Somewhere Over the Rainbow....
Somewhere Over the Rainbow seems to be where this man's voice came from. Its amazingly tender and powerful at the same time. The man I refer to is the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. A gentle giant in with a velvet voice whose music is so popular in his native Hawaii that he's been called the "Bob Marley" of Hawaii.
Most people (myself included) stumble upon his music while watching movies or TV. Personally, I was flipping channels one day quite some time ago and happend upon what happened to be the closing scenes of "Meet Joe Black". To tell the truth I stopped flipping because Claire Forlani caught my eye. Then something else completely different happened. As the closing credits aired Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's medley of Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World came on. I found the song to be chillingly melodic and immeasurably warm. It stayed with me from that day on...to be honest I completly forgot what the song was and couldn't remember what I had just heard. Its effect was remembered and had that kind of power on me. The next time I heard the words "What a Wonderful World", it jogged my memory and I began my search for the song. Thanks to the internet, I found out exactly who did the song but more suprisingly that other people had similar experiences to mine. People had heard the song in "Finding Forrestor", or an episode of "ER" or like me had discovered it in "Meet Joe Black" and NEEDED to find out more about it and of course to hear it again out loud - instead of just in hearts. In some respects I guess that is a high compliment to be paid to a song...to use it in a medium like movies or tv, because if someone picks a song for a scene its as if they are saying the song can say just as much as the actors and the writing...that in and of itsef speaks volumes about how emotionlly evocative it can be. Its no suprise to me that my soundtracks to movies and tv shows dominate my CD player and ipod play lists these days (there will surely be more posts on those).
Anyway, I digress...go listen to the free samples on Amazon's site for a taste of what the music is like.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000JFG3/103-2276322-8711057?v=glance&n=5174
For me, I know I will be purchasing the CD soon enough as I've had the chance at hearing other tracks off the "Facing Future" Album. The Medley I spoke of is also available on the Finding Forrestor and Meet Joe Black Soundtracks, but now that I've discovered "Iz", I want more.
Most people (myself included) stumble upon his music while watching movies or TV. Personally, I was flipping channels one day quite some time ago and happend upon what happened to be the closing scenes of "Meet Joe Black". To tell the truth I stopped flipping because Claire Forlani caught my eye. Then something else completely different happened. As the closing credits aired Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's medley of Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World came on. I found the song to be chillingly melodic and immeasurably warm. It stayed with me from that day on...to be honest I completly forgot what the song was and couldn't remember what I had just heard. Its effect was remembered and had that kind of power on me. The next time I heard the words "What a Wonderful World", it jogged my memory and I began my search for the song. Thanks to the internet, I found out exactly who did the song but more suprisingly that other people had similar experiences to mine. People had heard the song in "Finding Forrestor", or an episode of "ER" or like me had discovered it in "Meet Joe Black" and NEEDED to find out more about it and of course to hear it again out loud - instead of just in hearts. In some respects I guess that is a high compliment to be paid to a song...to use it in a medium like movies or tv, because if someone picks a song for a scene its as if they are saying the song can say just as much as the actors and the writing...that in and of itsef speaks volumes about how emotionlly evocative it can be. Its no suprise to me that my soundtracks to movies and tv shows dominate my CD player and ipod play lists these days (there will surely be more posts on those).
Anyway, I digress...go listen to the free samples on Amazon's site for a taste of what the music is like.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000JFG3/103-2276322-8711057?v=glance&n=5174
For me, I know I will be purchasing the CD soon enough as I've had the chance at hearing other tracks off the "Facing Future" Album. The Medley I spoke of is also available on the Finding Forrestor and Meet Joe Black Soundtracks, but now that I've discovered "Iz", I want more.
posted by Derwin at 9:14 PM
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