Grammy-winning virtuosos from Hawaii and Japan pair up for a blissful soundscape

“Electric Island Acoustic Sea”

Tak Matsumoto & Daniel Ho

(Daniel Ho Creations DHC 80134)

As Daniel Ho’s tally of Grammy Award wins ticked up between 2006 and 2011, the soft-spoken Saint Louis School grad and his Grammy-winning albums became lightning rods for criticism.

Four of the albums were compilations — collections of newly recorded performances by slack-key guitarists, Hawaiian falsetto singers, steel guitarists, ukulele players and others — that Ho co-produced with George Kahumoku Jr., Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong. The fifth was ‘‘‘Ikena,” recorded by Ho and his longtime friend Tia Carrere, which won in 2009 (Carrere won a second Grammy two years later with “Huana ke Aloha,” an album of Hawaiian-language lullabies Ho played on and produced).

Some critics argued that other finalist albums better represented the music and culture of Hawaii. Others said that Ho’s decision to leave Hawaii and live in Los Angeles gave him an unfair advantage over musicians and producers in Hawaii. However, there were also some who disparaged Carrere and Ho for not being Native Hawaiian. Carrere and Ho addressed those issues in 2011 at a public forum in Honolulu that was emceed by ethnomusicologist Amy Stillman, who contributed lyrics to Carerre’s two winning albums.

As time passed Ho tired of criticism, particularly from anonymous antagonists online. He continued to record, but from 2012 his focus shifted to exploring how Hawaiian instruments can fit with the music of cultures outside Hawaii.

With “Electric Island Acoustic Sea,” Ho is exploring other musical frontiers with Grammy Award-winning Japanese guitarist Tak Matsumoto of the arena rock duo B’z. Matsumoto and Ho work well together.

With one exception, all the songs are originals and instrumental tracks. Ho is not known as a vocalist, but he steps forward as the voice of a solid acoustic arrangement of “Faithfully,” Journey’s Top 20 hit from 1983.

Matsumoto plays acoustic six-string guitar on duets with Ho, ranging from expansive power rock and electric blues to delicate duets.

Ho plays an assortment of other instruments — piano, 12-string guitar, bass, ukulele and sanshin, to name five.

Japanese-American koto virtuoso June Kuramoto of Hiroshima is among the short list of musicians who sit in on various tracks.

Two songs near the end of album, “Omotesando” and “Island of Peace,” stand out as dreamy soundscapes, islands of tranquility in the finely crafted musical journey that the two imaginative musicians have created.

Note: The duo performs March 19 at Blue Note Hawaii. Visit bluenotehawaii.com for details.

Visit danielho.com.