Recording artist Dennis Kamakahi’s hefty contributions to Hawaiian music range from work as a distinctive vocalist, slack-key guitarist, composer and record producer to efforts as teacher and mentor to younger artists.
Grammy Award-winning record producer George Kahumoku on Tuesday described Kamakahi as "a great friend, and Hawaii’s greatest song composer since Queen Liliuokalani. … He wrote in the real old style, simple catchy tunes that we could keep beat to without feet, and his poetry was such that his words will be remembered for generations yet unborn."
The Hoku Award-winning composer, recording artist and slack-key master died Monday of cancer. He was 61 years old.
Keith Haugen, a friend since the early ’70s, recalled him as "a great musician, singer and songwriter, but also a man who practiced what he preached. His musical legacy speaks for itself. His personal life will also live on as an example to others."
Milton Lau, founder of the Hawaiian Slack Key Festival and a promoter of Hawaiian slack key for more than three decades, said, "Dennis represented all that was good about Hawaii." Lau added, "His songs reflected his deep appreciation for his homeland and what it meant to be a Native Hawaiian. His lyrics reminds us about all of the beauty that surrounds us each and every day."
Harry B. Soria Jr., Hoku Award-winning record producer and liner notes writer, and host of the "Territorial Airwaves" radio show since 1979, remembered Kamakahi as "one of our premier Hawaiian storytellers, whose songs will continue to inspire future generations of Hawaii’s people. As a captivating weaver of words, Dennis regularly rewarded me with fascinating nuggets of Hawaii’s history. He has left us much too soon, as he no doubt had so much more to share with us."
Dennis David Kakehilimamaoikalanikeha Kamakahi was born March 31, 1953, in Honolulu. He began playing the ukulele at age 3 and strated studying slack key at age 10.
Kamakahi dropped out of Leeward Community College in 1972 to play music full time; he met Eddie Kamae, founder and leader of the Sons of Hawaii, that same year. Two years later Kamae invited him to join the Sons. Kamae and Mary Kawena Pukui introduced him to the exacting techniques involved in writing traditional Hawaiian poetry.
"Dennis was not only a Son of Hawaii he was like a son in many ways. He will always be a Son of Hawaii," Myrna Kamae, Eddie’s wife and business partner, said in an email statement. "Amama Ua Noa (‘the prayer is finished’). Amen, he is free! All of Hawaii will miss Dennis while at the same time his spirit lives on through his beautiful music and the love of his wife, Robin, and their children."
Kamakahi’s lifetime achievements include his two decades of work as the youngest member of the original Sons of Hawaii, the albums he recorded for George Winston’s Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters series, and his leadership of Na ‘Oiwi, a group he formed with his son David, Mike Kaawa and Jon Yamasato. Kamakahi also contributed as a solo artist to three Grammy Award-winning compilation albums (however, when a compilation album wins a Grammy, the award goes to the producer or producers, not to the contributing artists).
Kamakahi received Na Hoku Hanohano Awards for his work as a composer, as a member of the group Amy Hanaiali‘i and Slack Key Masters of Hawai‘i, and for an album with fellow slack-key guitarist Stephen Inglis that won the Hoku Award for slack-key album of the year in 2012. He received an adjudicated award, the HARA Ki Ho‘alu Award, in 2005 and the Ki Ho‘alu Foundation Legacy Award in 2013.
Pali T.K. Ka‘aihue, president of the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts, said via email, "The Rev. Dennis Kamakahi is truly a legend and icon." Ka‘aihue continued, "His mele (songs) will be forever celebrated and remembered."
Kamakahi was one of 11 people who were recognized in 2009 when HARA gave the Sons of Hawaii a Lifetime Achievement Award. Three members of the Sons of Hawaii — Kamae, Gabby Pahinui and Moe Keale — have also been given individual Lifetime Achievement Awards for their career achievements.
Among the younger artists Kamakahi helped guide was Inglis.
"I have lost a friend, mentor, kumu, musical partner and hero," Inglis wrote in a Facebook entry Tuesday. "Words cannot express how honored I am to have collaborated on your final recording, Uncle D."
Kale Hannahs said his trio — Matt Sproat and Kamakahi’s son David are the other members — played for "Uncle Dennis" a few hours before he died.
"We played some of the songs that Uncle Dennis had shared with us, recounted stories of David growing up and days with the Sons of Hawai‘i," Hannahs said. "A few hours after we left, Uncle D peacefully passed, surrounded by his family and Uncle Aaron Mahi listening to Gabby Pahinui."
Kamakahi’s death was initially announced Monday in a Facebook post. He had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in March while undergoing treatment for pneumonia.
In addition to wife Robin and son David, Kamakahi is survived by son James, daughter Marlene and two grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not been announced. The family invites well-wishers to leave messages at David Kamakahi’s Facebook page.
