“What transpired was that the moment Israel Kamakawiwo’ole opened his mouth and began to sing, a hush fell over the entire place,” Beazley recounted. “Every exceptional vocalist possesses something unique, an almost ethereal quality, a resonance that pierces through the air and captivates everyone in its path.”
“In Hawaii, we refer to this phenomenon as ‘mana,'” Beazley recalled. “Mana is akin to an energy that we draw from the elements first—the Earth, the sky, the ocean, our God, and everything that resides within us. When we speak, sing, or play music, that’s what we release. However, what set him [Israel] apart was that his mana always flowed effortlessly,” he explained.
Following Kamakawiwo’ole’s untimely passing in 1997, his community was left heartbroken. He was a young talent on the cusp of a flourishing music career. After his cremation, his loved ones embarked on a canoe journey. “In earlier times,” Beazley noted, “people would keen and weep when a mo’i or ‘king’ passed away. That’s exactly what occurred. The entire island came together to bid farewell to this singular Hawaiian. But let me tell you, he would have been chuckling,” Beazley concluded.
Jon de Mello, a producer close to the artist, rec
