Celebration of Hawaiian Music Hall of Famers on tap at Blue Note Hawaii

Slack-key guitarist George Kuo brings an all-star cast of local musicians to Blue Note Hawaii on Wednesday to celebrate the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.

Among the musicians commemorated will be Gabby Pahinui, the Alvin Isaacs family, Johnny Noble and the Sons of Hawaii. “These musicians represent the higher level of Hawaiian music,” Kuo said. “We’ll be playing a sampling of all the inductees.”

Pomaika‘i Lyman, daughter of the great singer Auntie Genoa Keawe, will perform songs by her mother, joining Kuo, steel guitar virtuoso Greg Sardinha and Aaron Mahi, who has led the Royal Hawaiian Band and is currently music director at Kamehameha Schools Alumni Glee Club.

“We’re going to have music of the inductees, like slack-key guitar, steel guitar, falsetto singing and stories,” Kuo said.

The performance represents a return to Waikiki of sorts for musicians representing the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Hawaiian music and hula. It hosts concerts throughout the year and inducts new members at its annual Lei of Stars ceremony.

Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame members gave weekly performances at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center until last year, but those ended, Kuo said. “We don’t have enough of a presence throughout the year in Waikiki,” he said.

Kuo regularly performs with a double-neck guitar, with each set of strings tuned differently. (Guitar aficionados might be interested to know he uses G Taro Patch and C Moana Loa tunings.)

Kuo’s double tuning is especially apt for a tune like “Ipo Lei Manu,” a tune written by Queen Kapiolani about the precious bird feathers used in a lei for King Kalakaua.

“Each tuning has a unique flavor to it,” Kuo said, “so during the same song you can play the two different tunings and impart different feelings. … It’s like going to the supermarket at the poke delicatessen, you see all the different kinds of poke. You can’t just have one.”

For more on the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame, visit hmhof.org.