Slack Key Duet – Which One is the Evil Twin? | Slack Key Guitar in Kaleponi

Welcome to Kaleponi Records, my musical home on the web. My name is Fran Guidry, and I play kika ki hoʻalu or Hawaiian slack key guitar.

Kaleponi is the Hawaiian word for California, where I live. Ki hoʻalu, or slack key, has a direct link to California history. The guitar was carried to the Big Island of Hawaiʻi by vaqueros from California. You can read more about the history of slack key guitar on the Dancing Cat Records web site.

Slack key guitar is named for the retuning that characterizes the style. Most of these new tunings feature loosened, or slackened, strings which give a deep rich sound.

My personal slack key history goes back to 1999 and my first visit to Hawaiʻi. When we turned on the TV in our Waikiki hotel room I was captivated by the playing of Keola Beamer. I knew in an instant that I had to learn to play this beautiful music. Over the years I've learned from great players and teachers like Ozzie Kotani, Keola himself, Patrick Landeza, Kevin Brown, Cyril Pahinui, Kawika Kahiapo, Raymond Kane, Dennis Kamakahi, and Ledward Kaapana.

Slack Key Duet – Which One is the Evil Twin?

Thursday, May 29th, 2014

I visit the Acoustic Guitar Forum regularly to keep up on the latest news and gadgets and to enjoy the performances posted there. The forum is full of talented players in a wide variety of styles and has an active section of folks showing their stuff. Lately one of the posters started a thread asking for music from movies and TV shows, so I immediately thought of The Descendants and the slack key tunes they chose. I found a gorgeous self-duet version of `Imi Au Ia `Oe by Keola Beamer and set out to come up with my own arrangement.

I’ve played this lovely old Hawaiian waltz for years, even taught a version at the San Francisco Aloha Festival, so I wanted to add a little something extra to this version. After tossing around various ideas I decided to emulate Keola to some extent and do a self-duet. Mine would not be lovely as his, or as precisely composed, but mine would be live on video!

The backyard of our Kailua beach rental is a perfect place for slack key videos, so I set up some cameras and a couple of beach towels and had a great time playing along with my evil twin. Or am I the evil twin and that other guy is the good guy?

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2014 at 8:27 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.