The Happy Little “Ka`a”

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.

Thursday, September 15th, 2022

When we decided to finally replace our 2004 Honda CR-V (with its “LV4HULA” personalized plate) we discovered that we had used up most of its trade-in or resale value. And we learned that shipping the car to O`ahu would not break the bank. In fact compared to what we were spending on rental cars it might just be a bargain. Even better, we could use it as a storage locker for clothes and gear that we wanted to keep in Hawai`i. And that’s how “Hula Girl” (as Ledward called her) made it to her new home.

I’ve had the idea to do a video featuring “Hula Girl” for a number of years but I kept procrastinating, until 2022 and the new addition to the video production team – lovely Lynnie had started shooting background shots for some of our clips and her work was adding a lot. With just a bit of persuasion she came on board to add her skills to the mix. Ledward’s backyard has become one of our favorite locations, especially since he upgraded the plantings. So here’s the result, an instrumental duet take on Holoholo Ka`a to celebrate our happy little ka`a:

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2022 at 9:48 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.