Ann Hoku Lyn releases a new song, video
Hawaii trumpeter Ann Hoku Lyn has released “Syzygy (Free Your Mind),” an intergalactic journey, with hints of soul, jazz, and a laid-back island feel. The song is about stripping away cultural and societal expectations and aligning with unity, truth and creative power.
The song starts out mellow, and then takes an unexpected turn in the bridge: a killer sax solo is played by Reggie Griffin (producer of “The Message” and writer for Babyface and The Isley Brothers,) followed by a trumpet solo by Hoku Lyn. This is followed by a quiet, stripped-back third verse, returning the listener to the depths of our own minds and souls.
The song is produced by Truth Musiq, recorded at his studio in Kailua-Kona and is available on all digital music platforms.
The video at https://youtu.be/nDwbaXHxSos is chock full of 4k images of the cosmos and is as stunning visually as the song is musically.
“The creation of this video was definitely a family affair,” says Hoku Lyn. Husband Truth Musiq filmed, edited, and cameos in the video; step-daughter Kea Rose created the animation; and son Israel co-stars as a musical toddler who dreams of and achieves traveling through the stars.
Syzygy (Free Your Mind) is the follow up to Ann Hoku Lyn’s song and video release, “Mama Don’t (Take No Mess),” an exuberant female empowerment funk song.
Hoku Lyn is a musician, composer and recording artist of Argentinian descent who was born in Panama and raised in the Marshall Islands. Her unique upbringing infuses her compositions with a musical style that is both urban and tropical, with inflections of Latin, funk and Neo-soul.
Currently living on the Big Island of Hawaii, Hoku Lyn is a performing artist and music educator. She and her husband co-founded the Big Island Music Academy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young people through music education and performance.
For more information, visit www.annhokulyn.com.
New book ‘Bones of Hilo’ released
From Hawaii’s Big Island to Washington’s North Cascades, a novice detective uncovers ancient secrets at the heart of a grisly murder in the recently released book, “Bones of Hilo.”
A young, inexperienced detective from the wet, working-class side of Big Island, Kawika Wong faces an uphill battle to gain the respect of his more seasoned colleagues. And he has the chance of a lifetime when Ralph Fortunato, the mainland developer of an unpopular resort on the island’s tourist side, is found murdered on a luxury golf course, an ancient Hawaiian spear driven through his heart.
With the other detectives desperately trying to solve another string of grisly killings, Capt. Terry Tanaka has no choice but to send Wong to investigate. As Wong joins forces with his father and girlfriend to help read the signs and make sense of the ritualistic murder scene, they uncover a cache of secrets reaching far back to the Island’s ancient past. And the journalist who found the body has her own theories about Fortunato’s demise — but do they line up with the evidence?
On a perilous journey that stretches from the Big Island to Washington and back, Wong finds danger at every turn. But he still has much to learn about Hawaii, and about the rugged terrain of the North Cascades. And he’d better learn it fast, because his instincts may not be enough to catch a killer who’s closing in even faster.
Eric Redman is a Seattle-based writer, lawyer, and climate activist who for decades has loved the Big Island, its history, and its people. He is a former contributing editor of Rolling Stone and has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and many other publications. He wrote the nonfiction best-seller, “The Dance of Legislation.” This is his first work of detective fiction.