The Masters of Hawaiian Music say “Aloha” to Seldovia!

by Susan Mumma

The Seldovia Arts Council presents:

Masters of Hawaiian Music:

George Kahumoku Jr,

Led Kaapana,

“Uncle” Richard Ho‘opi‘i   

come to Seldovia with much Aloha and fun. 

September 23 

Bring your family to this community event at

Susan B. English School.

Alaskan/Hawaiian Potluck at 6:30 P.M.

 Special performance at 7:30 P.M.

Tickets will be:  $15.00  for adults, $8.00 for children and $35.00 For families.

The Seldovia Arts Council has received a grant from WESTAF, that helps to bring touring artists to Alaska.  This makes it possible for Seldovia, a city of just 250 people, to enjoy this wonderful opportunity to experience a taste of the Hawaiian culture right on our doorstep.

The Seldovia Arts Council  would like to make it a celebration of cultures.  The celebration will begin by hosting a pot-luck of cultural foods. The  Alaska/Hawaii dinner will be held at Susan B. English School. This dinner will be facilitated by Laurel Hilts and Suzie Stranik, Seldovia Arts Council board members.  The  Seldovia Village Tribe will be making a donation of Alaska Native Cultural foods, please bring your favorite Alaskan (or Hawaiian) dish as well!

If you would like to help with or would like additional information about the event please call the event chairperson, Susan Mumma at 234-7614. There are many ways in which you can be part of the fun.

The performance begins at 7:30pm, and one can attend the show without attending the dinner, but both are included in the price of admission.

There will also be a special workshop in slack key guitar, ukulele and Hawaiian culture with the band students at Susan B. English school during the day as part of the out-reach activities included in the WESTAF grant.  Students will also be invited to perform in the show as special guests. Various other activities including a Hawaiian themed pep day will be surrounding the event, thanks to Tiffany Haller.

The Seldovia Arts Council would like to thank Susan B. English School, SOCC, SVT for their donations to the event. 

George Kahomuku returns to Seldovia for his third visit. His original visit, was spear-headed by Susan Mumma, then Chairman of SAC, who had been to Aloha Music Camp in Hawaii. She had been inspired by the tunes played on the slack key guitar by renown pianist George Winston who  traveled to Seldovia in 1999.  He brought samples of Hawaiian music featured in his own Dancing Cats label,  a label developed to spotlight and educate about this musical genre.  Since that day, a variety of slack key masters have graced the SBE  stage, including Keola Beamer and Mark Nelson who also taught at the Aloha Music Camp.  Seldovia made such an impression on these Hawaiian musicians that one might say that Seldovia has been honored by becoming  part of the Hawaiian musical Ohana!  The Masters are scheduled to perform in only two other places in Alaska this tour, Fairbanks and Anchorage, both at much larger venues.

These 3 Masters, featured regularly at the renowned “Slack Key Show®” on Maui, bring Hawaii’s unique folk styles, with origins in the early 19th century Hawaiian paniolo (cowboy) culture, to 21st century stages. They themselves grew up in areas so rural, without electricity, radio, or TV, that they were immersed in Hawaiian music and culture from childhood.

Four-time Grammy-winner, master slack key guitarist GEORGE KAHUMOKU JR., known as “Hawai‘i’s Renaissance Man”, is a multiple Na H?k? Hanohano (Hawaiian Grammy) Award winner, a vocalist, storyteller, songwriter & author, teacher, sculptor, farmer, and chef.

A master of the slack key guitar and National Heritage Fellow, LED KAAPANA has been one of Hawaii’s most influential musicians for four decades.  His mastery of stringed instruments, his exceptional picking style on slack key guitar and ‘ukulele, and his extraordinary baritone to leo ki`eki`e (falsetto) vocal range, have made him a musical legend and earned him multiple Na H?k? Awards.

National Heritage Fellow UNCLE RICHARD HO‘OPI‘I, renowned for ‘ukulele and leo ki`eki`e,traditional Hawaiian falsetto singing, has a unique yodeling style and delightful stage presence that immediately connects to audiences.

