It’s very seldom that a group can lay claim to being the only one of anything out there. This group is the only Exotica group outside of Hawaii. Many in the field have expressed confidence that this is the most legitimate heir to the tradition.
From Wikipedia:

“Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the late 1950s to mid 1960s typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II. The musical colloquialism exotica means tropical ersatz: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania (Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Southeast Asia, and especially Hawaii). While the South Seas forms the core region, exotica reflects the “musical impressions” of every place from standard travel destinations to the mythical “shangri-las” dreamed by armchair safari-ers.”

Comprised of three musical roots, the Hawaiian/Polynesian, Latin, and Jazz, Exotica is music devoted to evoking images and telling stories. Currently, Exotica and Tiki culture are seeing a resurgence, which is enabling WAITIKI to grow as a group and a phenomenon. While comprised of 4 members, each wears many different hats, contributing to a wide variety of sounds and visuals. Yes, the group’s shows are very visual!

Founder and bassist Randy Wong contributes the majority of compositions, vibraphonist/percussionist Brian O’Neill a.k.a. Mr. Ho provides compositions, and directs the band’s alter ego, the Waitiki “Orchestrotica”, which is the only ensemble which performs the music of Juan Garcia Esquivel (popular since the 60’s, known as the father of Space Age Bachelor Pad Music), and Mike Connors, aka Laughing Boy provides the rhythmic base on drum set. In the band, I’m known as “The Mayor Of Exotica”, and blow through a variety of flutes and reeded instruments, and occasionally participates in the percussion department.