random bits

kitsune_jade posted an FST for the Hikago AU fanfic Moon I had translated a long time ago. Not only is it amazingly appropriate, the music is wonderful. I'm very much addicted! Haunting, dreamlike and melancholy...You don't have to read the fic to appreciate this FST.

I had begun writing a post about the Hikago AU doujinshi I got in the mail last night and devoured, but I realized a couple of paragraphs down that what I really wanted to do was summarize the whole damn thing in detail, and this is a pretty complex almost 300 page story! So I decided to hold off on that for...some other time. :P Suffice it to say, it was very AU but very good. I love excellent use of flashbacks.

I also found out I won that auction I was agonizing over previously...I had made my max bid pretty high, and unfortunately the ending bid ended up very close to that max. I guess I'm out a bit of money. *sighs* But I can't really regret it because it's really hard to collect 15 doujinshi, and I'm just plain addicted. At least I get more TezuRyo to read when I get them. doujinshi are EVIL!

Guitar music rabu

I recently got a bunch of Hawaiian music CDs, mostly of instrumental guitar music. Hawaiian music known for slack key guitar, which is a tuning that was brought by Mexican cowboys in the 19th century but was developed and became very much a part of the music here. The sound is very distinctive, and in many ways so much more familiar than, say, the sound of the steel guitar or the ukulele.

From Jeff Peterson's Slack Key Jazz album:

Take Five
The very famous jazz piece, done in solo slack key guitar.

Wahine Hololio
This is labeled a “traditional” piece, but it kind of reminds me of classical Spanish guitar music.

From the album Koi Au by Makana:

Ku’u Lei’ Awapuhi
This is a very, very famous song, with very lovely guitar and harmonies. I'm a sucker for the singer's type of voice as well. Lyrics and translation are available here.

I got the following two from a limited-distribution compilation, but the tracks are from released albums:

Allure of the Islands by Daniel Ho (from Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Collection)
An extremely lazy Sunday afternoon, lying around in the shade of a mango tree listening to the leaves rustle in the tradewinds…It reminds me of my childhood.

Na Po’o Ka La by Makana (from Ki Ho'alu: Journey of Hawaiian Slack Key)
This makes me think of the things I’ve never done and will probably never do, like horseback riding or windsurfing or…flying around in a helicoptor to see the cliffs and valleys you can't get to by land. Okay, I could do the last one if I shell out the money...