Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival

Schedule

Sat Aug 13 2022 at 04:00 pm to 09:00 pm

Location

Waikiki Aquarium | Tripler Army Medical Ctr, HI

“Hawai’i’s 192 Year Old Indigenous Guitar Tradition”
For those looking for something unique to experience while vacationing in Hawai’i , look no further than the “Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival.” Started 40 years ago, the festival showcases some of Hawaii’s foremost artists/musicians in the slack key guitar genre. For those unacquainted with the genre, Hawaiian slack key guitar (ki-ho’alu) is an indigenous guitar art form that had its beginnings around 1830 when the Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) introduced the guitar to the islands after being contracted by the King at the time to teach cattle management to the native Hawaiians.
Hawaiian slack key guitar (ki-ho’alu) is considered to be one of the world’s great acoustic guitar traditions in the world today. However, due to Hawai’i’s isolation (the islands lie furthest in the world from any land mass) ki-ho’alu remains one of the least known tradtions. Ki-ho’alu, which literally means “loosen the key,” is the Hawaiian language name for this unique finger-picking style. The strings (or keys) are “slacked” to produce many beautiful tunings, almost always based on a major tonality and offers a full major chord, or chord with a major 7th or 6th note. Each tuning produces a characteristic resonance behind the melody, and each has its own characteristic color and flavor, like a beautiful basket of fruit.
These currents run deep in slack key guitar playing, as accompaniment to vocals, as instrumental compositions, or as instrumental interpretations of vocal pieces. Drawn from the heart and soul and out through the fingers, slack key music is sweet and soulful.
Slack key’s unique sound comes partly from techniques such as hammer-on, an ornament produced by plucking a note and immediately fretting that string to produce a second higher tone; and pull -off, produced by plucking a fretted string and immediately pulling the finger off that fret, sounding a second lower note that is either open or fretted by another finger. Other techniques include “Chimes and Harmonics”
To experience this wonderful, unique, and indigenous guitar art form, it would be well worth your time to attend the Oʻahu festival on August 13th at the Waikiki Aquarium or one of the festivals on the island of Maui, June 26th at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului, in Kona on Hawaii Island, September 18th at the Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa or on Kaua’i, November 27th at the Sonesta Royal Kauai Beach Resort.
For the Oʻahu event, tickets will be sold at the door. Keep an eye on http://facebook.com/slackkeyfestivals for more details and updates.

Where is it happening?

Waikiki Aquarium, ,Honolulu,HI,United States, Tripler Army Medical Ctr

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Host or Publisher Visit Oahu

Tags: