Nominees talk story

Will a slack-key compilation album win the Grammy for Best Hawaiian Music Album for the third straight year? Or will the Grammy go to Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, Ledward Kaapana or Henry Kapono?

The five finalists include the team of Daniel Ho, Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong, who produced last year's winner, "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Volume 1." Gilliom, a finalist in 2005 with "Amy & Willie Live," is also returning for a second time, as are Kaapana and Milton Lau. Kapono's brilliant Hawaiian-language rock album, "The Wild Hawaiian," completes the field.

Lau, who produced both of Kaapana's Grammy-nominated albums, "Kiho'alu: Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" and "Grandmaster Slack Key Guitar," is also a finalist as co-producer with his son, Chris, of "Hawaiian Slack Key Kings," one of the two compilation albums on the ballot this year.

If the compilation wins, then producers Milton and Chris Lau will receive Grammys. If "Grandmaster Slack Key Guitar" wins, the Grammy goes to Kaapana.

And, perhaps by coincidence, perhaps because of his popularity and busy performance schedule, Kaapana has cuts on both of the compilation albums that are up against his own "Grandmaster Slack Key Guitar."

Whatever the outcome, the nominees are making the most of the opportunity to promote the music of Hawaii -- even though the winning moment will not be televised.

Gilliom is including three performances at L.A. Borders Books & Music stores on her schedule. Kaapana, Ho and other artists from the two compilation albums will also play in-store performances this weekend. Milton Lau, in his dual capacity as producer and head of Rhythm & Roots Records, has spent several days making the rounds at National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) events.

"Win or lose, we will all have a great time," Lau says. "It may be the last time any of us will be there, so we'll enjoy every second ... and then we all fly home to reality and yardwork!"

Three of the nominees talked about the Grammy experience before heading to Los Angeles for the big show:

Daniel Ho

Question: Are you going to wear anything special? Are you taking any leis?

Answer: I'm wearing the suit that that I bought for last year's Grammy Awards. It's my first suit and my only suit, and guess I consider it my lucky suit. I'm not taking any leis, but usually some of the guys bring some up.

Q: I know it's just a coincidence, but you have a song by Led Kaapana on your album, Milton and Chris Lau have Led on their album, and Led's also a Grammy-nominated artist with his own album. I wonder how many times that's happened in any category.

A: He has recorded so many albums, and he's of course one of the finest slack-key players out there, and I think he's just being recognized for all the work he's done over the years, and he deserves it. ... I think it's cool.

Q: If NARAS decided there should be two categories for Hawaiian music instead of one, what two categories would you recommend?

A: That's a really tough question because there are so many subgenres of Hawaiian music -- Jawaiian music, ukulele, slack key, kahiko, Hawaiian language. There are so many ways to slice the pie, so to speak. One category I'd recommend is that you can only be nominated (for it) if you have no more than two letters in your last name (laughs). ...

Everyone says that there have to be a lot more (categories for Hawaiian music), but looking at the preliminary ballot, other categories had huge lists of nominees, more than 100, and I think Hawaiian had maybe 29. That may not be enough participation to divide it up into more categories.

Milton Lau

Question: Are you going to wear anything special to the show? Are you taking any leis?

Answer: I'll be wearing your typical black tie and tux like I did last year. Leis would be nice, but I have to watch out for my allergies.

Q: You're nominated as the producer of the "Hawaiian Slack Key Kings" compilation, but you're also the producer of Led Kaapana's album, "Grandmaster Slack Key Guitar." Do you feel like you're competing against yourself?

A: That's a good question. My feeling is that Ledward Kaapana is so deserving to win, and I hope he does. He has given so much over so many years to so many people with his music. It would be good (for "Hawaiian Slack Key Kings") to win, but that's not why I do what I do.

Q: If NARAS decided there should be two categories for Hawaiian music instead of one, what two categories would you recommend?

A: There shouldn't be two categories. ... It is only a matter of time that all of the other non-ki ho'alu artists will be recognized for what they do. Everyone needs to persevere and keep the passion for what they do. ...

Should the Grammy people ever decide to have a split category (which I highly doubt), one should be slack-key instrumental, as ki ho'alu is probably the oldest form of Hawaiian music outside of chants with its beginnings in 1830. The other category should be for music that utilizes the Hawaiian language in either a traditional or contemporary style. ... Traditional instrumentation is not important.

Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom

Question: What are you wearing to the Grammys? Are you taking any leis?

Answer: I'm wearing a long black Calvin Klein dress ... and three long white ginger lei.

Q: This will be the second time you've gone to the Grammys as a nominee. What's the difference the second time around?

A: It's exciting. I'm very happy to represent Hawaii and Hawaiian music. Of course I'm just a tiny, little, minute portion of Hawaiian music out of all the years that people have been playing Hawaiian music, so I just hope that I represent well. Last time we were here, we just kind of showed up and went (to the show) and then left. This time, I'm here for a little while and performing all over California.

Q: If NARAS decided there should be two categories for Hawaiian music, what two categories would you recommend?

A: I think for right now this is the way it has to be for getting our foot in the door, but if I could choose two categories, they would be "Instrumental" and "vocal." It's hard to put the two together. Language is such a major part of Hawaiian music -- you can't dance hula without language. I support the slack-key guys 100 percent, all of them are my uncles, and I'm related to Uncle Richard Ho'opi'i, so there's a very (strong) feeling of ohana up here, but I definitely feel that there should be two categories.