It definitely has been, and he hasn’t missed a step.
That’s the opening line of Bruddah Waltah’s latest release, “Walk Away.” One of the innovators of the island reggae sound, commonly known as “jawaiian,” Bruddah Waltah has continued to create and inspire through his gift of song.
He will admit that he doesn’t really care for the term jawaiian. “When they change the name to Jawaii maybe then going have Jawaiians… we not Jawaiians, we Hawaiians!”
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And this Hawaiian has been playing music for almost three decades.
With his latest single, Bruddah Waltah teamed up with producer and musician Ryan Hiraoka. “He messaged me on Facebook and asked if I could write him a song and I said ‘shoots’,” says Hiraoka. The song was written in about a week and the vocals recorded in a matter of hours.
The most challenging part, according to Hiraoka, was “making sure the song was good and relevant enough for Bruddah Waltah to make his radio comeback since he hadn’t released a song in a few years.”
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The song couldn’t be more fitting, a ballad with a sultry bass line. Guitar riffs throughout gracefully answer a calm, cool vocal track. A message of love, simple and pure. The innocent sound that is Bruddah Waltah, wonderfully captured in a manner reminiscent of the early days of island reggae.
“It was recorded in my basement studio in Honoka’a and I feel it solidifies me as a credible producer and song writer in Hawaii music history. Being that Unko Waltah is a living legend, it gives me a place in that story of his musical history,” says Hiraoka.
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