MICHELE HINA'EAKAWAHINE'ILIKEAOKALANIKUAKA'A TOSHIKO KAMAKAHI is shown here with her grandfather, the Rev. Dennis Kamakahi. The photo is of a place called Wahine 'Ilikea, named by Rev. Kamakahi, at Kamalo, Moloka'i. The song Wahine 'Ilikea, written by Rev. Kamakahi, is a mele inoa (name song) for his granddaughter Michele and describes the beauty of this sacred place of Hina, the mother of the island of Moloka'i and Goddess of the Moon.

NEW CD TO BE RELEASED ON FEBRUARY 25, 2009 AND AVAILABLE AT CONCERT VENUES ONLY. NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES

  

BOOKING AGENTS FOR DENNIS KAMAKAHI

EMAIL DENNIS KAMAKAHI PRODUCTIONS-click here

  

Multiple Grammy Winner Dennis Kamakahi is considered one of Hawaii's most prolific Hawaiian Folk Music composer of over 500 songs, singer, slack key guitarist, and a recording artist with Dancing Cat Productions under producer and Grammy winning New Age pianist, GEORGE WINSTON based in Santa Cruz, CA. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) having had small roles in both television and movies. He now records under his personal record label, DK Productions. He has been in the music business for 41 years.

His musical background is in Classical Music Composition and Orchestration which has led to writing some of Hawaii's most popular songs sung today and danced by Hula Halaus (schools) around the world. He was formerly a member of the legendary Hawaiian Music Group known as the "SONS OF HAWAII" from 1973 - 1995 as a songwriter, singer, and guitarist. He now does solo guitar work and performs in concerts, usually with his son David, across the USA, Japan, and Canada. He has been to Europe yet but wants to perform there in the future.

He has recorded 20 cds and albums and has won numerous musical awards . Hes played at the prestigious Wolftrap Barns and Amphitheater in Virginia 6 times and the Kerrville Folk Music Festival in Kerrville, Texas, being the first Hawaiian folk singer to perform there.

He's performed on the Prairie Home Companion Radio Show with host GARRISON KEILOR back in 1989 in a live broadcast out of Hawaii and jamming with the likes of the late legendary guitarist, CHET ATKINS, TAJ MAHAL, and reknown fiddler, JOHNNY GIMBLE. He performed again with bluesmaster, TAJ MAHAL, in Boulder CO on the national radio program broadcast of E-TOWN, performed on a NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO broadcast from Washington D.C. and appeared on CNN News during their coverage of Hawaii in 2002 broadcasted around the world.

LINKS: (for more information on Dennis Kamakahi copy links below and go to:)

http://www.dancingcat.com/artists/Dennis_Kamakahi.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Kamakahi


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WHAT IS SLACK KEY ?

The art of slack key playing derived with the arrival of the guitar to Hawaii in the early 1840's by Mexican vaqueros who came to Hawaii to teach the Hawaiians how to rope the wild cattle roaming in the mountains and plains of Hawaii. After these vaqueros returned to California, they left their guitars back in Hawaii. Their Hawaiian students were interested in learning how to play this new instrument but with no teacher to teach them, they started to experiment with re-tuning the guitar to open chords and simplified fingering.

To describe slack key is sometimes difficult to explain. The guitar is tuned to various open chordal tunings to complement the vocal range of the artist. The thumb provides a bass line and the other fingers provide the melody and harmony. The strings are plucked, not strummed, making a beautiful combination of melodic sounds to the ear like hearing a whole band playing. Harmonics are also an important ornamentation to the overall playing.

Slack Key was passed down from generation to generation on a one to one teacher relationship, usually father to son, and at one time was considered a dying art. With the help of new age and Grammy winning pianist George Winston, archives of recordings are available through his record company Dancing Cat Records, which includes recording of Dennis Kamakahi circa 1996 - 2001.


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