Top 5 New Albums According to DJ Shaggy at Q103

1) CHAZAR`E

TEMPTATION



"She's from Honolulu. This is a really, really good CD. There's some

reggae, some hip hop, some R&B—it's kind of like Hawaiian R&B.

Right now I am playing [on the radio] 'Life's Not Fair,' which she does

with Tribal Seeds—a popular reggae band from San Diego." —Faith Music

Int'l 2007





2) EKOLU

EKOLU MUSIC



This one's been out for a while but it's just one of those classic

albums that'll always be popular. Another classic Ekolu. [And it won

the 2006 Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Reggae Album of the Year. – Ed.]

—Waiehu Records 2005





3) SAM*SON

LET MY PEOPLE DANCE



"He is a Samoan singer from Honolulu but now out of Las Vegas. He

does a cover of Cheers, and the two popular songs are 'Wherever I Go'

and 'Polynesian Girl.' —Pacific Rhythm 2006





4) VARIOUS ARTISTS

RSP VOL. ONE



"This is Rubbah Slippah Productions, with Ryan Hiraoka, his brother

Shane and some other people. The three singles we get the most requests

for are 'Live Everyday' with Ryan, 'Your Love' with Maelan Abran, and

'I'm Thinking About You' with Preston De Luz." —Rubbah Slippah

Productions LLC 2007





5) TIE: CONSCIOUS HEALING'S CONSCIOUS HEALING (2006) and CHRIS OANA'S WOLVES (2004)



"Chris Oana's album is really good—people still call almost daily

for 'Every Day,' a nice little love song. But so he, along with Brad

Kahikina and Curtis Piligrin, are the original songwriters of this Maui

band, then added a horn section and became Conscious Healing. Their big

song everybody asks for is 'Give Me the Roots.'" — Base-2 Records LLC

Top 5 New Releases on AlohaJoe.com Internet Radio

BACK TO THE ISLANDS



The lovely Sonya Mendez, seen in lei and hugging a doggie, is the

rare triple threat: recording artist, dancer and actress. Of course,

she is also the president of the Rotary Club of Kapolei and the

co-founder of the Well of Hope Foundation, which is raising money to

dig a well in a remote Ethiopian village. And her global consciousness

extends to her music as well—Mendez once fronted a Latin-jazz group

called Worldwide Groove, which seems to have influenced her

long-awaited, jazzy Latin-flavored album Back to the Islands. —2007





2) CODY PUEO PATA

HE ALOHA



As a person and as a performer, Cody Pueo Pata is a unique

combination of contemporary and traditional. As a member of Native

American and Hawaiian communities, Pata has learned the language,

chants and dances of both cultures—becoming his Northern California's

Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians tribe's linguistic compiler and holder

of songs and ceremonies, as well as kumu hula, haku mele and winner of

the Frank B. Shaner falsetto contest in 1999 in Hawai`i. Pata says he

strives to maintain a balance between the spiritual and physical

worlds, believing that the spiritual affects the physical. And he loves

Cap 'N Crunch cereal. This album is the follow-up to his multi-Na Hoku

Hanohano nominated first release. —Ululoa Productions 2007





3) LEDWARD KA`APANA

GRANDMASTER OF THE SLACK KEY GUITAR



Hawai`i's legendary master of the slack key guitar and `ukulele,

Ledward Ka`apana garnered a Grammy nomination for Grandmaster of the

Slack Key Guitar in 2006. Most people would say it's about

time—Ka`apana's been in the biz for more than 40 years. He's also an

accomplished player of autoharp, bass, steel guitar, as well as

baritone and falsetto singing, which he utilizes on about half of the

songs on this critically acclaimed recording. Although his solo album

didn't get the award last year, Ka`apana was featured on the one that

did—Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Vol. 1. —Rhythm and Roots

Records 2006

4) HO`OMALIE

ONLY YOU



Ho`omalie is a group of well-established musicians including Zanuck

Lindsey, Kimo Hussey, John Enos and Lopaka Ho`opi`i. Collectively, they

cite influences ranging from funky, modern jazz to the Doobie Brothers

to traditional Hawaiian, resulting in a debut album that is both

swinging and soothing, featuring four-part vocal harmonies and

imaginative rhythms. —Ho`okupu Records 2006





5) BRITTNI PAIVA

BRITTNI



Called the "slack key supergirl" after winning a Na Hoku Hanohano

"Most Promising Artist Award" in 2005 for her debut recording, Brittni

Paiva released a second CD, which was nominated for two Hokus the next

year. Now at the ripe old age of 18, Paiva may have just graduated from

high school at home, but she's been exploring the world's genres

through her `ukulele—from classical to modern, Latin to Hungarian—along

with the help of a few notable musicians: bassists Nathan Aweau and

Shawn Pimental, Ryan Hiroaki Tsukamoto on violin, Dan Del Negro on

keys, Wendell Ching on drums and even a duet with Melveen Leed.

—Brittni Paiva 2006