‘Hawaii’ at the Bowl Has Appealing Mix of Styles

“Hawaii Goes Hollywood” at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night touched upon some of the reasons for the appeal of Hawaiian music--among them its connections with such familiar forms as bluegrass, mariachi and country. The program ranged widely, with performances by the Honolulu Symphony, slack-key guitar work from George Kuo and Dennis Kamakahi, arias from tenor Keith Ikai’a-Purdy and songs from singer-guitarist Keali’i Reichel.

Some of the better musical moments were provided by the singing and slack-key guitar playing of Kuo and Kamakahi. In a program of traditional and original songs, the duo--with David Kamakahi’s assistance on ukulele--cruised easily through music that was mellow and appealing. Although the slack-key style calls for nontraditional tunings, the music resonated with references to the forms that have interfaced over the years with Hawaiian music.

Perhaps appropriately, however, it was a group of graceful dancers--their movements less tinged with Western influences than was the music--who afforded the most appealing contact with the uniqueness of Hawaiian culture. Uncredited either in the program or from the stage, a group of female dancers, dressed in traditional flowered costumes, brought color and poise to the stage with their sensuous, elegant movements. And an attractive male-female pair, moving in tandem, were particularly appealing, their sensitive interaction filled with slow, subtle gestures of arms and hands.

The Honolulu Symphony, conducted by Samuel Wong, had the sound of a solid musical organization. But the program gave it far too little to do other than provide backing for the various soloists. And that’s a shame, since the ensemble, in its brief run through Glinka’s rhythmically vigorous Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, played with a brisk, attractive personality of its own.

Ikai’a-Purdy’s renderings of “Cielo e mar” from La Gioconda and “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot were done with enthusiastic flair and a wobbly vibrato. He sounded far better in the one Hawaiian number he chose to sing.

Most of the second half of the program was allocated, mystifyingly, to Reichel, a pleasant-voiced but not particularly imaginative singer-songwriter. But he clearly is popular with Hawaiian audiences, and his songs and between-numbers patter generated spirited response from the numerous Islanders in the modest-sized crowd.