Customer Reviews

KEAWEUALANI

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If you're familiar with John Keawe, then you'll enjoy this album. If you're not familiar with John, then his music is a bit like Keola Beamer's - interesting chords, very full sounding - but he uses fewer tunings to get that sound. His original songs are especially rich sounding. If you've never heard of slack key, which is what John plays, then this is the original guitar music invented by Hawaiians. It's said that they got the idea from the Mexican vaqueros who came over to Hawaii in the late 1800s to teach the locals how to handle all the free range cattle that descended from the gift of Captain Vancouver to King Kamehameha I. Slack key is a beautiful style of acoustic fingerpicking that continues to entrance mainlanders, including Bob Brozman, Ry Cooder, and George Winston.

The title of the album is the original family name, which got shortened a few generations back. This album has some old popular songs, like "I'll Remember You", "Wai Ulu", and "Hi`ilawe" and some original songs like "Auntie's Rose Garden" and "Ohiki - Sand Crab". Most are instrumentals, but John sings on "Hi`ilawe" and "Ku`u Lei Awapuhi". My favorive is "Auntie's Rose Garden", but I also love the way he sings "Ku`u Lei Awapuhi". He can make the most traditional song sound fresh.

John is one of the best slack key artists playing today. His music and technical skill make every track a think of beauty. Also see Mano'lana for more great music.

I have all of John's CDs. Keaweualani was my first purchase. I was in Hawaii six years ago and heard some beautiful music on a Volcano National Park CD. I was told it was slack key music and was recommended several CDs. I bought four the day I left Hawaii. When I returned home, I listened to the first three. None of them compared to the beauty of the music I was looking for. I almost didn't open the fourth CD, which was Keaweualani. That would have been tragic, because John Keawe's music is some of my favorite in life. Buy the CD, get to a quiet place (I prefer sitting by a mountain lake or sandy beach) and be ready for some restful tranquility. For me, John takes me from the business of life to my peaceful happy place.