Pua Almeida

Pua Almeida

Twelve years ago to the week, when Ho’olohe Hou Radio was in the third week of its first incarnation as a podcast, the show quickly gained acclaimed among musicians in Hawai’i for a two-part, four-hour episode on the legendary Pua Almeida. You see… Hawaiian musicians owe a debt to Pua for revolutionizing Hawaiian music, and yet few who don’t own an old-fashioned record player have ever heard his music. For while he was one of the most…

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Charles K.L. Davis

Charles K.L. Davis

If you are fortunate enough to have lived in Hawai`i in the last decade, you might have caught a rare performance by Hawai`i’s “Three Tenors”: Robert Cazimero, Les Ceballos, and Aaron Sala. Modeled on the format made popular in the 1990s by a trio of more instantly recognizable opera stars – Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti – Hawai`i’s version of the “Three Tenors” features gentleman who – while they spend most of their…

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Bill Kaiwa – A Life

Bill Kaiwa – A Life

I feel very fortunate to have befriended Bill Kaiwa long before he left this life. (This is not the case with many of my Hawaiian music heroes.) I would not call him a “friend” as we didn’t spend that much time together. But I would refer to him as an acquaintance who was very open to accepting a phone call from me and having a lengthy conversation with me about our mutual Hawaiian music heroes…

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Fred Tavares – Hawai`i’s Les Paul

Fred Tavares – Hawai`i’s Les Paul

Where there was a will, there was Freddie Tavares. Like his contemporary Les Paul, who better to solve the problems faced by musicians than a musician? The Maui-born Tavares was a musician and a tinkerer. Although he could play any stringed instrument handed to him, he excelled at the steel guitar – beginning his career in small groups with brother, Ernie, followed by a stint with bandleader Harry Owens (making him the first steel guitarist…

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Hawai`i and The British Invasion

Hawai`i and The British Invasion

In 1964, four little known about lads that called themselves The Beatles released their first recordings in the U.S., and on February 9, 1964 at 8pm, the Fab Four made their U.S. television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. And music – and the world – would would never be the same. That story has been chronicled countless times. But what has not been discussed has been the effect of the British Invasion on the evolution…

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Origins of Hawaiian Music in Japan

Origins of Hawaiian Music in Japan

Coming Soon – A feature on the history of the ever-growing popularity of Hawaiian music in Japan. Among those featured will be Ethel Nakada, a fine singer of Hawaiian songs and one of the earliest stars of Hawaiian music in her home country of Japan, George Matsushita, a fine falsetto with a nearly five-decade career in Japan, and steel guitarists Buckie Shirakata, Tetsuo Ohtsuka, and Poss Miyazaki. The article will also discuss the origins of…

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Bobby Darin Invests In Kui Lee

Bobby Darin Invests In Kui Lee

Kui Lee. I never met him. (Many of his most ardent fans never had a chance to meet this iconic figure whose life was cut too short – given over to cancer – at the tender age of only 34.) But his presence in my life was very strong from the moment I was born. He was a friend of our family long before I came along. His record played constantly in our home –…

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