Late Night Slack Key Jam with Ledward – “Ke Aloha”

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.

Late Night Slack Key Jam with Ledward – “Ke Aloha”

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013

Lei Collins and Maddy Lam composed one of my favorite Hawaiian songs, Ke Aloha. It’s a love song written to one whose fragrance is alluring in the evening time. The melody is irresistible ear candy, and it flows so nicely in taropatch open G tuning. Patrick Landeza taught the song at one of his workshops long ago and I’ve played it ever since.

I’ve been using Ke Aloha as my opening song lately, it definitely gets me into a happy ki ho`alu mood and hopefully does the same for the audience. A couple of nights ago Ledward and I were jamming in the dining room after the ladies had gone moemoe and the music started getting pretty good, so I put up my Lumix GH2 camera with the fastest lens I have and set the PCM-D50 recorder on the table between us. Here’s the clip I captured:

It’s so very inspiring to play with this guy, he seems to have limitless ideas and approaches, can take the mood and feel of the song in so many directions while always staying in the heart of the music. Thanks, Ledward.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 at 10:49 pm 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.