A Slack Key Canoe Ride – Holo Wa`apa

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017

We’re back in Kailua, O`ahu, enjoying views of the Ko`olau, the gorgeous skies of the windward side, and the beaches, lakes, and streams all around us. And on those lakes, streams, and beaches we see paddlers – stand up boarders and kayakers and outrigger canoe racers pushing themselves and their conveyance along.

Lena Machado wrote a song about paddling, Holo Wa`apa, which tells us to row forward then back, and feel the gentle swaying of the waves. She was clearly quite a fan of boats (grin). The chords are a classic swing progression, rolling around the circle of fifths on its way to a traditional Hawaiian vamp. I’m not sure how the song popped into my head, but once I tracked it down I knew I needed to catch some canoe video with some slack key guitar.

By now I’ve collected a bunch of clips, some right off our lanai looking across Enchanted Lake, and some on Ka `Elepulu Stream near its mouth. I finally gathered enough usable paddling footage and a reasonable performance and assembled them into a video, but I wound up focusing on the Kailua Canoe Club practices on the stream.



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  • Two With Ledward in Kaleponi
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    I have recorded a CD called Kaleponi, all solo acoustic slack key instrumentals, mostly traditional pieces, a few originals.

         

    You an buy a copy of the CD or download the tracks at CD Baby.

    If you prefer, you can download individual tracks or the whole album from iTunes as well.

    The complete liner notes and back cover notes of Kaleponi are available here.