I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face (in Hawaiian)

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.

I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face (in Hawaiian)

Wednesday, November 16th, 2022

After we got home from Hawai`i I got busy learning Ua Noho Au A Kupa, inspired by Mike Kaawa’s vocal version we recorded some years ago.

Here’s Mike playing his Adamas twelve string and singing while I back him up. He’s in standard tuning, I’m using D wahine, spelled D A D F# A C# and playing my Kim Walker OM guitar:

My solo arrangement is without a vocal to provide interest so I decided to modulate between G and C. I’m using Taropatch open G tuning (D G D G B D). This time the guitar is my Kathy Wingert Model EC:

There’s lots more fun stuff on the YouTube channel with Mike Kaawa in various situations and combinations. I’ve created a Mike Kaawa playlist so you can cruise through clips with Mike doing his magic.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2022 at 5:59 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.