The 1979 Debut from Hawaii’s first family of funk. Considering all that’s transpired since launching the Aloha Got Soul label, it’s clear that the releases so far have a strong connection to one another not just in sound but in the people related to the records.
Aura’s 1979 eponymous LP is no exception. The band, which consists of eight siblings from the Mendoza family of Waipahu, recorded their album during the same time as Mike Lundy’s The Rhythm Of Life — at the same studio (Broad Recording Studio), with the same producer (Gary Shimabukuro), the same drummer (Mike Kennedy), and the same engineer (Rick Smith) to boot! (In fact, Rick recently told me that, if memory serves him correctly, it was the Mendoza family that tipped Gary off to the talented individual who is Mike Lundy. Thank God they did!)
