When it comes to longtime surf brands that I still sport to this day, one is Local Motion which was founded by surfer and shaper Rob Burns back in 1977.
Rob has achieved a lot of success from the businesses such as Hawaiian Style, Kahala Sportswear, Island Snow and he has built and even working in real estate as the top producer at East Oahu Reality, specializing in Oahu Beachfront and Oceanfront Real Estate.
But he is also an award winning producer who created the band, Hawaiian Style Band.
When Local Motion had Wade Cambern and Bryan Kessler create a commercial jingle titled “E Nana”, many people called into the radio station wanting to hear the song. Seeing the opportunity, Burns got Cambern and Kessler into the studio to record the song “Live a Little” and released the single as the Hawaiian Style band and in 1991, they won a Hoku award for best single (Hoku is Hawaii’s equivalent to a Grammy).
With that success, that evening at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, knowing that they had something special, Burns got Cambern and Kessler together to record a full-length album and added Robi Kahakalau (aka Sistah Robi) and Merri Lake McGarry to join the group. But the band’s concept was to be a revolving band, in fact, for its first three albums, over 50 musicians collaborated with the group.
And for Rob Burns, he used his local connections to bring in musical guests for the first album titled “Vanishing Treasures”. Guests such as Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, the Ka’au Crater Boys, Cyril and Bla Pahinui, Del Beazley.
And sure enough, the group would win the 1993 “Contemporary Album of the Year” Ho-ku award for “Vanishing Treasures”.
The goal of the group was to offer a fresh musical perspective on local culture with original compositions about living Hawaiian style, may it be about island romance, talking story, ohana, sovereignty and an interpretation of Hawaiian language songs to reacquaint music fans with these important compositions.
The group would release “Rhythm of the Ocean” in 1994 (which Robi and McGarry were part of and would win another Hoku Award) and “Ohana” in 1995 and would reunite nearly 20-years later for “Hanau Hou” in 2014.
For those who want to experience the music of the Hawaiian Style Band, I recommend their 1999 album titled “The Best of Hawaiian Style Band”. For the most part, the album contains a lot of the tracks from “Vanishing Treasures” and a few tracks from their second album “Rhythm i the Ocean” (1994) and one track from their 1995 album “‘Ohana”.
You get their rework of the radio jingle “E Nana” which was reworked and retitled to “Live a Little”, awesome duet by Robin and Cambern for “Love & Honesty”, tracks such as “Sovereign Land” and “Let’s Talk Story” featuring guest vocalist Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole, “Rhythm of the Ocean” featuring Fiji, and “Heiau,” the Hoku award winning song which was “Single of the Year” back in 1993 and composed and written by Kessler and many many more tracks that are catchy and enjoyable.
I have to admit that what attracted me to the music of the Hawaiian Style Band was Robi Kahakalau’s voice (she has held the spot of one of Hawaii’s most recognized voices for the past two decades for a reason, her voice is unique and beautiful). It’s so calming and she brings balance to the Hawaiian Style Band, especially bringing the Hawaiian-language songs such as the captivating “Kaimana Hila” which added to the attraction to the music.
But the band is such a collaborative effort, musically, vocally, everything is well-balanced and the music is captivating.
The group which comprises of Bryan, Wade and Robi along with talented musicians continues to play at live performances to this day and those who grew up listening to the Hawaiian Style Band, have more than likely followed the successful solo careers of each of the members.
In 2017, the band celebrated their 25th anniversary. And while some reunions are short-lived, fortunately, those who love HSB’s music, can still be entertained via their music especially performances shared on their website, Facebook and on YouTube.
But for those who are interested in the music of The Hawaiian Style Band, you can’t go wrong with “The Best of the Hawaiian Style Band”. While I do wish it included a few more songs from their second and third album, as the majority of the songs on the best album are from “Vanishing Treasures” (which I can understand, since their debut album had so many awesome songs), the addition of “The First Hawaiian”, “Wahine ‘Ilikea”, “E Holo Kai”, “After the Storm” and “Mauna Loa” from the second and third albums would have made this an ultimate best album (I know, I’m asking too much).
But overall, while “Vanishing Treasures” is the fantastic debut of the Hawaiian Style Band, if you had to choose one, “The Best of the Hawaiian Style Band” is an album that I highly recommend!
