LEI OF EMERALDS SHOW 2008 IMPRESSIONS

LEI OF EMERALDS SHOW 2008 IMPRESSIONS
On Sunday September 14,2008 the first Lei of Emeralds Show took place in the hall of Don Bosco, Rijswijk,
the Netherlands, organised by th Ranti family. Of course René Ranti was the spider in the Hawaiian web,
but his wife Nora was obviously present as hostess and singer and she was also responsible for the
costumes of the band and the Hula dress van Priscilla Scipio, the leader of the dance group Maeva.
Daughter Cézanne handled amongst others the ticket sales and added some vocals. Daughter in law Renee
acted as lady speaker. As former ocean liner chief engineer René knows how to organise, stimulate and
motivate, but what the undersigned and 200 other Hawaiian aficionado’s were treated with was really top
quality. A perfect organisation, professional equipment, various music styles, quick changements, tasteful
Indonesian snacks at reasonable prices, but most of all a extremely pleasant atmosphere. The benefit of this
afternoon will be used for a very sympathetic purpose: to pay for the travel expenses to the Netherlands of
leading Hawaiian musicians like steel guitar player Owana Salazar. A lot of old friends were present, like
Anis Pattiasina, Els and Hans Groskamp, Francien Rumalehwang, Poppy Apontoweil, Henk Smitskamp and
Jan van der Donk.
The Lei was musically opened by the group Everlite For Hawaiians. This group consists of René Rantileader/rhythm guitar/vocals, Jan van Elk-steel guitar, Erick Winterkamp-lead guitar, Remco Houtmanukulelele, Dolf Lindeboom-bass guitar en Nora Ranti-vocals. The gents had high end instruments: René plaid
an acoustic Taylor; Erick handled an electro-acoustic Taylor of René; Jan van Elk had an original aluminium
Rickenbacker ‘frying pan’ steel guitar, a home made wooden steel guitar and a DeVis console steel guitar
with him.
Dolf Lindeboom, in the grey past bass player of the well known Indorock group The Desmounts, plaid a nice
active Fender bass guitar. As a show piece René had an original 8-string Tahitian ukulele with beautiful
wood carving standing next to him.
Also the PA could be shown but most of all heard, a professional Dynacord
installation inclusive monitors. This was skilfully operated by the engineers
Collin Hakkaart. The sound in the front part of the hall was very good but René
Ranti, the perfectionist, told me that wanted to locate loudspeaker boxes in the
rear of the hall too. Because he was only allowed to do the sound check on
Sunday morning to his regret this was not possible.
It’s often said that Hawaiian music is doomed to die, so it’s enjoyable that once again a new Hawaiian group
is formed. Everlite for Hawaiiana became complete on August3, 2008 when Remco joined the band and the
same afternoon started to rehearse with Nora and René in the Belfort Hotel, Gent, Belgium. Jan, Dolf, Nora
and René have rehearsed for more then a year to create an adequate song book and it is surprising how
good the band plaid together. I was pleased to see Jan van Elk on stage after so many years. His playing has
obviously grown and his fills and leads are extremely tasteful.
Many times I have stated in my reviews that Dutch Hawaiian groups should have a more original songbook,
so not the usual mixture of Hawaiian-, Indonesian- and Ambonese songs, but most of the time without
success. So I was pleasantly surprised that this new group also debuted with highly original material. A most
enjoyable development and when the band will further crystallise, they will be serious competition for the
pending Hawaiian circuit. My summery: full marks for Everlite For Hawaiians!
Then Pascal Mesnier from Paris, France accompanied by Lucas Anastaujevitch went on stage. Pascal has
gained international name and fame as resonator guitarist. He uses a metal National Tri Cone guitar from
the thirties, which he plays in a traditional way, so on his lap and with a bottle neck. Lucas accompanies him
on a so called gypsy guitar, a copy of the famous Selmer/Maccaferri guitar from 1935. Their set list
consisted of a pleasant mixture of Polynesian songs and traditionals like Lady Be Good. Because of the
specific sound of the rhythm guitar their performance brought back certain memories of the legendary Hot
Club de France to me.
Also visually the visitors were treated by the elegant dancing of the group Meava. In several configurations
and nice costumes, designed and made by Priscilla Scorpio and her design team, they showed in a perfect
way the meaning of Tahitian and Hawaiian dancing art.
Remco Houtman used to be the ukulele player of the Hawaiian group
Nani Male, which doesn’t exist anymore. Some years ago he moved to
Belgium and he specialised himself even further on the ukulele. His
knowledge of and playing on this instrument has raised to an
astonishing high level; he gives internationals clinics, for instance in
Italy and Sweden and rightly so he now is known as UKELELZAZA.
Remco showed us that apart of the standard ukulele their also exist
tenor ukuleles, banjo ukuleles and plastic ukuleles. Next he gave with
his expensive vintage Koa Martin ukulele a perfect demonstration of
all the things you can do with this instrument. For me Remco is the
Chet Atkins on the ukulele, because he plays in an incredible way
rhythm and lead at the same time. The highlight of Ukulelezaza’s first
performance was 12th Street Rag; starting with a moderate beat,
constantly speeding up and ending in a dazzling beat.
In their second set Everlite For Hawaiians came with a number of nice surprises. The song lyrics where
through a beamer projected on an big screen. The song Tahatian Lullaby was devoted to Bram Pasanea,
who deceased in 2006 an in the song Himene Tatarahapa, sang by Nora and Cézanne Ranti, Jan van Elk and
René Ranti also plaid their ukuleles. This could be a great show stopper.
During the closing number Aloha Oe the 90 year old Poppy showed that she still can dance. Also Pascal
Mesnier & Lucas Anastaujevitch and the dance group Maeva carried out their second set in a skilful way.
According to good Indonesian habit a lottery took place under supervision of daughter in law Renee in
which Poppy Apontoweil won the first price, a DVD player. The afternoon was finished in neat way by
Ukulelezaza with his virtuoso ukulele playing and after that the performing artists were honoured with a
bouquet of flowers.
This literally and figuratively sunny afternoon was terminated at six o clock. I think that I speak on behalf of
everybody that this event was an overwhelming success in all aspects and is certainly liable for a repeat. In
that case there could be created a second Hawaiian platform next to De Regentenkamer and of course
that’s a good thing. René Ranti and his family deserve the utmost praise for the impeccable organisation
and realisation of this event. It all looks so simple but behind and before the curtains an enormous pile of
work has to be done, apart from the financial risks such a project can cause. If you bear in mind that René
Ranti did this for the first time, I only can say: Hats off to René!!
Cees Bakker