden Boat. Then Keola playing something from another album, Moe 'Uhane Kika on Dancing Cat. Both very good recordings.

I have a collection of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters on Dancing Cat Records, which is from their series. Most of the recordings are really good and the original albums are all referenced and pictured in the booklet.