Amy Hanaiali'i: Amy Hanaiali'i "Aloha No Kalakaua"

I created a magazine with a title I admit is a bit cliché, Divas of the World, where I post every Tuesday about the female singers I love, pouring out all the affection I have for them. Today is the 8th installment, featuring Amy Hanaiali'i from Hawaii.

It was relatively recently, perhaps about five years ago—I've forgotten the exact trigger—that I purchased her 2001 album "Pu'uhounua" as an MP3 from Amazon. You might not be very familiar with Hawaiian music (*1), but I really want you to give it a listen.

In the autumn five years ago, I was leading technical reviews for the high-level design of two new development projects in parallel, and it was a bit tough. The two projects had different clients, different product domains, and completely separate stakeholders both inside and outside the company. The technical points, the risks involved, and the issues I faced were all completely different. Furthermore, one of them required me to coordinate a scope far beyond my area of expertise and specialty.

Coordination with development centers in Japan, China, Europe, and the US, along with customer support alongside the Japanese sales department, continued from morning until late at night, sometimes even until the early hours of the morning. Moreover, the crucial technical reviews were also struggling, leaving me constantly aware of my own inadequacies.

By the weekend, my head would be spinning, and I would feel a dull, tingling numbness in the core of my brain. Even when I listened to music to cheer myself up, I would hear high-pitched tones that shouldn't have been there—perhaps due to distortion from non-linear effects (what's known as Intermodulation Distortion (*2))—and I thought, 'This might be a bit serious.'

On one such Sunday morning in October 2016, when the weather was quite nice, I slumped back into my chair and happened to play this album.

From the moment the intro of the first track, "Aloha No Kalakaua," began to flow from the speakers, I felt as if the various worries and fatigue that had accumulated in my brain like sediment were being slowly washed away. I just sat there and listened.

The feeling of my brain being washed clean. Do you understand?

The first track, "Aloha No Kalakaua," also has a version on the 2012 album "My Father's Granddaughter." This one is sung with only piano accompaniment, and you can fully enjoy her beautiful singing voice here as well.

"Remembering Napua," released that same year in 2016, is also good. It has stronger Hawaiian elements.

Her 2019 album is also enjoyable, with some jazz elements.

The official video for this album is also up on YouTube. The bright and beautiful visuals are also delightful. It's enchanting.

Come to think of it, she also released an album named after the white wine grape "Chardonnay," and she seems to produce a California Napa Valley wine called Hanaiali'i Wine that bears her own name. I haven't tried it yet and haven't looked into it properly, but it seems there are Merlot and Chardonnay varieties. At about 4,500 yen a bottle, it looks like a pretty nice wine.

Since I couldn't find the official page, I'll link to her Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/hanaialiiwine/

Anyway, after being healed by Amy Hanaiali'i in the autumn of 2016, I went on to overcome the difficult situation through sheer force of will, and somehow managed to pull the two development programs together and get them launched.

Amy Hanaiali'i is a diva who is precious to me, someone I want to shout to the world that I "love" with all the special sentiment that entails.

■ Note

(*1) Recently, the ukulele seems to be popular, Sandy of Sandy & The Sunsets has released a Hawaiian album, the movie "Hula Girls" took the world by storm, and Jake Shimabukuro, the Japanese-American virtuoso ukulele player who handled the soundtrack, is famous. Furthermore, Amy Hanaiali'i has even performed in Japan. Perhaps everyone is already familiar with Hawaiian music.

I will eventually feature Jake Shimabukuro in the magazine "Heavy Rotation" which I update every Thursday. I don't know when that will be, though...

(*2) Intermodulation Distortion

When sine waves of different frequencies (let's call them f1 and f2) are combined, frequency components not present in the original signals—such as f2-f1, f1+f2, or 2 x f2 - f1 (generalized as m x f2 + n x f1; where m and n are integers)—are generated depending on the degree of nonlinearity in the system.

In general, active components such as synthesis circuits and amplifiers are nonlinear to a corresponding degree. As the input level increases, the gain drops. Of course, this varies depending on operating conditions such as the operating point, even for the same amplifier, and also changes based on the device's materials and manufacturing process.

If it were perfectly linear, intermodulation distortion would not occur, but even passive components have nonlinearity, albeit at a very low level, due to junctions of dissimilar metals (such as solder and component lead plating) or tiny metal debris. Since these can sometimes be a concern, they are specifically called PIM (Passive Intermodulation).

...For those who can say 'I see' after an explanation of this level, you are already an expert and do not need an explanation. For those who don't understand, it must remain completely incomprehensible... That is fine. I just wanted to create a slightly sophisticated atmosphere, please forgive me.

■ Related Magazines

1. Introducing musicians I like and listen to often. Updated every Thursday. Mostly guitarists, occasionally oldies.

2. Specializing in female singers I love, which I think is a rather cliché name, is 'Divas of the World.' This is filled only with articles expressing my love for them; I write a new article once a week, every Tuesday. Mostly oldies.

3. In both cases, my hearing isn't very good, my knowledge is limited, and my vocabulary is poor, so basically, the articles are just YouTube and Spotify links pasted with me saying 'I like them' or 'I love them,' and that is how they will continue to be.

The only thing that is certain is that I am having fun writing them myself; that much should come across.