Not your usual steel drum Christmas album, but spiced up with accordion, steel guitar, ukulele, etc., and a great variety of styles.
Winner, Best Seasonal CD, Hawaii Music Awards, 2003.
Please read all the great information about this CD, but if you just are looking to contact us directly, here's that info first:
Greg and Junko MacDonald
Ph. 808-735-6003 (that's our home in Hawaii)
email: gmacd@aloha.net
(Scroll down to find out more biographical information, credits, and resume, but first, more about this wonderful CD.)
A Real Steel Christmas is an instrumental collection of holiday favorites. (If you purchased it last year it had a different cover and title, the cover shown here is the new one. Everything else is the same as before.) Half of the songs are traditional (like Silver Bells, Holy Night) and are done in a very soft and sweet, acapella style. The other half are "Santa" type tunes (like Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman) and are done in a variety of festive, tropical styles like, cha cha, mambo, reggae.
To make this album unique and unusual, our backup band includes accordion, ukulele, steel guitar and acoustic grand piano. This combination makes it a departure from any Christmas music you have heard before. In December 2002, Neiman Marcus used this CD as a give away to entice customers to sign up for their charge card. Good for them, better for you. It's also a great gift for someone who likes music, and perhaps who collects holiday recordings.
For custom audio or MP3 CD's, contact Greg, gmacd@aloha.net, and you can choose/pay for just the songs you want from our five CD's.
To see and hear all recordings by us, scroll down to "Try This," located on the lower left of your screen, then look for "GALLERIES this is in Greg MacDonald," and click on it.
Bio: We are an instrumental duo. I play parallel lead pans (higher register) and Junko plays double seconds (lower register). My introduction to pan was at the University of California, Berkeley. Having been a professional trap set drummer, I took a class at Berkeley in 1985, and fell in love with steel drums. For that year I performed with the Berkeley Steel Orchestra, then moved to Hawaii. Junko and I met at a Christmas party in 1994. She liked the sound of the instrument and began coming to band rehearsals, later learning a few tunes and sitting in with us. Her musical background is classical piano, so she had a well trained ear and picked up pan quickly. By 1996 we had formed a duo, and a couple years later got married. She is from Tokyo and is the world's first professional female Japanese pan player. Our cultural and musical differences help to define our sound. We are dedicated to this instrument, which is another story, too long for here.
Credits: We have provided pre concert entertainment for Harry Belafonte, Jimmy Buffet, Julio Iglesias and Kenny Loggins (all while they were in Hawaii.) Our corporate clients include: Sony, ATT, Coke Cola, Dr.Pepper/7up, Coors, Intel, Taco Bell, Motorola, Cisco Systems, and dozens more. Our Latin album, Pan-a-Cabana, was featured in July 2002 on the largest Hispanic TV network in the world, Univision, broadcasting from Miami. In June 1999, we appeared on Home Shopping Network and set a new sales record (to that date).
Booking: If you are planning an event, we specialize in background music for weddings, dinners, cocktails, grand openings, registrations, etc. If you want a full calypso band, we can provide that also. Phone/fax (808) 735-6003, e-mail gmacd@aloha.net, or write to Greg and Junko MacDonald at PO Box 161083, Honolulu, HI 96816. Please email us to get on our mailing list. If you are planning your event through an agent, destination service, or other such provider, we would be happy to work with them to simplify your efforts.
Coming to Hawaii? Please catch one of our free performances in the heart of Waikiki, at International Market Place, Food Court Stage, Sun and Tue, 7-9pm, under the Banyan Tree! Sometimes visitors get lost in the Market Place, if so, the Food Court Stage is in the back left if you enter from Kalakaua. Or, just ask a vendor. See ya there!
You can purchase this CD now, at this site, by charge card, or toll free by phone if you prefer at 1-800-Buy-My-CD. Or, you can mail order from Greg and Junko directly.
Reminder: to see and hear all recordings by us, look to the left margin of this page, find "Try This," then look for "GALLERIES this is in Greg MacDonald," and click on it.
This site was updated: 1/11/06
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