Post #521648 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Fri, Apr 2, 2010 4:45 PM

Fun topic. Everyone here makes eloquent points and I find myself agreeing with almost all of it.

I agree with bigbro's assertion that Exotica Music is the most perfect complement to the 1960s Tiki Bar, (even if hapa haole was more often played there), because Tiki Bars (home and public) and Exotica Music are the logical culmination of Exotic atmosphere taken to the nth degree.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, the South Seas bar expanded for all it was worth, (with an afterburner kicked-in sometime in the 1950s). Tapa was added to bamboo. Puffers were added to fish-float lamps, then beachcomber lamps evolved in all shapes and sizes till they filled the cielings. Fake rainstorms, waterfalls, volcanoes, and palm trees were invented for atmosphere. Tiki gods and canoes and native art proliferated until they filled every empty space. Every handrail and post was carved with tribal patterns. The servers' costumes became more and more risque' as they pushed the role of "waitress" towards that of "naked wahine". The tiki bar reached saturation some time in the mid 1960s.

Exotica music evolved from Hawaiian and Movie music similarly until it too was dense and saturated with tropical nuance. There wasn't much more room for either genre to grow "more exotic". Like a dinosaur that becomes an evolutionary dead-end, Exotica music grew perfectly suited to its niche environment. When the cultural climate changed, it died-off fairly quickly because it's not a robust, adaptable form of music. But put it back in a home Tiki Bar or a hidden microclimate like the Mai Kai, and it thrives again.

I see Exotica music as an orchid that's been hybridized by man until it becomes a beautiful freak of nature that can't survive outside of the hothouse. Lots of other musical styles like surf, jazz, rockabilly, etc. fit well in a tiki bar, but Exotica music seems to be the only one that thrives there and wilts when it's uprooted to another environment.

I know that's a general statement and an opinion. Some folks here like listening to Exotica music any time of day, in the office, or in the car, but I think they (and sometimes me) are a minority.

I like aquarj's classifications of tiki music according to it's context.

I am no tiki-music purist and like testing out other musical styles to see which ones also fit in my home tiki bar. I had an epiphany, for instance, when I played a Fats Waller collection of 1920s jazz during a tiki party and discovered how well it enhanced the atmosphere.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-04-02 17:48 ]