Led and Fran in NorCal

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.

Friday, August 9th, 2019

Led Kaapana is covering some ground on the mainland and part of that will include some dates around the Northern California area. I will be joining him for those shows. You can keep up with Led’s schedule at his website, ledkaapana.com and you can see Led and I playing duets in various locations in this YouTube playlist.

Those YouTube duets have been a lot of fun over the years and inspired Led and I to try a duet recording session. I’m thrilled to say that we have completed a CD, Kaleponi & Kalapana, which we will be offering for sale at these upcoming shows. I’m sorry to say that the CD is not available for on-line sale or streaming yet due to some paperwork issues, but hopefully we will soon get things straightened out and be able to make the music more widely available.

In the meantime we will have CDs for sale at these upcoming shows:

August 17 – Patrick Landeza’s House of Hawaiian Music
Oddfellows Lodge, 20598 Homestead Rd., Cupertino, CA
Showtime 7 PM

August 23 – Patrick Landeza’s House of Hawaiian Music
The Cue, 1835 Colfax Street, Concord, CA
Showtime 7 PM

August 30 – The Melon Ball
Watermelon Music, 1970 Lake Blvd Ste 1, Davis, CA
Doors open 7:30 PM, Showtime 8 PM

September 3 – Michael’s on Main
2591 Main St, Soquel, CA
Showtime 7:30 PM

We hope to see you at one of these venues, thanks for supporting live Hawaiian music!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 9th, 2019 at 1:01 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.