Naupaka by the Sea

Welcome to Kaleponi Records, my musical home on the web. My name is Fran Guidry, and I play kika ki hoʻalu or Hawaiian slack key guitar.

Kaleponi is the Hawaiian word for California, where I live. Ki hoʻalu, or slack key, has a direct link to California history. The guitar was carried to the Big Island of Hawaiʻi by vaqueros from California. You can read more about the history of slack key guitar on the Dancing Cat Records web site.

Slack key guitar is named for the retuning that characterizes the style. Most of these new tunings feature loosened, or slackened, strings which give a deep rich sound.

My personal slack key history goes back to 1999 and my first visit to Hawaiʻi. When we turned on the TV in our Waikiki hotel room I was captivated by the playing of Keola Beamer. I knew in an instant that I had to learn to play this beautiful music. Over the years I've learned from great players and teachers like Ozzie Kotani, Keola himself, Patrick Landeza, Kevin Brown, Cyril Pahinui, Kawika Kahiapo, Raymond Kane, Dennis Kamakahi, and Ledward Kaapana.

Sunday, April 8th, 2012

When we head to the beach from our friend’s cottage in Kailua, we pass through a hedge of naupaka kahakai, beach naupaka. This salt tolerant plant produces seed pods that float and can survive for a year in sea water, so this naupaka has spread to beaches throughout the South Pacific.

It features a flower that appears to have half its petals missing, and the naupaka kuahiwi, the mountain naupaka, shows the same “missing” petals. Naturally there are long ago stories told of the ill-fated lovers represented by these widely separated half-flowers.

I’ve been developing an instrumental piece using the name Naupaka Kahakai for several years, and recently I came up with a something I’m ready to call done. The beach at Kailua is the only location I could consider for doing a video of this song.

The recording uses the pickup through an effects box, because the tradewinds and waves drown out the guitar. My shots of the beach fail to do justice to this beautiful place, but perhaps they give you a bit of the flavor.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 8th, 2012 at 8:18 am and is filed under Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.