Sandi

Hi! I'm looking for some friendly advice about "island music" selection, and suggestions on how to get it. I was recently on Maui and very much enjoyed listening to a radio station from Lahaina, KPOA, 93.5 FM, which played modern island music. I e-mailed the radio station directly on two different occasions and have not received a reply. If any of you Fodor's fans happen to live in Maui and are familiar with this radio station, please e-mail me directly. There is more to this story, but it is a little too lengthy to get into here.

Thanks in advance!

Sandi

Sandi

I'm sorry. I forgot to include my e-mail address. It is [email protected].

Thanks.

Ruth

Sandi, Is that the station with the deejay, Maya Papaya? If it is, we loved that station, too.

Sandi

Ruth,

I don't recall hearing the name Maya Papaya while listening to the station, but that doesn't mean anything. I have looked on their website at www.kpoa.com, and this name is not listed under the on-air personality page.

Owen O'Neill

I'm not a resident of the Islands but mail ordered a CD on impulse by an artist named Keola Beamer. He's acknowlwdged to be a master of the genre known as "Hawaiian slack key guitar", an instrumetal style unique that area. Many artist on this genre release material on Dancing Rat Records but I did find a sampler of different artist on one CD that is put out BY Windham Hill (which should be readily available). Hope this helps and is not actually off-topic.

Ruth

Owen, I believe you meant "Dancing Cat," not "Dancing Rat," right?

Anyway, if you love the Keola Beamer CD, boy, do I have some recommendations for you! Slack key is what my husband and I have listened to most of the time for about the last five years! I'm going to plan our next trip to Hawaii around a slack key concert! E-mail me if you'd like some CD recommendations!

Thanks, too, Sandi, for your response!

Aloha, Ruth

Sandi

Owen and Ruth,

Thank you for replying. I went to the Dancing Cat website and listened to a couple sound bites. The slack key guitar music is not what I had in mind. I am interested in the more modern, upbeat, island sounds. It reminded me of reaggae (sp?) in a way, but it is still different. I am determined to get a hold of some of this music. As I said, when I tried to contact the radio station via e-mail, (twice), they have not responded. I went to my local music/book/video store with a list of the top ten artists from the KPOA website, and they could only locate one of the artists on their computer. They placed the order and about five days later I got a notice in the mail stating that my order was canceled because it was not an available selection after all. I have also looked on the Amazon website to try and find some of the artists on my list, but they didn't have any of the current album titles.

Still hoping for some help from any friendly Maui residents.

Thanks again.

Ruth

Sandi, Go to "www.mele.com"; you are talking about Jawaiian/Reggae, I'm sure. Go to the palm tree icon for "music intro", and you'll find some helpful information, also a source that you can e-mail for help. Also look at "Island Contemporary" on that same page. Hope this helps! A good source to buy CD'S is "www.islandbookshelf.com". They have an excellent selection, and if you buy something and don't like it, Jody, the owner, will let you send it back. She is great!

Good luck!

Aloha, Ruth

Sandi

Ruth,

Thanks very much. I will check out the websites you suggested. I was very happy to read about "Jody" taking things back that customers aren't happy with. This was another concern I had. See, on the last day of my Maui vacation I decided that I needed some of that music to bring home with me. So I went to the nearest mall music store and asked the salesman if he was familiar with KPOA. He said he was and directed me to some CD's that "would work for me." I was very disappointed when I got home and listened to them. One was mostly the slack key guitar type of music, titled "Island Radio Hits" and the other was called "Sessions", which consisted of surfing songs, which were upbeat, I admit, but still not what I was looking for. I hated that I had spent $36 on these and was not satisfied.

Thanks yet again!

Ron

Ruth, that mele.com site is awesome for Hawaiian music. Getting that kind of unexpected information is what makes visiting Fodor's worthwhile (and putting up with all that pretentious sludge that is burying the European forum). I know I will never get back to Hawaii; its nice to know where I can get an occasional fix of the Cazimero brothers.

What I do not understand is why you recommend buying CDs from islandbookshelf.com, whose prices and shipping charges are higher than mele.com. Is there something we should know about mele.com or are you just valuing the return privileges highly?

Thanks for the info

Ron

Ruth

Ron, To be honest, I only discovered "mele.com" recently myself, and have not ordered from them, or checked out their prices, S&H, etc., thoroughly. But I do value Jody's return policy highly; she's done that with books & CDs for me - even reimbursed my return charges on some things, which I did not expect her to do. And I will pay a little more for that kind of service - and she's a real, neat lady who will research things for you, and really extends herself!

So glad you like "mele.com"; Fodors is a great site, isn't it? We can all learn a lot!

Aloha, Ruth

Owen O'Neill

Sandi - if you're still hoping to get a response direct from Maui and have been unsuccessful you might do a bit of web research and find out if there's a college or university on Maui that has a radio station. The typical college student involved with radio is more likely to respond to your inquiry than an overworked/busy staffer at a regular radio station. The students may not listen to the genre of music but could likely direct you to the best resources.

Ruth - yes it it "cat" not "rat"! I love the Keola Beamer CD that I have and am quite fond of instrumental guitar music in general. Although it's a different style (and straying off topic but oh well...) you might want to check out anything by Adrian Legg. He's far less laid back and dreamy than slack key but plays remarkable and beautiful instrumental compositions.