Some Clips from O’ahu

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, July 22nd, 2019

I love playing slack key in Kaleponi but somehow it’s just a little sweeter when we are in Hawai`i. While friends enjoy our home back on the mainland we’re enjoying our stay on the windward side of O’ahu. We try to pack light for these trips but I always have a bag of sound recording gear and cameras (and lenses and batteries and filters and adapters!)

So far this trip we’ve spent time in Kane’ohe, we’ve stayed with a friend’s cats by the beach in Kailua, and we’ve enjoyed the breezes coming across Enchanted Lake (or Ka’elepulu as the Hawaiians called it back in the day). Getting into Honolulu has been a bit of a chore because our usual route over the Pali and through Nu’uanu has been disrupted by a landslide and the lengthy repair effort. We still make the trip, of course, the shopping and restauranting in the Big City are too compelling to ignore.

Over on the windward side we enjoyed a fine breezy day with Led Kaapana just before he left to tour the mainland. Be sure to check his website for his performance schedule because if he plays in your neighborhood you definitely want to be there.

Naturally while Led was hanging out we got out the guitars for a little kanikapila session. And naturally I took a few minutes too set up cameras and audio recorder so we could share some of the fun. We’ve been playing the old Charles King song Kaimana Hila lately and that’s one of the tunes we pulled out.

After Led left I went exploring for a new location to shoot some video. We’ve been enjoying the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden in Kane’ohe and a visit to the Honolulu Parks and Recreation website introduced me to the Liliʻuokalani Botanical Garden located in the heart of Honolulu. This garden is constructed on land donated to the city by Queen Liliʻuokalani and is dedicated to preserving native Hawaiian plants, but it also serves as a charming park for folks in the Nu’uanu neighborhood. Naturally the song I chose for this setting was Lili’u E, a classic dedicated to the queen.

There are still some other botanical gardens along with lots of parks and open spaces we need to explore for our video adventures. Looks like we will have to return to Hawai’i again next year. I think I’ll be easily persuaded.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 22nd, 2019 at 9:52 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.