Post #490591 by tiki mick on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 10:29 AM

I can only speak for myself, I like pretty much ALL "cocktail" lounge music, and in my opinion, exotica is a subgenre of lounge. Basically, anything from the 50's, early 60's is great in my book.

Some things that fit great in a tiki bar (but are not exotica)would be George Shearing quintet, Cal Tjader, Jackie Gleason, Percy Faith, Sergio Mendes, and of course Antonio Carlos Jobim...

On this forum, the bias is "possibly" against hapa haole music, (which I consider to be the main music I would like to hear in a tiki bar). But there are many people who refuse to listen to it. I state that it is possibly not that well liked on this forum for several reasons, but mainly because few people talk about it beyond the collection of album cover art from classic hawaiian albums.

For Hapa haole, I would suggest the Hukilau hulas CD. It's a compilation of the Tavares brother's bands, is recorded in beatiful stereo, with expert musicians involved. Take a song like "keep your eyes on the hands" (from the same CD) and see if it does not fit in a tiki bar! it's a jazzy take on Hawaiian music!

There are several modern exotica influenced bands I adore, that are always a great fit for any tiki bar.
Tikiyaki Orchestra
Martini Kings
Stolen Idols
Waitiki
Don Tiki.

My theory, which guides all of my tastes, is that Tiki in general is just a facet of lounge culture. It only appears on this forum to be something that stands alone. From everything I have ever researched or read about, tiki bars were just one more cool place to hang out, and that people living in those days could be found at a tiki bar one night, a cuban club the next, or a cantonese chinese restaurant on another night.