A Blend of Islands : Jamaica and Hawaii Meet in the Sounds Band Brings to S.D.

Jamaica and Hawaii are worlds apart, but a new brand of music is bridging the gap.

“Jawaiian” is a danceable concoction of Jamaican reggae and Hawaiian influences, with a few outside seasonings tossed in.

In its native Hawaii, where bands like Ho’Aikane draw up to 9,000 fans to outdoor festivals, Jawaiian is all the rage. Now, Californians are responding with similar enthusiasm.

Last weekend, Ho’Aikane, now touring the West Coast, played before thousands at a reggae festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Tonight, they try their luck in San Diego at Ole Madrid, a new 500-plus capacity restaurant and nightclub in the Gaslamp Quarter downtown.

For Ho’Aikane (pronounced ho-ay-KAH-nee), the West Coast tour is just the latest indication of bigger things to come.

The group’s fourth release, “Live,” featuring covers of several well-known reggae tunes plus a pair of originals, came out in California this month and is being distributed through Tower Records.

Recorded live at Fast Eddie’s, the group’s favorite club among more than 20 booming reggae spots on Oahu, “Live” has already sold more than 25,000 copies in the Hawaiian Islands since its release in July.

In support of the album, Niho Mano, the band’s new label, is backing this first mainland tour, with stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles and here. The label also plans to make a video to enhance the group’s profile.

In Honolulu in recent months, Ho’Aikane has landed prestigious dates opening for UB 40, Ziggy Marley, Steel Pulse and Black Uhuru.

Superficially, Ho’Aikane, propelled by a steady reggae backbeat, sounds like a straight-ahead reggae band, especially on the covers-heavy new release. But there are subtle currents at work that tug the music in fresh directions.

Derek (Hoku) Tolentino contributes Hawaiian “slack-key” guitar stylings, using alternative tunings to produce rambling, improvised lines that come across with an “islands” twang. Jamin Wong, the group’s 16-year-old singer and percussionist, brings in rap influences and adds unusual textures on a variety of Hawaiian percussion instruments.

The group’s distinctive sound, combined with the label’s promotional push, could help the group’s career crest like one of those legendary 30-foot swells at Waimea Bay.

But, earlier this week, Ho’Aikane’s five members were just as excited about visiting California as they were about their rising popularity. For some in the band, it was their first visit to California.

“If we go outside, we see things we haven’t seen before, only on TV,” Tolentino said in a phone interview after returning from a morning stroll through San Francisco. Later, there would be a bus ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and past other legendary attractions.

“I knew what was in San Francisco,” added Wong, “but seeing it, lots of homeless people, pollution, the litter all over the streets, young kids coming up asking us for drugs--that stuff is just sad. It hurts to see it in America. In Honolulu, there is some, but not so much.”

Obviously, Wong, who improvises his own raps on stage, has a social conscience. But, although he is deeply concerned with society’s ills and empathizes with the biting racial commentary of rap groups--among his primary role models--he doesn’t view Ho’Aikane’s music as a political platform.

“My message of my music and my rapping is mostly for everyone to unite and have fun and dance,” he said, noting that the band’s name means to make friends. “If I had to write a song about racism, I would, but what I really like to rap about is people having fun, people coming together, people being nice and humble to each other.”

Although the material on “Live” is drawn largely from reggae songwriters including Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley and Jimmy Cliff--who have written their share of politicized songs--Ho’Aikane has chosen mostly music in an upbeat, optimistic mood.

The music is tightly played, possibly because Ho’Aikane is largely a family affair. Wong’s father, Jamieson, plays bass, and Tolentino is the younger Wong’s uncle.

Vocalist-ukulele player Walter Tavares and vocalist-guitarist Nolan Hao founded Ho’Aikane as a purely Hawaiian outfit. But, after three recordings with the earlier lineup, they decided to disband four years ago.

Then they changed their minds and reformed the band, recruiting the Wongs and Tolentino.

Born on Oahu, Tolentino, 32, who sings and is the group’s primary songwriter, in addition to his guitar duties, was raised on traditional Hawaiian music. He got into reggae as a teen-ager.

Tolentino’s first instrument, when he was in sixth grade, was a ukulele, which was only natural, since his mother plays the instrument. At 14, he graduated to guitar, exploring traditional Hawaiian music such as kahiko, the percussive dance music, and contemporary music by Hawaiian artists including Hui Ohana, a group whose guitar/ukulele-backed falsetto vocals were popular in the islands during the 1960s and 1970s.

Wong, who lives in Kailua Kona, on Hawaii, grew into his music career from other roots.

“I used to listen to a lot of different music, not only Hawaiian,” said Wong, who has been rapping since third grade. “Rap and rock and rhythm and blues. I’m from the new school of music, my dad is from the old. I used to listen to the Eagles, the Beatles, reggae, so I had a variety of music floating in my brain.

“Run DMC, they were the ones. I used to copy their lyrics, I was never afraid to perform in front of people. I used to enter lip-sync talent shows and rap and dance.”

Wong has only been playing drums for about a year and has only felt comfortable singing on stage in recent months, despite his veteran rapper status.

He practices a rapid-fire dance-hall rap style known as “ragamuffin.” The pace, broken-off words and use of casual slang are parallel to American black rap. But the sound of Wong’s raps is gentler, the rhythms of the music more tropical, the vocals more integrated with the dense texture of the music, as opposed to standing out.

Wong is looking forward to the group’s next recording.

“We never came across a good (recording) deal to use our original music before,” Wong said. “I’m gonna bust out my new stuff.”

Meanwhile, the young singer is adjusting quickly to his rising stardom, including a lot of attention from female fans.

“I’m kind of used to it,” he said. “I don’t make myself like I’m bigheaded. I talk story with most of them,” he added, explaining that “talking story” is slang for just talking about regular things.

Meanwhile, the members of Ho’Aikane, most of whom are avid surfers, perked up momentarily when told San Diego has great surf.

“Everyone surfs in Hawaii,” Wong said. “It eases the mind.”

“I didn’t bring a board,” Tolentino lamented.

* Ho’Aikane’s show at Ole Madrid, 755 5th Ave. in San Diego, starts around 9:30. The group will play two sets. The cover charge is $8.