9th Annual Ukulele Guild of Hawaii Exhibition & Conference

I recently visited Hawaii and had the opportunity to attend the 9th Annual Ukulele Guild of Hawaii Exhibition & Conference which was held this year at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in Waikiki. Many thanks to Bryan Tolentino (photo left to right: Bryan, Joe Souza of Kanile'a Ukulele, and me) for letting me know about this event and introducing me to Kimo Hussey, Kamuela Kimokeo and the Guild folks - it was a good hang! Got there during Dickie Boy Cantohos' set and thoroughly enjoyed his playing - a nice combination of seamless strumming and melodic plucking that felt very Hawaiian-style to me. Bryan calls it "non-confrontational" because it's not flashy (doesn't have to be) but impressive all the same.

I really enjoy listening to Bryan's style of playing - in fact he's one of my favorites. Very tasteful and mindful of those he is accompanying, a real team player. You can catch him Tuesday nights with Weldon Kekauoha at the new Kani Ka Pila Grille at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach at the beginning of Waikiki, near Fort Derussy. Be sure to check him out live when you have the chance! You can also pick up a copy of his solo CD here.

So anyway, there were lots of great looking ukulele there, although since you weren't supposed to touch 'em, I couldn't tell you how they sound. Bryan tells me he used to be a board member of the guild and always strived to strike the right balance between instruments that looked great and instruments that looked AND sounded great, which is not always the case. Here's a couple of photos of the ukes they had on display, you can see more here.

It was a nice event, one they are still working to expand on. I only saw the exhibition part but they offered ukulele building and playing seminars as well. I wish them continued success and hope to have the opportunity to help promote the annual event.

2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival on the Hawaiian Concert Guide

If you haven't listened to the Hawaiian Concert Guide podcast yet, you've been missing out on some great Hawaiian music and artist interviews! Take a listen to this past episode where HCG host Piko catches some of the performers at the 2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival like Bryan Tolentino, Richard Ho'opi'i and Leokane Pryor and also gets a few bootleg recordings from inside the auditorium with his iPhone (which sounded great!)

Piko created the podcast with the main purpose of getting the word out about Hawaiian entertainers performing off-island and around the world while at the same time getting their music out there for new listeners to discover. He likes to play an artist's whole CD a few tracks at a time from week to week. His co-host Puni is a wonderful companion to the show - a wealth of information on Hawaiian legends, hula personalities and island music, she adds a lot of depth to the show, for sure. 

Check it out! They record the podcast every Sunday evening starting at 8pm PST and you can tune in at that time and listen live. Watch a live video feed and join other listeners/viewers in the live chat room where you can even send in a request for a song!

2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival part 2

Probably the thing I like to do most in my shows is getting people to work together that don't normally get the opportunity to do so even when in Hawaii. This is not done in a random let's-throw-something-together-and-see-if-it-sticks kind of method. No, it is definitely thought out. Like when I gathered together Barry Flanagan, Jeff Peterson and Jim "Kimo" West to play as a trio for the 2009 SoCal Slack Key Festival, it was definitely a first for them and while they were unsure of how it would work out, I was confident that as top notch musicians, they'd pull it off and they did and it was a big hit! When I spoke to John Cruz last night he echoed those sentiments as we talked about how he gets to play with Hapa and Ledward on the current tour and how that would probably never happen in Hawaii due to schedule conflicts.

It was no problem putting together the "house band" for the 2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival (Jeff Peterson, Bryan Tolentino, Alika-Boy Kalauli IV) to back up Pomaika'i and Uncle Richard. Jeff hadn't played with Bryan or Alika prior to this but all three had a familiarity with Pomai's and Uncle's music already or had already played for them on separate occasions. But for backing Leokane Pryor, I had an idea that he and CJ would sound really good when matched with Aunty Geri and Carole's harmonies and that suspicion proved correct when we gathered for the 1st rehearsal with the four of them at Delzano's last Thursday. I appreciated Leokane's trust in me that I knew what I was doing and I'm glad he was happy with the result as was the audience! Here's an amusing interview with him prior to coming to California and meeting his backing musicians.

Speaking of unique musician ensembles, you will definitely see this at the upcoming 3rd Annual Southern California Slack Key Festival! Tickets on sale now at www.socalslackkeyfest.com

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2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival part 1

Wow what a weekend it was! It was like history in the making - a beautiful afternoon and evening with some of the biggest names in Hawaiian entertainment from the islands and Southern California at the 2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival: Kekaimoku Yoshikawa and Leokane Pryor knocked it out of the park, Pomaika'i Keawe Lyman's first ever solo concert performance, Weldon Kekauoha, Bryan Tolentino and Alika Boy delivered a solidly entertaining set which ended in Weldon's beautiful arrangement of "Queen's Jubilee"...and a very rare concert appearance by the legendary Uncle Richard Ho'opi'i - to name just a few highlights!

If you didn't make it to the show, I'll fill you in on what you missed but first I'd like to share one of my personal favorite moments: when the three kumu hula got up to dance at the end of the show! Pomaika'i sang a 3-song medley of Pauoa Liko Kalehua, Mauna Loa and Haleiwa Hula that was danced by Keali'i Ceballos, Rolanda Reese and Kekaimoku, respectively. The idea first came about when we were doing the live podcast with Piko on the Hawaiian Concert Guide and we were talking with Pomaika'i and her father Eric. They sang that medley to us over the Skype lines and someone had the idea to have the three kumu each do one of the songs. It could have been my idea because of my involvement with flamenco where that kind of thing happens very often at the end of a show - they like to get the singer or the percussionist or the guitarist to dance a little at the end to show what they know and it never fails to make the audience go nuts! Rolanda, also known as "Aunty Mohala" is a well-known kumu but is actually very shy and talk about historic moments - for her to get in front of the mic on the podcast and to get out on stage like that was a very rare thing indeed. Even I had never seen her dance before so it was such a treat to see! By the way, don't forget about the big show she's putting on August at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre Saturday August, 29, 2009.

More to come....please sign up on the right side of the page to be a subscriber to my blog