“Pau Hana Slack Key” from Ferndale, CA

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.

Monday, February 15th, 2016

Led Kaapana and I were invited to perform at the Old Steeple, a new venue in the charming Victorian town of Ferndale, CA. The trip up Highway 101 took us through the restaurant wonderland of Healdsburg where we had a delightful lunch break. As we continued north the scenery just got more and more dramatic, and when we turned off to head to Ferndale we could see from the coastal mist that the Pacific was not far away.

Ferndale, CA is a delightful community of dairy farms and restored Victorian buildings surrounded by magnificent redwoods and just a few miles from the Pacific coast. Although we didn’t have time to take in the surrounding area, we enjoyed walking Main street and visiting the shops along the way.

We stayed at the Victorian Inn where we enjoyed the beautifully maintained architecture and decor along with excellent meals and friendly staff. We took advantage of our second floor lounge to set up cameras and play some music. Here’s Pau Hana Slack Key, an instrumental composed by Led’s father, George Kaapana.

We had so much fun in Ferndale that we’re already talking about another visit, this time just to take in the scenery.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2016 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.