By
Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
Slack Key Snags Third Hawaiian Grammy
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Producers George Kahumoku Jr., left, Paul Konwiser (behind
George), Wayne Wong and Daniel Ho, (not pictured), accept the
Grammy for best Hawaiian music album in Los Angeles at the
49th Annual Grammy Awards.
Photo by MARK J. TERRILL | Associated Press |
Grammy proved sweet on slack key for a third consecutive year
yesterday as the multi-artist instrumental and vocal compilation "Legends
of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar — Live from Maui" took
home the award for best Hawaiian music album.
Golden gramophones were awarded to the disc's producers Daniel Ho,
George Kahumoku Jr., Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong.
The wins were the second in the category for Ho, Konwiser and Wong,
who won last year's best Hawaiian music album Grammy for the live,
multi-artist instrumental and vocal compilation "Masters of Hawaiian
Slack Key Guitar, Vol. 1." It was a first for Maui ki ho'alu master
and music educator Kahumoku.
The win for producers Ho, Konwiser and Wong gave the trio bragging
rights to two consecutive Grammys in the three-year-old category.
The Grammy was awarded at an afternoon ceremony at the Los Angeles
Convention Center, followed by a prime-time telecast at the
neighboring Staples Center.
Joining the winning producers on stage were musicians Ledward
Ka'apana, Richard Ho'opi'i and Peter deAquino and
Garrett Probst of Da Ukulele Boys, all of whom contributed
live tracks to the winning album.
Before accepting the award, the entire group paused at the
microphone to sing the chorus of "Hawai'i Aloha" a capella for the
audience.
Everyone on stage acknowledged the win, thanking each other, their
families and musicians on the album who couldn't attend.
AN EXCITING WIN
"It's equally as exciting!" Ho said backstage after learning
of this second Grammy win. "We jumped around. I hugged everyone
in sight. I hugged people I don't know. ... But I think the coolest
thing was just singing 'Hawai'i Aloha' together. Uncle George (Kahumoku
Jr.) said, 'Let's sing a chorus together!' So we did."
At the podium, Kahumoku spoke of the importance of funding music and
arts education in the public school curriculum, and the audience
responded with a standing ovation.
"I said that a lot of our kids are getting left behind when it
comes to the arts," said Kahumoku, who teaches at Lahainaluna
High School.
"The No Child Left Behind federal government act is not
supporting the arts. It's not supporting music. And I'm worried
about it. I've been an educator for 35 years. And the arts are
always what suffers when things are tough. ... Something is really
warped with our education system when we don't concentrate on music
and the arts."
Tracks on the "Legends" compilation (and last year's winning
"Masters" disc) were culled from live performances at Kahumoku's
weekly Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar concerts at the
Ritz-Carlton Kapalua.
Besides Ho, Kahumoku, Ho'opi'i, Ka'apana, deAquino and Probst, other
musicians on the winning album include Cyril Pahinui,
Martin Pahinui, Dennis Kamakahi, Bobby Ingano and
Ozzie Kotani.
Kahumoku's son, Keoki, can now claim the honor of contributing a
track to all three winning albums in the category.
SLACK KEY DOMINATES
Slack-key compilations have now taken the best Hawaiian music album
prize for three years running.
The category's first Grammy went to the instrumental, multi-artist
compilation "Slack Key Guitar, Vol. 2" in 2005.
Three of the five discs nominated this year were ki ho'alu based.
The exceptions were vocal-driven albums by Amy Hanaiali'i and Henry
Kapono.
Despite the Grammy-winning pedigree of its production team,
"Legends" (like each winner in the category before it) received
precious little buzz in mainstream Hawaiian music circles. But the
best Hawaiian music album category is part of Grammy's folk music
field, and its primarily Mainland-based voters are probably more
familiar with the music of nationwide-touring ki ho'alu players than
Hawaiian-language vocals or chants.
Kahumoku credited the genre's overwhelming Grammy success to new-age
musician George Winston's high-profile, long-running series of
slack-key CD releases on his Dancing Cat label.
"None of this would've happened without that," Kahumoku said.
"(Winston) published more than 30 artists from Uncle Sonny
Chillingworth to Uncle Ray Kane. He made slack key a household name
throughout the world. Dancing Cat was distributed by (recording and
publishing giant) BMG, which put us in 55 countries throughout the
world."
Kahumoku supports the addition of more Grammy categories,
recognizing the variety of Hawaiian music available. But he said
that was likely only if more Hawai'i-based music industry people
join the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences as voting
members and decision makers.
The number of Hawai'i-based Grammy voters has hovered at just over a
hundred for the past three years. The number of eligible voting
members in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has
been estimated at more than 17,000.
The win for "Legends" is sure to revive past years' rancor about
slack key taking home the best Hawaiian music album prize; some
observers argue that a disc with Hawaiian language vocals is most
deserving.
But Kahumoku said ki ho'alu musicians are just as worthy of Grammy
recognition.
"People get pissed off and ask why slack key is winning (every
year). Well, guess what? ... We're just getting respect for
something we've done for most of our lives," Kahumoku said.
"I've been playing slack key since I was 8 years old. That's
almost 50 years. It's not like we were born overnight and started
doing slack key yesterday."
"My great-great-grandfather played slack key in the 1830s, my
great-grandfather did slack key in the 1870s. My grandmother played
slack key. It's been in our family. And it's the same with Ledward
and other (players)," he said.
Kahumoku even instructed his "Legends" producing partner Ho, who
gave his teacher the Grammy Ho received for last year's win.
"I wouldn't be playing Hawaiian music if it weren't for Uncle
George," Ho said. "This is (a recording of) his show. He
works hard at it. He brings all the guys to Maui and plays with
them. For him to be recognized for his years of being a slack-key
guitarist is meaningful."
Asked how it felt to have a Grammy all his own this year, Kahumoku
laughed. "Maybe I'll give Daniel (Ho) his Grammy back now."
© COPYRIGHT 2007 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of
Gannett Co. Inc.
Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Concert Series
at The Napili Kai Beach Resort, Napili on Maui:
Weekly shows every Wednesday evening.
Showtime at 7:30pm
Tollfree Reservations: (888) 669-3858,
or info on the web at:
http://www.slackkey.com
Seating is limited so reservations are highly recommended. Tickets are
priced at $45 before taxes.
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