Hawaii’s Back yard
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Gabby 'Pops' Pahinui
lives on at sensational
Slack Key Guitar FestivalAs a young boy of 10, Milton Lau remembers visiting his uncle's house in Kahaluu on weekends and listening, enraptured, as friends and family jammed in the back yard. It was the '60s, a decade before the renaissance of the Hawaiian culture, but the local music flowed nonstop in the shade of a big pua kenikeni tree.
To Lau, one guitarist in particular stood out. "He was this charismatic guy who was always there sharing his music," he recalls.
"I was really in awe of him."
In fact, Gabby "Pops" Pahinui made such a big impression on Lau that in 1981, a year after Pahinui's death, Lau began planning a Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival to honor him and fellow slack-key wizards Leland "Atta" Isaacs, Sonny Chillingworth and Leonard Kwan.
STAR-BULLETIN / 1975
The Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival is held in honor of Gabby "Pops" Pahinui. "We didn't think it would go on for 20 years," said festival organizer Milton Lau.
The event was staged in Waimanalo in 1982 and drew more than 2,000 people.
Over the years, the festival has been held in various locations: McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Park, Bishop Museum, Kakaako Waterfront Park, the Royal Hawaiian and now Kapiolani Park.
In addition, Lau produces annual slack-key festivals on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island, which observe their 10th anniversaries this year. He also has taken the event to cities across the continental United States as well as Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Great Britain.
"Wherever we go," says Lau, "we tell people slack key is Hawaii's folk music, the music of its roots."
Held in conjunction with Brunch on the Beach, the Oahu festival celebrates its 20th anniversary today with a marathon 10-hour show featuring appearances by 20 slack-key virtuosos.
COURTESY PHOTO
Cyril Pahinui: Son of famed slack-key artist Gabby Pahinui
Skilled indeed is the musician who masters slack key, a complicated technique that calls for the guitar strings to be loosened from the standard tuning, with bass notes played with the thumb on the lower three or four pitched strings while the other fingers pluck the melody on the upper two or three pitched strings.
Slack key's roots can be traced back to 1832 when, at the request of King Kamehameha III, Spanish vaqueros arrived on the Big Island to help control an overabundance of cattle.
In addition to their expertise in riding and roping, the vaqueros brought their favorite instrument with them: the guitar, which the paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys) quickly adopted. In time the local cowpokes discovered that by loosening the strings -- in short, retuning the guitar -- they could hit just the right key to accompany a particular vocal range.
Thus, slack key was born. The Hawaiians called it ki hoalu, which literally means "loosen the key."
By the 1880s, slack key had spread from the Big Island to the other major islands in the Hawaiian chain. Over the years, local guitarists have boldly experimented with tunings, so that today there are dozens of them, the most popular of which have been given names like Taro Patch, Wahine and Mauna Loa.
Gabby Pahinui is known as the father of modern slack-key music. In the 1970s he formed the Gabby Pahinui Band with his sons Cyril and Bla, Chillingworth and Isaacs.
It was largely through the innovative music of the Gabby Pahinui Band that slack key's popularity soared. Pahinui's signature song, "Hiilawe," which was first recorded in 1947, remains a classic in the annals of Hawaiian music.
Over the years, other talented slack key artists have emerged and made their mark, including Ledward Kaapana, George Kuo, Raymond Kane and Dennis Kamakahi, all of whom will be performing at this year's historic festival.
"We didn't think it would go on for 20 years," Lau admits. "We went along, saying, 'OK, we'll do it this year,' not even thinking about the next year. Then the next year would come, and we kept on going."
First and foremost, Lau emphasizes, "We wanted to do a tribute to Gabby. We also wanted to help preserve and perpetuate an art form that's 170 years old and indigenous to Hawaii.
"In the spirit of Gabby, we decided the concert should be free; he always gave his music away. A lot of people ask, 'Why don't you charge admission? You could make a lot of money.' I say, 'That's not where we're coming from; we're doing it out of love for the music and the man.' From Day One there hasn't been an admission fee, and we're proud of that."
Lau expects 10,000 people to pack Kapiolani Park Bandstand today to listen to slack key's best perform. One of the headliners is 11-year-old Danny Carvalho, a sixth-grader at Assets School who became a student of Ozzie Kotani just two years ago.
"That kid is fantastic!" Lau exults. "Ozzie told me, 'I can't teach him anything more. He knows everything.' That really excites me because in order for slack key to survive, we need to have talented young people like Danny to help carry the torch."
Earlier this year, Lau set up a nonprofit entity, the Ki-Hoalu Foundation Inc., to raise awareness about slack key.
"The foundation will allow us to solicit grants and will be a vehicle for us to offer scholarships to kids who are interested in learning to play slack key," says Lau. "It also will enable us to continue the free festivals statewide and to produce slack-key videos, books, CDs and workshops."
Over the years, the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival has attracted a loyal, enthusiastic following not just from Hawaii, but from all over the mainland. Some people schedule their vacations around one of the festivals every year.
"They really love slack key," says Lau. "It's so melodious and sweet, I've seen people cry when they listen to it. There's a lot of aloha in the music."
When he wants to relax, Lau always puts on slack key. "It takes me back to the time when I was young kid visiting my uncle's house in Kahaluu," he says. "I'm sitting under the pua kenikeni tree in the back yard, and I see Gabby talking and laughing and playing his wonderful music. Slack key brings Gabby back to life."
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
20th Anniversary of the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival: Island sounds
Place: Kapiolani Park Bandstand
Time: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today
Admission: Free
Phone: 239-4336
Web site: www.hawaiianslackkeyguitarfestivals.com
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer
and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
