Mahi Beamer, a grandson of famed Hawaii island composer and hula teacher Helen Desha Beamer, whose exceptional talents as a singer, pianist and organist inspired several generations of island musicians and vocalists, died Friday morning at Kuakini Medical Center. He was 88.
Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winning recording artist Kapono Beamer said his “favorite uncle,” who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, collapsed shortly after playing piano at the funeral for his brother, Milton Ho‘olulu Desha “Sonny” Beamer Jr., on Wednesday at Oahu Cemetery Chapel. Sonny Beamer died July 5 at the age of 91.
Edwin Mahi‘ai “Mahi” Copp Beamer was born Dec. 5, 1928, in Honolulu. He attended Kamehameha Schools, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
His first tour of the mainland with his cousins Winona and Keola (who was known in later years as “Uncle Keola” to distinguish him from Winona’s son, who was also known as Keola) was the start of a career that included engagements at the Hawaiian Room in New York, Carnegie Hall, the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas and numerous showrooms in Waikiki.
He recorded his first album, “The Remarkable Voice of Hawaii’s Mahi Beamer in Authentic Hawaiian Songs,” for Capitol Records in 1959. The label released a second album, “More Authentic Island Songs by Mahi … Hawaii’s Most Remarkable Voice,” shortly afterward.
Hoku Award-winning recording artist Kaumakaiwa Kanaka‘ole described Beamer as “the quintessential male vocalist of his era.”
“A true contralto, Mahi Beamer’s voice is the epitome of the countertenor tradition,” Kanaka‘ole said via text from the Big Island. Kanaka‘ole praised “the seamless synergy of his piano virtuoso and mezzo soprano voice” and expressed the wishes of the Kanaka‘ole ohana in bidding Beamer “a safe journey to the bosom of your kupuna.”
Horace Dudoit III, founder and leader of Ho‘okena, recalled going to Ward Centre with Robert Cazimero, Leina‘ala Kalama Heine and the hula dancers of the Brothers Cazimero show in the mid-1980s to catch Beamer playing piano at a popular piano bar.
“We’d hear all these legendary singers sing while uncle Mahi worked his magic on the piano. And it wasn’t only Hawaiian music; there were show tunes and old-time standards. Uncle Mahi was that versatile.”
Beamer was “an amazing ray of light,” said record producer Kaui Dalire. “I can see him playing piano and being so kolohe (mischievous, risque). I was privileged to have shared some special moments with him.”
Beamer’s talents as a pianist and arranger contributed to the artistic success of the song “Honolulu City Lights,” which was written by Winona’s son Keola and was recorded by Keola and Kapono in 1978 as the title song of what would become the brothers’ biggest album. Beamer played piano on the recording and used the melody of one of Helen Desha Beamer’s songs, “To You,” as a countermelody to Keola’s tune; another member of the production team, Teddy Randazzo, used Beamer’s idea in the musical arrangements for the string section.
Beamer continued to perform as a pianist and organist after he retired as a singer.
Beamer received the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991 and was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
Hawaii U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa said in a formal statement Friday morning, “He was one of Hawaii’s most prolific musicians of traditional Hawaiian music and dance and was widely known as one of Hawaii’s most notable falsetto voices.” She added that “his musical legacy shall live eternally in the voices and musical compositions of Hawaii’s musicians.”
Beamer is survived by his sister, Helen Ka‘alo‘ehukaiopua‘ena Desha Beamer.
