Windward Side Songs

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.

Saturday, August 20th, 2022

Among the sweetest things about the life I live are the regular visits to the windward side of O`ahu. The beaches are among the best in the world, the scenery is dramatically beautiful, and we have made many treasured friends there. Besides all that I often find inspiration for a musical adventure on the windward side. I just had such an experience over the last few weeks.

About 10 years ago I composed a slack key instrumental to celebrate the neighborhood where Kailua Road meets Kalaheo Ave on the way to Kailua Beach Park and Lanikai. There’s a triangle park there, a nearby micro-mall with kayak rental, plate lunch, shave ice, and pizza, and the iconic Kalapawai Market, a feature of the neighborhood since 1932. I called the tune Kalapawai Swing and included a car mounted camera in the video shoot. This year I refreshed my memory of the song, set up my current camera and recorder configuration, and had the bonus of a video drone operated by my buddy Jim.

Here’s Kalapawai Swing (Take 2):

One of the most dramatic features of windward O`ahu is the range of mountains called The Ko`olau. These gigantic walls are the remnants of a huge volcano that formed the east side of O`ahu millions of years ago. These walls would encircle the eastern end of the island, but around two million years ago the east side of the wall collapsed and fell into the ocean, leaving the caldera floor for habitation and the remaining mountain range dividing the windward side of Oahu from the leeward.

Driving or walking around Kailua or Kane`ohe, the Ko`olau range is always a looming presence, but it’s hard to catch the magic in a camera because of power lines, trees, tall buildings. When I set out to do a video of a song called Nani Ko`olau Led Kaapana suggested that we set up in the Hawaiian Memorial Garden cemetery in Kane`ohe. He’s familiar with the location because it’s part of his exercise walking routine, and when we arrived there at 6:30 one morning there were already plenty of folks strolling through the rolling terrain.

We persuaded Lynnie to come along and shoot some wide panning shots of the mountains to add color to our music video, and we were well pleased with the result. Here’s Nani Ko`olau:

So there are our windward side songs for 2022 up until now. I hope you enjoyed them.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 20th, 2022 at 8:04 am 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.