Dennis Kamakahi said he didn't realize son David was a musician until he heard him play.
Legacy of music is
Kamakahi family’s gift
Dennis Kamakahi grew up with music all around him. His paternal grandfather played slack key, and helped him get started playing the ukulele when he was 3. His father, a "serious musician" who played trombone with the Royal Hawaiian Band and jammed with Trummy Young, encouraged him to take up brass instruments and to study music theory as well as the hands-on technique of playing an instrument.
Kamakahi began playing guitar when his hands grew large enough, studied music in high school and college, and went on to be the first baby boomer to be invited to join the Sons of Hawaii. He has been a professional musician and a recognized master of Hawaiian slack key guitar ever since.
With that kind of musical legacy it might be taken for granted that his sons would have grown up as musical prodigies, but Kamakahi says he had no idea that his son, David, had musical talent until his wife, Robin, suggested that he invite David to sit in with him at a party.
"It was his birthday, and my wife said, 'Why don't you call the boy up to play a song with you?' So we brought him up on stage and I started playing the song, and I told him to just follow along.
"Now when the music is really going and you're feeling really good, you forget about who you're playing with, so I turned to him (like he was any other musician) and said, 'Take a solo.' He started ripping on his ukulele and I put my guitar down! I walked over to the microphone and told the crowd I didn't know he could play."
"From then on -- he was 15 -- he's been traveling on the road ever since."
Since then, David has been a guest on his father's albums, worked with his father as a member of Hui Aloha and Na 'O'iwi," and most recently, has recorded as a solo artist.
David Kamakahi's current album, "Pa'ani," beat out Henry Kapono, Keahiwai, Na Leo and Vaihi to take top honors as "Contemporary Album of the Year" at the 2005 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards earlier this month. At the same ceremony, the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts that sponsors the annual awards, honored Dennis -- a Hoku Award-winner in 1980 -- with its Ki Ho'alu Award.
"I told him, 'You better show up' even though we were not expecting to win," said Dennis, who knew he would be receiving the Ki Ho'alu Award. But for David, attending the Hoku show meant giving up a paid gig, probably just to see an act that had received more air play or one with a bigger fan base win the award.
Dennis recalls, "When they mentioned "Pa'ani" (had won) I was in shock."
So was David, who hadn't intended to distribute the album through conventional record stores and hadn't expected it would be eligible for a Hoku.
"Our intention for "Pa'ani" wasn't even to release it in Hawaii. It was mainly an album for ourselves (to sell) when we go on the road on the mainland. It was our distributor who wanted to enter it in the Hokus," David said.
"When I got the final ballot I was shocked to even have my name there -- especially next to the four great groups and solo artists. Getting to the final ballot would have been enough."
Dennis feels that "Pa'ani" ended up in "Contemporary" category because it featured too many different types of music to fit anywhere else.
"(HARA) couldn't figure out where to put it. If they had an 'International' category, no problem, because we made the album with different types of music on it for the different areas of the mainland we travel to. We had two Hispanic numbers, and a Cajun song I wrote for a friend of mine." (The Star-Bulletin review of "Pa'ani" ran on June 18, 2004.)
The Kamakahi, Kuo, Pahinui Hawaiian Slack Key Band are, clockwise from back left: David Kamakahi, Martin Pahinui, Dennis Kamakahi and George Kuo.
"Keeping it a secret in the beginning was the hardest part, but I was always worried about the pressure of being in dad's shadow (and) people always associating me with dad. And when I started playing and recording with him it still worried me a lot, but then he said 'hang in there' and I eventually I found my own music."
While Dennis had his father and grandfather to turn to for tips and inspiration, David learned by jamming with friends at Kamehameha Schools.
"It was at the time when everybody wanted to sound like Troy (Fernandez of the Ka'au Crater Boys) and I learned from my friends after classes, lunch time and after school.
"After a while everything started to sound the same so I wanted to find a different way of playing other than what was popular at the time, and so I started listening to other artists. That's when I found Eddie Kamae ... Sunday Manoa, Ohta-san, Lyle Ritz. I started listening to these artists -- listen, rewind, repeat -- and figured it out on my own. Then, if I had a question I'd go to my classmates and ask them. I actually learned a lot faster (that way) than when I took music classes."
David found other coaches and role models once he started touring with his father and some of the greats who were part of George Winston's Dancing Cat ohana.
"Just watching them play -- dad, Ledward (Pahinui), Cyril (Pahinui) -- I picked up a lot of things."
DAVID HAS BEEN working recently on the formal side of his musical training at Leeward Community College, where he is one semester away from graduating. He's studying guitar, but is keeping the ukulele as his primary instrument. He and Dennis are looking forward to more mainland tours and a couple of recording projects.
David has also been working with Herb Ohta Jr., and Dennis says he's been impressed by what he's heard.
"The music that comes out of these two guys is really awesome. That's what music is all about; it's sharing ideas and taking them to another level."
And, since discovering his son's talent and commitment to music, Dennis is enjoying sharing music with David in the ways that his father and grandfather did with him.
"My father was the one who got me into the writing aspect of music. He would take me to every Royal Hawaiian Band concert and then he transferred over to the 111th National Guard Army Band and stayed there until his retirement. In those days the Royal Hawaiian Band was something you really wanted to hear -- they played classical, popular -- and I'd sit on his trombone case.
"(My father) would practice every day, and I got into the habit when I started playing trombone; I'd practice every day. When I got into guitar I'd practice every day. Eight hours could pass, 10 hours could pass, and you love it so much that you just keep playing. It was never 'I have to practice for this long'; it was always 'How much can I learn?' And you lose track of time. Your parents may worry that you don't have enough other interests but as you get older it pays off."
Dennis lived with his grandfather until he was 16. His grandfather was fluent in the Hawaiian language and raised Dennis to speak Hawaiian as well. He also encouraged Dennis' love of music.
"I got to know my grandfather very well. I had a good upbringing from him and (the arrangement) worked out well. I learned a lot of things from him, and he knew I loved music. He told me 'Don't you ever give up music. Wherever else you go, that's a part of what you share. That's your gift to the world.' "
Now Dennis and David Kamakahi are working together in bringing their family legacy forward another generation.
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