Inna Vision - Faith And Deeds (Reggae Lives)

Koa Lopes aka Inna Vision: “We’ve always been about telling stories, both from Hawaii and the wider world. Faith And Deeds is a reflection of that. The positive, uplifting messages that have defined our music are as important as ever. This album is about staying true to our roots while continuing to innovate and push boundaries.”

In ‘Island Kid’ we hear: “The islands raise me, on the beach, on the water you’ll find me. You think that we crazy, no place else in the world we want to be. We be trodding from OGG (Maui’s Kahului Airport, red.) to dem concrete streets. It’s just a quick island hop to make dem move their feet!”, and for ‘Providing The Roots’, Koa Lopes collaborated with local Hawaiian artists Keith Batlin and Pio Beaul. The latter, in fact a Hawaiian language teacher, only released his debut album last year - the Inna Vision-produced and entirely Hawaiian-sung ‘Noke Mau’ (“keep persevering”). Translated from Hawaiian, Poi sings in ‘Providing The Roots’:

I am a child of the soil
A child of the land
Here is H?loa (mythical figure and ancestor of all Hawaiians, red.)
I am the younger brother
Turn your hands downwards
Farm the kalo (Hawaiian name for taro, red.)
Tie the malo (a loincloth worn by Hawaiian men, ed.), that’s my style
From the sea to the mountain tops
We in abundance
Come, come and eat, here’s the invitation
The family lives by the base of the kalo

With ‘Lahaina Lives On’, Inna Vision also delivers a heartfelt tribute to Lahaina, a coastal town in western Maui that was largely destroyed by a series of catastrophic wildfires in 2023, claiming 97 lives:

So much devastation
That’s been burning up my homeland, yeah
They took our water to grow their crops
Left us dried up to pay the cost
When the storm came and power down
Spark the west side, Lahaina town
Will live on, will live on
Maui stay strong, Maui stay strong

Over the past few years, Inna Vision toured Latin America, New Zealand and Europe, and besides local Hawaiian talent like Bengali Arkangel, Curtis ‘Mr. 83’ Helm, Lion Fyah and the aforementioned Poi Beaul and Keith Batlin, ‘Faith And Deeds’ also features European voices like Mellow Mood, Tippa Irie and Gappy Ranks.

Together with the Italian twins from Mellow Mood, Koa recorded ‘Faith And Deeds’, the irresistibly catchy title track built on a revamp of the classic Tonight riddim (originally by Keith & Tex, but more in line here with Cocoa Tea’s ‘Eighteen And Over’). A bit lighter in tone, yet just as infectious, is ‘IDGAF’ with Gappy Ranks, the title an acronym for “I don’t give a f**k”. Tippa Irie appears on ‘Road Warriors’, the only track on the album that also has a dub version. The song itself is an ode to touring artists who keep spreading their message, and even name-checks European festivals like Summerjam, Rototom and Reggaeland. ‘Run With Me’ follows a similar thematic path.

Other highlights from the track list include ‘Royal Vibes’, a duet with Lion Fyah over a rework of the Heavenless riddim, and ‘Forward’, which sounds like a Sly & Robbie production from their Black Uhuru days, also featuring Bengali Arkangel.

With ‘Faith And Deeds’, Inna Vision once again delivers a thoroughly enjoyable album, and until further notice, Koa Lopes remains our favourite Hawaiian!