I missed Idol last night, but in reading the post-show reviews today decided all I really missed was Jason Castro and David Archuleta. I have watched Jason's rendition of the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's hit at least 10 times -- it was that good.
I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Kamakawiwo'ole's medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World." I almost had to stop the car. It was sometime in late 1996, early 1997. I was being divorced by my wife, trying to get a new vocation started, and holding on to a divine thread for stability. I was blown away by the most sonorous voice I had ever heard, accompanied by nothing but an artfully-strummed ukulele. As soon as I got back to my computer I started searching a meager (relatively so, at that time) Internet and found a California deejay who replied to my query and told me about Israel Kamakawiwo'ole -- the young 700-pound Hawaiian who I heard on the radio.
Maybe the emotional time in which I first heard the song is what pegged its place in my psyche, but it has never left. Even at the end of the (pretty lame) Meet Joe Black movie, when the credits started rolling after an emotional ending scene, the tears flowed again when Israel's song began to play. The opening chords on his ukulele are so memorable that hearing them is like lighting a fuse. Everyone who has ever dreamed a distant dream (i.e., everyone) who hears this song is torn between dreams that have died and those that still have a chance.
All that to say, when I discovered today that Jason Castro did Israel's hit song, the rush started again. He did it beautifully (watch the timer for the move he makes around 1:15). The most interesting thing about this performance is the POV shot by the camera from the back of the stage out toward the audience: Not a person was moving. The teenage windmills in the mosh pit had their arms locked by their sides during the entire song instead of doing their normal wheat-waving-in-the-wind routine. You could have heard a pin drop in the theatre through the entire song. Anybody who watches Idol regularly knows this never happens:
Israel Kamakwiwo'ole was a national treasure in Hawaii. Unfortunately, he died early at age 38, perhaps due to his massive girth, in June, 1997, just a year or so after I first heard his song. He was only the third person in Hawaii's history to have lain in state in the rotunda of the state capitol when he died. It's probably a sad irony that what gave Israel's music such life is what probably took his life in the end. His massive reverb chamber, aka his diaphragm, succumbed to respiratory disease, but not before it gave birth to a richness of sound yet to be duplicated or equaled by others.
Here's a tribute video produced after he died with his Somewhere . . . Wonderful Life medley as the soundtrack:
I confess to being a captive of music -- especially the emotional kind; the kind with stories behind them. I don't know if my English maternal grandfather, Lewis Blackburn Draper, who I know only by story and picture, will be in heaven or not. But if he is, I want to meet him and see if his stage and singing career is why I watch Idol and music concert DVDs. I'm not unique in being a music-wannabe -- and though I missed that opportunity in my own life I can still take great pleasure in those coming along who are greatly gifted.
(As long as you're here, you might enjoy David Archuleta's performance from last night as well. To be only 17 years old, this kid is something special. I don't know this song -- apparently it was a hit outside the U.S.):
I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Kamakawiwo'ole's medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World." I almost had to stop the car. It was sometime in late 1996, early 1997. I was being divorced by my wife, trying to get a new vocation started, and holding on to a divine thread for stability. I was blown away by the most sonorous voice I had ever heard, accompanied by nothing but an artfully-strummed ukulele. As soon as I got back to my computer I started searching a meager (relatively so, at that time) Internet and found a California deejay who replied to my query and told me about Israel Kamakawiwo'ole -- the young 700-pound Hawaiian who I heard on the radio.
Maybe the emotional time in which I first heard the song is what pegged its place in my psyche, but it has never left. Even at the end of the (pretty lame) Meet Joe Black movie, when the credits started rolling after an emotional ending scene, the tears flowed again when Israel's song began to play. The opening chords on his ukulele are so memorable that hearing them is like lighting a fuse. Everyone who has ever dreamed a distant dream (i.e., everyone) who hears this song is torn between dreams that have died and those that still have a chance.
All that to say, when I discovered today that Jason Castro did Israel's hit song, the rush started again. He did it beautifully (watch the timer for the move he makes around 1:15). The most interesting thing about this performance is the POV shot by the camera from the back of the stage out toward the audience: Not a person was moving. The teenage windmills in the mosh pit had their arms locked by their sides during the entire song instead of doing their normal wheat-waving-in-the-wind routine. You could have heard a pin drop in the theatre through the entire song. Anybody who watches Idol regularly knows this never happens:
Israel Kamakwiwo'ole was a national treasure in Hawaii. Unfortunately, he died early at age 38, perhaps due to his massive girth, in June, 1997, just a year or so after I first heard his song. He was only the third person in Hawaii's history to have lain in state in the rotunda of the state capitol when he died. It's probably a sad irony that what gave Israel's music such life is what probably took his life in the end. His massive reverb chamber, aka his diaphragm, succumbed to respiratory disease, but not before it gave birth to a richness of sound yet to be duplicated or equaled by others.
Here's a tribute video produced after he died with his Somewhere . . . Wonderful Life medley as the soundtrack:
I confess to being a captive of music -- especially the emotional kind; the kind with stories behind them. I don't know if my English maternal grandfather, Lewis Blackburn Draper, who I know only by story and picture, will be in heaven or not. But if he is, I want to meet him and see if his stage and singing career is why I watch Idol and music concert DVDs. I'm not unique in being a music-wannabe -- and though I missed that opportunity in my own life I can still take great pleasure in those coming along who are greatly gifted.
(As long as you're here, you might enjoy David Archuleta's performance from last night as well. To be only 17 years old, this kid is something special. I don't know this song -- apparently it was a hit outside the U.S.):
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