This is a wonderful album from Robi Kahakalau. You get a combination of all things Robi, may it be singing Hawaiian or Tahitian songs, performing English covers and also reggae covers, but a great way for the world to discover her beautiful, enchanting vocals.
Purchase Robi Kahakalau’s “All I Want” on Amazon
ARTIST: Robi Kahakalau
ALBUM: All I Want
DURATION: 13 Songs (47 Minutes)
YEAR OF RELEASE: 2010
Robi Kahakalau a.k.a. Sista Robi is known for her beautiful vocals and her Hawaiian reggae music.
Known for her work as the lead vocalist of The Hawaiian Band and a winner of numerous Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. And with Robi knowing several languages, she has sung songs in English, Hawaiian, Tahitian, etc.
In 2010, Robi released her second original solo studio album “All I Want” which features a good number of covers of popular music.
The song on the album is “Do It Twice”, a reggae cover of Bob Marley & The Wailers 1971 song “Do It Twice”. A beautiful reggae cover of the classic.
The second song on the album is “All I Want Is You” and a great summer song of wanting that special person with you, while chilling at the beach.
The third song is “Ku`u Wainohia” (My Gift of Affection), I love the melody and the acoustic guitar and ukulele for this song.
The fourth track is a cover of Roy Orbison and Joe Melson’s (and popularized by Linda Rondstat in 1977 and a French version in 1978 by Mireille Mathieu) “Blue Bayou”. The song features Robi singing in English and then for the second verse, singing in French and then back to English. A beautiful cover.
“Tamari’i Hokule’a” is the fifth track and a Tahitian song. I love Robi’s vocals and bass in this song. “Tamari’i” means child and “Hokule’a” means “Star of Gladness” but it’s also the name of a famous Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe.
Launched on March 8, 1975, the canoe made a voyage in 1976 from Hawaii to Tahiti using traditional navigation techniques. The goal was to explore the anthropological theory of the Asiatic original of native Oceanic people (Polynesians and Hawaiians).
“Ku`u Mau Lei Onaona” (My Scented Flowers), the seventh track on the album, is a Hawaiian track by Sista Robi.
The seventh track is a cover of Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nick’s 1975 song “Landslide”. A beautiful acoustic guitar performance, wonderfully sung and one of the primary reasons what made me want to purchase this album.
The eighth track is a cover of Tracy Chapman’s popular 1999 song “Give Me One Reason”. Wonderfully sung and performed.
More Hawaiian tracks featured on the album are the ninth track “No Ke Kula O Waihou” (From the Uplands of Waihou) and “Ke Ali`i O Na Lani” (The King of the Heavens). Both are beautiful Hawaiian songs.
The eleventh track on the album is a reggae cover of Stevie Wonder’s 1995 song “Tomorrow Robins Will Sing” and the 12th track on the album is a cover of The Eagle’s 1975 hit song “Take It to the Limit”.
The final track is an all music, no vocal of the classic “Happy Haole Hula Girl”, an instrumental that is written by Sonny Cunha and was performed as far back as 1916 by Louise & Ferreira. Because I am reviewing the digital version, I am not sure which instrument Robi is playing, but as far as the song goes, the song was a big hit at the time with music from Hawaii as it was called a “Hawaiian guitar duet”. And giving people who owned a phonograph way back then, an opportunity to hear Hawaiian music.
But this song has a feeling it was created during the days of vaudeville and it’s a pretty cool song to end “All I Want”.
But overall, this is a wonderful album from Robi Kahakalau. You get a combination of all things Robi, may it be singing Hawaiian or Tahitian songs, performing English covers and also reggae covers, but a great way for the world to discover her beautiful, enchanting vocals.
Robi Kahakalau ‘s”All I Want” is recommended!
