IZ Wonderful World CD

Whenever my granddaughter, Chloe, spends the night at our house she requests one cd to be played before bedtime. This cd belongs to the Hawaiian artist called Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole. She calls the cd "the angel". We put on the cd and I pick her up and we dance to his sweet vocals. His voice touches you deep in your soul. It floats like the songs of an angel. How fitting that the first time she heard the cd she called him "the angel".

Israel was a large man with a giant heart. I remember the day he passed away . It was June 26, 1997. My family and I were on the island of Oahu when we heard the news. It was a sad day for Hawaiian Music. We would never be able to hear new music from this great man again. But producer and friend of Israel, Jon de Mello, has paired IZ's music with orchestral sounds. He is sure that IZ would approve of the symphonic direction in this new cd. With technology at his hands he started to mix IZ's voice and 'ukulele with the orchestra sound. He had asked orchestrators in the United States, Japan and Europe to record new sections . They would email the music to each other, call each other on the phone and ship overnight recorded discs. He then used a group of live musicians and recordings from many instruments and blended the sounds together. The new cd is called "IZ Wonderful World" . "Israel's intimate vocals with a full orchestra. The voice that touched the world." You will still hear IZ speaking pidgin English . ( Wikipedia defines Pidgin (or Hawaiʻi Creole) as a form of communication used between native and non-native English speakers in Hawaiʻi). The values of pono (makings things right), kuleana (responsibility) and kokua (helping each other). When I hear IZ sing "What a Wonderful World" it always makes me cry. It is so touching and the emotions you feel are uncontrollable.

Some fans of his music might object to the new arrangements of his songs . But I think the orchestral sounds will embrace you. I especially like the last song on the new cd. It is called "A Hawaiian Like Me" The song lyrics say "...there will never be another Hawaiian like me" .......and that is true, there will never be another Hawaiian like him.