Life lessons You'll have to forgive Brother Noland if he still has basketball on his mind.
in music
Brother Noland's
career comes full circleMusicians offer
slack-key lessonsBy Gary C. W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.comHis fourth annual goodwill basketball tournament just wrapped up this past weekend, and the down-home Brother tirelessly oversaw a week's worth of youth basketball games all day, every day, at the Weinberg Gymnasium at Palama Settlement.
Now he's got to change his mind-set to become what made his original reputation, namely a musician. Or, for this week, a ki ho'alu player, to be exact.
A veteran of the local Hawaiian music scene for more than two decades, Noland Conjugacion has spent more time of late dispensing his knowledge of slack-key guitar and ukulele to his students at his old neighborhood's settlement over performing. But he'll be back again this Sunday at the slack-key guitar festival, relocated to the Kapiolani Park Bandstand.
Taking a brief break from the tournament last Saturday afternoon, Conjugacion said that doing his set at the festival should be relatively easy, as he'll be playing with his longtime accompanists, Jack Ofoai and Kimo Bell. But it's teaching young, impressionable minds that keeps Conjugacion enthusiastic about the future, whether the kids pick up a basketball, a uke or a guitar.
with Ozzie Kotani, Dennis Kamakahi, George Kuo, Makana, Maunalua with Bobby Moderow, Donald Kauli'a, Brother Noland, David Kahiapo, Willie K, Raymond Kane, Albert Kaai, Jeff Petersen and the Native Hawaiian Band 19TH ANNUAL HAWAIIAN
SLACK KEY GUITAR FESTIVAL
Where: Kapiolani Park Bandstand
When: 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday
Call: 239-4336
Part of his basketball tournament's mission statement to develop good character, inspire exercise of the mind and body, execute decision-making as an individual and instill fellowship and interplay between different districts and communities in Hawaii can be applied to his music teachings as well.
"I brought my ukulele class into the gym during the tournament," Conjugacion said, "and I told them that learning to play the ukulele with a steady rhythm is like the rhythm of dribbling a basketball or the rhythm of a team playing together. And like playing basketball, the more you practice, the more proficient you can be in music as well.
"I basically teach the kids about life through music. My performance at the festival will be like the old-style slack key, and when I teach slack-key guitar to the kids, I know it seems intricate at first, but I break it down into simple steps. Like I divide the neck of the guitar into different zones -- first you gotta conquer the Waikiki 'zone' before you graduate to Sandy's, and then finally you get to the Pipeline.
"When I'm asked what I want to achieve with the kids, it's simply, I want to make any one kid happy instead of grumpy," he continued. "That way, they're more receptive to learning and not to be intimidated by either the instrument or me."
What Brother Noland plans to play at the festival Sunday is the kind of music he and the guys like to play on their downtime, just after a gig. "It's more mental preparation," he said. "I compare it to jazz guys who know how to play the standards: We both know how to improvise, because slack key is the Hawaiians' answer to jazz. Jazz and Hawaiian slack key are both components of the same wheel anyway.
"I remember the first time I did the festival on Maui -- eight, 10 years ago. I was really nervous, but the other players, they were like brothers to me, and it felt like an ohana. Guys like Cyril Pahinui, Ledward Kaapana and George Kuo -- if there's someone new, like me, back then, they'd come over and make that person feel comfortable. They wouldn't come off all dun-ta-dun!
"Even when I was writing more issue-oriented music early in my career, (festival producer) Milton Lau told me that he could hear the slack-key influence in my contemporary songs, that open down-tuning. And I appreciated that he could hear that."
Brother Noland's musical career has come full circle of late, with his latest CD, "Hawaiian Inside," representing his rediscovery of the beauty of older Hawaiian music. "I was one of the last young guys to play with Gabby (Pahinui), jamming with him a couple of times just before he died, and later playing with the Pahinui brothers, Bla, Cyril and Martin," Conjugacion said. "His sons took care of me, and they had a big impact on how I view and express Hawaiian music.
"They all have a big heart and big soul. Cyril has even come down to the slack-key class and malama with the kids.
"Now that I'm in my 40s, I appreciate Hawaiian music even more. When I was younger, I thought I had to vent in a modern and contemporary way. But now I value the tradition. It's like that saying from Bruce Lee: 'To be bound by tradition is to be enslaved by it; to be inspired by tradition is to be free.'"
In conjunction with this Sunday's Slack Key Guitar Festival, two of its participating artists, Brother Noland and Ozzie Kotani, will be giving beginner and intermediate slack-key guitar workshops this Friday at the Kalakaua Room of the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel. Musicians offer
slack-key lessonsThe first session goes from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m.; the second from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. The cost is $15 or the purchase of a festival CD or T-shirt. Each participant will need to bring his/her own guitar for the workshop. Space is limited. Reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information or to make a reservation, call Shae Gallardo at 921-9750.
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