Ledward Kaapana and Uncle Richard Ho‘opi‘i are frequent guest artists on George Kahumoku’s renowned Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar® series on Maui, and his Grammy award-winning CDs. Together, these Masters share the delightful experience of k?-h?‘alu (slack key guitar) – the distinctly Hawaiian style of open tunings – ‘ukulele, and Hawaiian vocals.

LED KAAPANA grew up in a family of musicians in Kalapana, in the southernmost district of Hawaii Island. His teachers included his mother, Mama Tina Kaapana, from whom he learned to sing leo ki’eki’e (Hawaiian falsetto singing), and his uncle, Fred Punahoa. “We didn’t have electricity, not television, not even much radio,” says Kaapana. “So we entertained ourselves. You could go to any house and everybody was playing music.” Throughout his career, Ledward has dedicated himself to perpetuating the traditional style and repertoire of his home, beginning in his teens with the musical group Hui ‘Ohana which produced 14 best-selling albums and became a key figure in the resurgence of traditional Hawaiian culture and music during the 1970s. Launching a solo career in 1983, Kaapana has continued to garner acclaim for his improvisational melodies and falsetto vocals. Recognition by his peers earned Led four Grammy nominations in his own right and three wins on slack key compilations. He has won multiple N? H?k? Hanohano(Hawai‘i’s “Grammy”) awards, including Favorite Entertainer of the Year in 2009.www.ledkaapana.com

GEORGE KAHUMOKU JR. lives on Maui with his wife, Nancy, maintaining their 3-acre farm, growing fruit and vegetables, dry-land taro (for his famous home-made poi) and tending goats, chickens, ducks, and miniature horses. With over 25 solo, collaboration, and compilation CDs to his name, George celebrates over 10 years of his famed weekly Slack Key Show on Maui, which produced 4 Grammy-winning CDs; his most recent solo CD was nominated for a 2012 Grammy in the Regional Roots category. He founded the Hawaiian Music Institute at University of Hawai‘i-Maui College to preserve the legacy of Hawaiian music and to prepare the next generation for careers in music. A renowned storyteller, George collaborated on the book A Hawaiian Life with long-time friend Paul Konwiser to capture his hilarious, entertaining on-stage stories. This project led to his film biography Seeds of Aloha. For the last 15 years, George Kahumoku Jr.’s Annual Maui Slack Key Guitar and ‘Ukulele Workshop creates one of the great musical learning experiences in the Islands today, and embodies George’s belief in sharing, celebrating, and perpetuating the unique music and culture that is Hawai‘i. www.kahumoku.com,

UNCLE RICHARD HO’OPI’I is one of Hawai’i’s most beloved singers. Known as one half of the popular Maui duo, The Ho’opi’i Brothers, which recorded 7 albums, he has practiced the traditional Hawaiian art of leo ki’eki’e (falsetto) for most of his life. He and his late brother, Solomon were recipients in 1997 of the prestigious National Endowment of the Arts Folk Heritage Fellowship, America’s highest honor for traditional artists. After the passing of his brother, his 2003 CD Ululani represented a new journey for Richard as a solo artist. Richard is featured on four of George Kahumoku’s compilation CDs. Born in the tiny village of Kahakuloa on Maui’s remote Northwest coast, Uncle Richard grew up immersed in the rural Hawaiian lifestyle of family, church, taro farming, fishing, and homemade entertainment. There was no TV, not even much radio, so everyone in the village made music. “They taught us so much more than music; it was a whole way of living.” Uncle Richard knows that, like all Hawaiian artists, he maintains a rich cultural legacy. “When you sing Hawaiian music,” he says, “you’re representing the kupuna (elders), who have guided and inspired you, and all the musicians that came before and will come after.”

Biographical information is taken from the press release prepared by Pasifika Artists Network LLC.  More about each artist may be found on his website.

If you would like to help with this event please call event chairperson, Susan Mumma at 234-7614 .  There are many ways in which you can be part of the fun.