Walter Aipolani
{{Short description|American singer (1955–2023)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Walter Aipolani
| alias = Bruddah Waltah
The Father of Hawaiian Reggae
| genre = Reggae, Hawaiian, Jawaiian
| origin = Hilo, Hawaii Territory, U.S.
| birth_date = {{birth date text|1955}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and given age|2023|08|17|68}}
| death_place =
| years_active = 1979–2023
| instrument = Guitar
| past_member_of = Island Afternoon
| website = {{URL|https://bruddahwaltah.com//}}
}}
Walter Aipolani (1955 – August 17, 2023), known as Bruddah Waltah, was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist of Hawaiian music.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-02 |title=How reggae came to Hawai‘i |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/how-reggae-came-to-hawaii |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=University of California |language=en}} He was born in Keaukaha near Hilo, and moved to Oahu as a child with his family. In the 1980s, he began playing gigs in Waikiki. He was called the Father of Hawaiian Reggae as he and bands he played with, such as Island Afternoon, popularized Hawaiian-style reggae music in the 1980s and 1990s.{{Cite web |last=Gleason |first=Lea |date=2014-01-02 |title=Bruddah Waltah: The Father of Hawaiian Reggae |url=https://keolamagazine.com/music/bruddah-waltah/ |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=Ke Ola Magazine |language=en-US}}
Career
Aipolani's first performances, in 1980, were with his brothers, in their band Aku Palu (which means “Bloody Fish Guts”). {{Cite web |title=Who Is Bruddah Waltah Wife Denise Leionaona Aipolani? Kids And Family · |url=https://mokiyiyegh.s3.uk.io.cloud.ovh.net/who-is-bruddah-waltah-who-is-bruddah-waltah.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=mokiyiyegh.s3.uk.io.cloud.ovh.net}} Their manager was shot just as they were preparing to release their first recording, and the band broke up, to play for a time with their uncle's Hawaiian music group, Na Mele Kani.{{Cite web |last=Gleason |first=Lea |date=2014-01-02 |title=Bruddah Waltah: The Father of Hawaiian Reggae |url=https://keolamagazine.com/music/bruddah-waltah/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Ke Ola Magazine |language=en-US}} Their sister, a dancer and musician who was performing in New Zealand, had sent the brothers a cassette tape of Bob Marley's music.{{Cite web |last=Burnett |first=John |date=July 24, 2022 |title=Celebrating a legend: Palace presents star-studded benefit for Bruddah Waltah |url=https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2022/07/24/entertainment/celebrating-a-legend-palace-presents-star-studded-benefit-for-bruddah-waltah/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=none |date=2023-08-19 |title=‘Bruddah Waltah’ Aipolani dies at 68; ‘Father of Hawaiian Reggae’ suffered from liver cancer |url=https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2023/08/19/hawaii-news/bruddah-waltah-aipolani-dies-at-68-father-of-hawaiian-reggae-suffered-from-liver-cancer/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=West Hawaii Today |language=en-US}} Later, as the brothers learned more about Rasta culture and music, they started a series of free concerts in Honolulu in 1983, called Tumbleland Jams.{{Cite journal |last=Kale |first=Sunaina Keonaona |date=2021-01-01 |title=“Music is Here to Stay”: Hawaiian, Local, and Global in Reggae in Hawai‘i. Dissertation. |url=https://www.academia.edu/86345515/_Music_is_Here_to_Stay_Hawaiian_Local_and_Global_in_Reggae_in_Hawai_i_Dissertation}}
One of Aipolani's best-known works, "Sweet Lady of Waiāhole," described local fruit vendor Fujiko Shimabukuro.{{Cite web |date=2012-05-08 |title=Sweet Lady of Waiāhole|url=https://fluxhawaii.com/sweet-lady-of-waiahole/ |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=FLUX |language=en-US}} Another song, “Keep Hawaiian Lands” was inspired by Bob Marley's “Waiting in Vain”.{{Cite news |last=Chun |first=Gary C.W. |date=Aug 8, 1990 |title=The time has come for Bruddah Waltah and band |pages=50 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser}} In his covers of reggae classics such as No Woman No Cry, Waltah changed many of the lyrics to fit the particularities of Hawaiian culture and politics:
