Israel’s classic medley “Bruddah Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole from “Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World” was added to the National Record Record today.
The Library of Congress, which oversees registration, called the medley “melancholy and joyful at the same time” and praised Kamakawiwo’ole’s vision of “contemporary Hawaiian music that fused reggae, jazz and traditional Hawaiian sound”.
Congress librarian Carla Hayden made the announcement this morning on social media.
The recording, with Kamakawiwo’ole’s smooth ukulele strumming and falsetto smoothing, appeared on his 1993 album, “Facing Future”, released by Mountain Apple Co., remains one of the company’s most beloved releases, said the founder Mountain Apple’s Jon de Mello, who tracks the popularity of recording through social media.
“I probably get 18 to 20 alerts on blogs, elsewhere, all week,” he said. “Just before Christmas, your YouTube video had a billion views.”
De Mello finds the comments of the fans especially moving. “They say ‘Whenever I hear it, I cry’ or ‘My father passed away and we used it’, ‘My daughter was born last month and we used it and it’s her theme song,'” he said.
The medley appeared in several television and film productions, such as the TV shows “Charmed” and “ER” and the film “50 First Dates”. De Mello said that someone from Sony Music, who licenses the commercial use of “Over the Rainbow”, once told him that music is requested almost 500 times a week, and the vast majority is for the Kamakawiwo’ole version.
The production of the recording itself is legendary. Although it was released in 1993, the recording was made a few years earlier, when Kamakawiwo’ole called Audio Resource Honolulu – then Hawaii’s best-equipped recording studio – one morning and asked to record something. Producer Milan Bertosa was already leaving, but he stayed.
“(Kamakawiwo’ole) went to a studio and sat down and took a shot – ‘Over the Rainbow’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful World’ and left about 20 minutes later,” said de Mello. “It was a moment in time and it was a perfect time for Israel.”
A digital recording made at the time was in a drawer for three years before Bertosa brought it to de Mello and said: “You should hear this, this is very good”, de Mello recalled. Kamakawiwo’ole was actually reluctant to put it on “Facing Future”, as it had been recorded many years before, but it was added to the album almost as an afterthought, appearing as the 14th of the 15 tracks on the album.
“It was perfect, because people discovered other pieces of music and, in the end, got a song in English that was just brilliant,” said de Mello. “It was not a success right away. It took about eight or nine months to become popular. “
De Mello said he was first notified of the recording’s consideration for the National Recordings Registry about six months ago, but was asked to remain silent on the matter.
In a statement released by Mountain Apple, Kamakawiwo’ole’s widow, Marlene, called the compliments “a blessing to my ‘Ohana (family) and we are very happy to share her magic with the world”.
The Library of Congress adds 25 recordings to the National Recordings Record each year, considering them “audio treasures worthy of preservation based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s sound heritage”.
This year’s list includes recordings by pop artists Jackson Browne, Janet Jackson and Patti LaBelle, reggae artist Jimmy Cliff, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, opera singers Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman, Muppet Kermit the Frog and Thomas Edison, the inventor of recording technology.