Date: January 17th 2010

Aloha, Friends of Live Exotica Music

Happy New Year! We have earned two nominations for this year's Hawaii Music Awards and kindly ask that you vote for us in the categories EXOTICA and ISLAND CONTEMPORARY. You can vote multiple times if you have multiple email addresses. One vote per email address per day. Voting ends Jan. 31.

VOTE AT: hawaiimusicawards.com/voting

Exotica Album of the Year Nominee: Adventures in Paradise

The Waitiki 7's recording debut, Adventures in Paradise skyrocketed to national attention and acclaim last Fall, when it peaked at #2 on the JazzWeek World Top-50 and at #12 on the CMJ Jazz Top-40. Hailed for its "virtuosic musicianship" (Mother Jones, Sept. 2009), the album has been frequently played on NPR's Morning Edition. In addition to The Waitiki 7 (Tim Mayer, Helen Liu, Zaccai Curtis, Jim Benoit, Abe Lagrimas Jr., Lopaka Colon, and Randy Wong), Mike Dease and Greg Pare both lend their talents to the album as special guests.

Island Contemporary Album of the Year Nominee: Magic Island Sounds: the wedding album

Magic Island Sounds began as a personal side project for Randy Wong, President/Founder of WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL, and Helen Liu, violinist of The Waitiki 7. Though they originally intended to use it only as wedding favors, the album's charming collection of contemporary Hawaiian songs made it the perfect musical backdrop to complement their island wedding ceremony. Word soon spread amongst guests and friends about the magic of the music, and due to high demand, WAITIKI commercially released "Magic Island Sounds." Vocalist Charles Morgan makes his recording debut on the title track ("The Magic Islands").

Please consider also...

Abe Lagrimas Jr., drummer for The Waitiki 7, has a nomination in the Ukulele category for his uke/vibes duo album, Ukulele Vibes. And fellow exotica group Don Tiki has a nomination in Adult Contemporary for their new album, South of the Boudoir. We ask that you please show your kokua for our friends and consider casting votes for them too!

Thanks for supporting live exotica music!

WAITIKI.com   •   waitiki7.com