By relocating Marley's smash hit to Hawai‘i, Aipolani's lyrics reverberate strongly with Native Hawaiians; by using Marley's song and identity, Aipolani links the conditions of poverty and oppression experienced by Native Hawaiians to those experienced by Jamaicans . . . its relationship with ‘‘Keep Hawaiian Lands’’ turns it into a patriotic song demonstrating love for the land, an anthem of protest against development, colonial dispossession, and Western encroachment. The chorus, ‘‘Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘a ̄ina i ka pono (the life of the Land is perpetuated in righteousness)’’ is often recognized as the government motto for the state of Hawai‘i.{{Cite book |last=ho'omanawanui |first=ku‘ualoha |title=Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds: The African Diaspora in Indian Country |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2006 |editor-last=Holland |editor-first=Sharon Patricia |location=United Kingdom |pages=293–294 |chapter=From Ocean to O-shen: Reggae, Rap, and Hip Hop in Hawai‘i |editor-last2=Miles |editor-first2=Tiya}}
Aipolani's first recorded album, Hawaiian Reggae was a top hit in Hawaii in the early 1990s, selling nearly 100,000 cassette tapes as the Hawaiian reggae, or Jawaiian craze took off.{{Cite news |last=Burlingame |first=Burl |date=May 1, 1991 |title=Jammin to Jawaiian: Jawaiian Music |pages=E-1 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin}} Aipolani and several other Hawaiian reggae musicians disliked the term “Jawaiian”, preferring to describe their music as Hawaiian. The term Jawaiian sparked controversy, with some musicians and critics feeling it was disrespectful to both Hawaiian and Jamaican cultures.{{Cite news |date=Oct 31, 1991 |title=Popular tag jams Hawaii reggae: Musicians balk at the ‘Jawaiian’ label |pages=C-1, C3 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin}}
Aipolani was influenced by Bob Marley, Elton John, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Bee Gees, and The Beatles, He has played with Ryan Hiraoka, Keaka Kawaauhau, HHB, Dirty Roots, Mana‘o Company, Sons of Yeshua, and Ho‘aikane. He has also toured extensively, opening for Steel Pulse, Gregory Isaacs, Inner Circle, UB40, and other top 40 musicians. His brothers, and a sister, were also musicians, as is his nephew, Ruban Nielson of the group Unknown Mortal Orchestra.{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Stanley |date=24 Feb 2017 |title=Known Quantity: Unknown Mortal Orchestra, making its isle debut, has family ties to Hawaiian music |pages=T-8 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/298024173/?terms=%22bruddah%20waltah%22&match=1 |access-date=Jan 21, 2023}}
Aipolani lived in Hilo and played regularly at venues in the Hawaiian Islands and the U.S. mainland.{{Cite web |first=Steve |last=Roby |date=2022-08-05 |title=Stars come out for Bruddah Waltah tribute: Father of Hawaiian Reggae honored with 3-hour concert |url=https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2022/08/05/entertainment/stars-come-out-for-bruddah-waltah-tribute-father-of-hawaiian-reggae-honored-with-3-hour-concert/ |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=West Hawaii Today |language=en-US}}
Death
Aipolani died on August 17, 2023, at the age of 68.{{cite web|url= https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/19/bruddah-waltah-man-who-made-sweet-lady-waiahole-famous-dies-68/|title=Bruddah Waltah, man who made ‘Sweet Lady of Waiahole’ famous, dies at 68|first=Dillon|last=Ancheta|website=hawaiinewsnow.com|date=August 18, 2023|accessdate=August 18, 2023}}
Awards
- Na Hoku Hanohano Award for best contemporary album
Discography
- Hawaiian Reggae 1991
- Take My Lovin’, 1994, Platinum Pacific Records
- Ka Hoʻina, 1997, JussahNuddahBruddah Records (Walter Aipolani & Joed Miller)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{discogs artist|Walter Aipolani}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aipolani, Walter}}
Category:American male singers
Category:American male singer-songwriters
Category:American male guitarists
Category:Guitarists from Hawaii
Category:Native Hawaiian musicians
Category:Musicians from Hawaii