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Allen Won
Noel Okimoto: Ho'ihi
by Jack Bowers
Honolulu-born Noel Okimoto has been playing drums professionally since he was eleven years old. He has learned over the years to supervise the drum kit with equanimity and deference, a standard that Okimoto's octet endorses when approaching the music on his second album as a leader, Ho'ihi (ho-ee-hee), a Hawaiian phrase that translates roughly into “treat with reverence and respect." While Okimoto is a proud son of the Islands, those who are searching for Hawaiian-inspired themes will ...
Continue ReadingAllen Won: The Jewel in the Lotus
by Stephen Latessa
A slight headache came on as I started to read the liner notes to The Jewel In The Lotus by Allen Won. In the notes, Won explains that the music is “based on the Tibetan chakra system in which there are set points of 'whirling' energy always in motion within the body. He goes on to point out that the scale used in the composition of the songs contains seven tones that each represent a specific chakra. Not being a ...
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