VSQ Performs the Hits of 2014, Vol. 2

Ain't It Fun

Los Angeles, California serves as home base for the concept group called Vitamin String Quartet. The group is made up of studio musicians who are brought together to interpret and record orchestra style covers of music from all types of genres ranging metal, techno, country, pop, rock and hip-hop dance music. While the quartet uses a wide assortment of artists and instruments, one fairly constant member of the group is violinist Tom Tally. Tally has been intimately involved in the composing, arranging and conduction of many songs on approximately 50 of the albums that have been recorded by the group. While the group is referred to as a string quartet, the reality is that more individuals are usually involved, using instruments such as violins, cellos, percussion, brass and woodwinds. The group was originally brought together in 1999 as an experimental project. They wanted to determine the effects of using classical style instruments to create new and different sounds on popular recordings. Early on, the FM broadcast station WWHK in Concord, NH would play the group's music 24 hours a day, every day, for a period of time. The popularity of the group's music has led to the music being featured on TV and in the movies. Credits include So You Think You Can Dance (2008), TV show The Vampire Diaries (2010), the 100th episode of Gossip Girl and the fifth season finale of Modern Family (2014). Throughout the years, the group has been involved in the recording of over 200 different albums. In 2009, the group stepped out of the box a bit and recorded some original material provided by some of the various musicians on the album Per_Versions.

KeAloha weaves survivor dreams into heartsongs. Their Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Lheidli T'enneh Indigeneity meets Black and Brown music lineages. KeAloha beams Indigi-Soul wonder with radicalizing themes; Keali’i Reichel meets India Arie, Hiatus Kaiyote meets Labrinth. 

At 12, KeAloha’s Mama, ever making somethings-from-nothings, surprised them with drum lessons. Their foundation as a dancer and multi-instrumentalist packs Polynesian, jazz-fusion, and urban Native power. Through melody, spoken word, rap, and chant, KeAloha calls for Re-Matriation. 

In 2018 KeAloha was selected, nationwide, to drum for the Ottawa International Jazz Youth Summit. Speaking and meditating with Herbie Hancock was an anchor in their mapping of creative resistance and spiritual devotion. 

KeAloha brings Ohana medicine to the industry status quo - together, we rise. A disabled Two-Spirit and Māhū person, KeAloha works to resource the most-vulnerable.

KeAloha’s debut single in 2021, “Mama’s Hands”, landed CBC Searchlight’s Top 100, and their third single, “Mahina” rose to #13 on the Indigenous Music Countdown.

Through four years of survival mode and grief alchemy, KeAloha presents their debut album: MY BOOK OF PRAYERS.