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Waldo, Beyond the Reef

Beyond The Reef" is a song written by Canadian Jack Pitman in Hawaii in 1948. It was first performed by Hawaiian artist Napua Stevens in 1949. Bing Crosby covered the song a year later in 1950 and Elvis Presley recorded his version of the song on 27 May 1966.
About the video you are about to watch:
Lani Custino, hula dancer from a well-known family of entertainers, was born in Honolulu.she was best known for her poetry-in-motion hula art, as one of Hawaii's leading solo hula dancers.



The following video is a very contemporary musical version of "Beyond the Reef". It's interesting to me how changing the rhythm to a blues rhythm changes the entire feel of the song - giving it a strong sexual implications while doing standard hula dance moves. At first I found it a bit alarming, but then again, being a musician myself, I looked at it from a musical point of view and I've decided it's a good interpretation, albeit, not a direction I would have taken.
The production performance is by the "Polynesian Paradise Dancers"








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