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The Long-Awaited WAITIKI 7 AlbumAvailable 8/18/09
Read on below or visit http://waitiki7.com/ for info on Adventures in Paradise! Release Date: August 18, 2009 (coincides and commemorates with the 50th Anniversary of Hawai..i's Statehood)
From the Press Release
If, while listening to The WAITIKI 7’s debut album Adventures in Paradise, you find yourself daydreaming of sipping a cocktail from a tiki mug while lolling about idyllically on a Hawaiian beach as birds sing merrily in the trees not too far away, then you get it. Adventures in Paradise, to be released August 18th on Pass Out Records, is a contemporary reimagining of the classic exotica sound introduced on the islands exactly 50 years ago— the year of Hawaiian statehood—by Martin Denny, a transplanted mainland pianist who tapped into the tropical zeitgeist, stirred together several disparate elements, and created a whole new sound in the process.
“Exotica,” explains Randy Wong, the 28-year-old bassist, music director and co-founder of The WAITIKI 7, “floats in the zone between soundscapes and an early world music hybrid. Denny took popular WWII-era Hawaiian Island songs (themselves already set to jazz harmonies, and incorporating folk songs from the Far East) and a Latin feel and then added birdcalls. He took large orchestrations intended for full symphonic orchestra and pared them down to make them feasible in the combo context. But exotica just sort of stopped developing in the ’60s.”
Which is where The WAITIKI 7 comes in. Although they bow at the altar of Martin Denny and other exotica pioneers such as Les Baxter and Juan Garcia Esquivel, The WAITIKI 7—whose name cleverly fuses that of the famous Honolulu beach with the faux-Polynesian gods ubiquitous in island culture—is a band for today. The WAITIKI 7 retains the essence of Denny-era exotica and reconstitutes it for contemporary audiences raised on a multitude of clashing musical genres and pop culture images.
The WAITIKI 7 emerged from a smaller band (now known as WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL LLC) formed several years ago by Wong and Abe Lagrimas Jr., who plays drums, percussion, vibraphone and ‘ukulele. That group evolved into The WAITIKI 7, whose other members are pianist Zaccai Curtis, woodwinds player Tim Mayer, violinist Helen Liu (who is Wong’s wife), vibraphonist Jim Benoit, and Lopaka Colon, who doubles as percussionist and bird caller—and whose father, Augie Colon, served the same function in Martin Denny’s group. While Wong, Lagrimas and Colon are the only members actually from Hawai‘i originally—the others hail from Boston and the Bronx—all seven musicians share a love of the exotica sound and the associated tiki pop culture, which encompasses everything from art and design to painstakingly crafted tropical cocktails and cuisine (the booklet accompanying the Adventures in Paradise CD even includes drink recipes from renowned mixologists Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and John Gertsen, and an appetizer recipe from former Cook’s Illustrated editor Sandra Wu). Trombonist and arranger Mike Dease makes a guest appearance as well.
About WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL LLC
Our Mission
WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL is a Boston-based collective that promotes the revitalization of mid-century ‘tiki’ pop culture and the preservation/resurgence of exotica music, and is the parent organization behind The WAITIKI 7 (waitiki7.com).
Through its support for live exotica music, master mixologists of tiki cocktails, tiki artwork, and other tiki collectibles, WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL is helping to define 21st century tiki.
Institutional History
Started on a whim in 2003 by Randy Wong and Abe Lagrimas Jr., WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL’s focus has always been on live exotica music, and its initial musical incarnations have garnered praise and critical acclaim throughout the world. In 2005, the quartet headlined the Hawai’i International Jazz Festival, performing a musical farewell to the late Martin Denny, father of the Exotica genre. Later that same year, the group made its debut at The Hukilau Festival in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where they performed at the legendary Mai-Kai Restaurant and alongside Robert Drasnin (composer/bandleader of the hit album Voodoo!). In 2006, the group became known in Mexico when its side project, the 20-piece WAITIKI “Orchestrotica” performed original big band arrangements inspired by Juan Garcia Esquivel at Mexico City’s Festival de Mexico, an annual international event that celebrates Mexican culture and the arts.
Two groups organized by WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL have won Hawaii Music Awards. The original WAITIKI quartet won Hawaii Music Awards for its albums, “Charred Mammal Flesh: Exotic Music for BBQ”, and “Rendezvous in Okonkuluku” (respectively). The group’s first win (in 2007) was a dual honor, in that the category (Exotica Album of the Year) was created for WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL, in recognition of its efforts for bringing exotic tiki music back to popularity. WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL’s CEO and Music Director Randy Wong also received a nomination in the 2007 Ontario Independent Music Awards (Canada) for “Best USA Song” for his exotica composition “Cave of Uldo”.
In addition to its exotic music, WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL is also known for its original drink menu; a collection of ‘mid-century-esque’ Polynesian cocktails crafted especially for the band by some of the world’s best known mixologists: including the Okonkulukooler by Jeff “Beach Bum” Berry, the Maharaja’s Revenge by Brother Cleve (of Combustible Edison), and the Wai Niu by Kern Mattei (GM of the Mai Kai restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, FL).
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