Even at four in the morning, the strip clubs and watering holes
surrounding the Honolulu studio were still hopping. The recording
engineer heard a car pull into the lot, and soon the biggest man he had
ever seen walked in. When he stepped into the studio, the floated floor
shifted beneath the engineer's feet. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole engulfed the
engineer's hand in his and said, "Hi, bruddah."
The product of that impromptu recording session, a delicate medley of
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World," has driven
sales of Facing Future to nearly two million copies. Each time the
medley is licensed to appear in advertisements, in movies, even on
American Idol, Mainlanders embrace it anew as a touch of the
unfamiliar in their otherwise staid record collections. But in Hawai'i,
a state struggling with the responsibility of its native heritage,
Facing Future is much more. Gaining unprecedented access to Israel's
family, friends, and colleagues, Dan Kois tells the remarkable story of
Bruddah Iz and the album that changed his life-and his death.
