For your listening pleasure from The Secret Island today we have Sweet Leilani from Hal Aloma, one of the most versatile and popular Hawaiian artists.
The slightly less exotic sounding Harold David Alama began his career with his brother Sam Alama at the Alexander Young and Moana hotels in Honolulu. He then went to New York with Lani McIntire and played at the Hotel Lexington's Hawaiian Room for nearly four years. He played at New York's Luau 400 for seven years and joined Tommy Dorsey's band for several years. He toured extensively and was the band leader at the Polynesian Village for the grand opening of Disney World. He appears with Tommy Dorsey in the MGM film Ship Ahoy.
Hal was also a composer and sixty five of his songs were recorded, including 'Echoes of the South Pacific,' 'Lokelani,' 'Wiki Wiki Mai,' 'Pretty Maori Girl' and 'When It's Luau Time in Hawaii.' This release features and is titled "Sweet Leilani" a song from the 1937 film, Waikiki Wedding. Which at the time won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and was popularized by Bing Crosby who recorded it in 1935.
Enjoy Hal Aloma
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