Slack key music has come a
By John Berger
long way from its secret past.
Keola Beamer is among those
taking Hawaii's music far
beyond these shores.
Special to the Star-Bulletin
KEOLA Beamer has never forgotten the first time he heard someone play slack key. It was the most beautiful music he had ever heard, but the man stopped playing and turned away as soon as he noticed the boy watching him.
This kind of secrecy has given way to openness in recent years. Beamer spends about a third of the year recording or traveling with his music to audiences across the mainland and beyond. He's just returned home from a month-long West Coast tour.
"I try to keep a purity of heart regarding the traditions, but on the other hand, I firmly believe you have to hold the things you love with an open hand. They have to move with the flow of time. (Hawaiians) came close to losing this beautiful art form because we embraced it too tightly.
"Like other types of folk music around the world, there's a constant debate as to what is traditional and what it's not. The two camps have very different thinking, and my thinking has always been that this is a wonderful, beautiful art form with lots of room for expansion and lots of room for creation."
A musician and recording artist since the mid-'70s, and a Maui resident for years, Beamer visits Oahu this weekend for a 3 p.m. Saturday performance at Borders Waikele, and a Mother's Day performance 2 p.m. Sunday at Borders Ward Centre. The event commemorates the release of "Kolonahe," his fourth album for George Winston's Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters series. "Kolonahe" debuted last week at No. 13 on the Billboard World Music Chart.
"I really believe in the phrase that it's not the destination, it's the journey, and these (songs) are a picture of my progress in my journey," Beamer says of the new disc.
"My last two records were seriously instrumental. There were no vocals at all. I totally got into the instrumental world which I really love, so after being in that depth of water I had a need to go somewhere else. I think the material (here) has a wider expanse."
Winston's personal record label, Dancing Cat, traditionally releases slack-key albums in pairs. Beamer's new album hit record stores in tandem with "Endlessly," the label's second album of unreleased recordings by the late Sonny Chillingworth.
"Sonny's record is a sweet record. That man was a shining light in the world of the Hawaiian slack-key guitar," Beamer says.
"When the end was near he was very focused on this work. This music and his family were probably the most meaningful things in his life. For a lot of years before that, the Hawaiian slack-key guitarists (like Sonny) were pretty much taken for granted, but George Winston reminded people how beautiful the music was, and that gave Sonny such a lift toward the end."
Chillingworth died in 1994, after being honored by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts Hoku Awards ceremony for his contributions to Hawaiian music.
Beamer is a multiple Hoku winner himself. He received several in 1979 for "Honolulu City Lights," including Best Composer, Best Song, Best Single, and Best Contemporary Hawaiian Album.
Beamer's third Dancing Cat album "Mauna Kea: White Mountain Journal," was named Instrumental Album of the Year in 1998.
Moffatt rereleased the original "Honolulu City Lights" album on CD last summer. Beamer included a new solo arrangement of the song on "Kolonahe."
"That song has been a really wonderful influence in my life. It's been the door to a lot of wonderful things and I felt that I had to give back to it somehow. I love the original recording a great deal and will always love it; I wanted to put my hand on it again. I just wanted to be with it again.
"Those years go by and human beings change, so strangely enough I think it means even more to me now. Back in those days going to the mainland to work on a record or something was a really special thing that didn't happen often. Now, I have to travel maybe 100 times as much, and when I come back from Europe those things really sink in."
Keola live
Keola Beamer introduces 'Kolonahe'
He is showcased as guitarist and vocalist, plays bamboo nose flute here and 'uli'uli there, and welcomes Winston for several duets. Variations in instrument tunings and musical textures make these recordings interesting to listen to over several sessions.
The choice of material is diverse. The most immediately notable selection is Beamer's "Honolulu City Lights remake." The original is a contemporary island classic. His solo arrangement strips the song to its origins -- he wrote it while looking down on the city 20-plus years ago -- while setting it in a different tuning. It takes nothing away from the original version to say that this version, too, will become a classic.
Dancing Cat continues to set a high standard for annotation. The wealth of information contained in the 10-page booklet makes this album a perfect introduction to Beamer's music and the traditions of slack key
The emphasis is on the styles of music Chillingworth heard in his youth. Producer Winston includes a single pop chart standard that displays Chillingworth's talent as a song stylist.
The informative 10-page liner notes booklet adds details about the songs, the traditions and techniques of slack key, and Chillingworth's place in the slack-key pantheon. It adds the final pieces that make this a perfect introduction to Chillingworth and slack key.
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