Stories

Al Nobriga graduated from high school in Kauai in 1960. Following graduation, he moved to Oahu and attended Brigham Young University from 1960 to 1965. He started playing music in 8th grade. Nobriga's entire family is musical, and they'd have kanikapila's (jam sessions) on Kauai often. Nobriga remembers that his uncle had a Gibson Sunburst guitar, and that he was intrigued by it. "I watched him play it and I loved it. He showed me a couple chords. My aunt had an old guitar that was in the closet. put some strings on it and I started messing around, made...

I feel like there are really just too many ways to tell you about this two year anniversary of Soul Time In Hawaii, which was actually more than just an anniversary — it was a week-long celebration of a humble party that's grown to connect the dots across decades and time zones. In 2014, Soul Time represented an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded people on the other side of the globe. That was when myself, Oliver Seguin, and London's Cedric Bardawil put together a one-off party celebrating the unique Hawaiian grooves we'd been digging. The following year, we pushed people's...

For the two year anniversary of Soul Time In Hawaii, we worked with South London artist Gaurab Thakali to produce a small edition of hand finished screen prints which became our event poster. We were drawn to Gaurab's work for his imaginative illustration of the early American jazz scene. He captures this period with a warmth that's missing in today's representation of popular music. You might mistake it for nostalgia. However, he didn't witness any of this first hand. Gaurab's a 25-year-old graduate from Camberwell Collage of Arts with a passion for drawing, skateboarding, and jazz. The work he's created...

In March 2014, Aloha Got Soul hosted a dual-city party in London and Honolulu. We called it Soul Time In Hawaii, and since then we've been hosting it every month in Honolulu, London, and Chicago. You might remember the mix we created for the party: Now it's 2016, and we're celebrating the two year anniversary of Soul Time with a week of special events in Honolulu. Our friends from Chicago and London are flying to town to help host the events. We're also welcoming Amsterdam's Red Light Radio to Hawaii for their first time to broadcast each event live. Here's...

Last November we released (sort of) the long-awaited reissue of Mike Lundy's 1980 Hawaiian holy grail, The Rhythm Of Life. It was accepted with great reviews from critics and listeners worldwide—the title track made it onto Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Winners 2015 list, which broadcast in December. "The crown jewels of Hawaiian funk, from 1980 — with an open, upful ‘island sound’ attuned to the spaced-out, mystical vibe of classic, late-seventies Roy Ayers, Gary Bartz and co." —Honest Jon's, January 2016 The Rhythm Of Life on deck at Hungry Ear in January 2016. While many enjoyed listening to TROL streaming online...