Cecilio Rodriguez and Henry Kapono Ka‘aihue played together for the first time at a dinner party in 1973 after a mutual friend suggested that they might like to make music together. Three songs were all it took. Rodriguez and Ka‘aihue became Cecilio & Kapono, and the duo became one of the biggest Hawaii-resident acts in modern island music. C&K headlined the Waikiki Shell and Aloha Stadium; they were also among few isle recording artists of any style to be signed by a major national record label. Many of the songs they wrote have become island standards.
When C&K broke up in 1978 — word at the time was that it was for contractual reasons — Kapono took a few years out of the spotlight and then returned as a multifaceted singer/songwriter. He explored Caribbean rhythms years before the dawn of “Jawaiian” music, went “unplugged” before that became trendy, and wrote songs with Hawaiian nationalist content before the topic became acceptable on Hawaiian radio.
The pair reunited in 1987 and recorded a full-length album, “Goodtimes Together,” earning them four Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. In 2009, they received the Hawai‘i Academy of Records Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for their work together.
Kapono, who continued on as a solo entertainer, will celebrate 50 years of C&K hits Saturday at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell. Here are the stories behind three musical milestones.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Question: One of your biggest C&K songs is “Friends” — “It’s so nice to see familiar faces out in the crowd. …” Where did that song come from?
Answer: “Friends” came about when we had been away from home for quite some time and some friends came to see us (in California). They were from Hawaii, and when they walked through the door, I saw them — I can picture seeing them walking in the door. It just kind of lit up my whole soul and I went, “Wow, these guys are friends of mine and they’re here to support me,” and I just had gotten inspired by that moment. … (Then) about 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the morning, I was woken up by the song. It was dark, everybody was sleeping, so I went into the bathroom and started writing this song. In about 15 minutes it was done. And here it is today. It’s still alive. It still makes people feel like friends and feel good, and I think that was meant to be.
Q: Let’s talk about a song many people may not know you wrote, “Home in the Islands,” that was a hit for Island Band and then the Brothers Cazimero.
A: I was on tour in Colorado. It was snowing, a blizzard snowing, and we’re driving up to Wyoming and then finally we got where we couldn’t get any farther, so the gig was canceled and we turned around, and I started writing about going home. “My home in the islands,” you know, it’s snowing and I’m thinking about home.
I wrote the song for Island Band; their album was the first album I produced. They’re great talents, great musicians and they did a great job. But the story I got was that Robert heard it at the studio and he loved it. He and Roland got together and put it together and just kicked it out of the park.
Q: What were your thoughts in 2006 when you recorded a traditional Hawaiian standard, “Hi‘ilawe,” as a rock song?
A: I love the song. Tradition is good, but tradition has changed over time and I wanted to do something different. Anybody can do “Hi‘ilawe” and it’ll all sound the same. I wanted to go “beyond the reef” and do something that might impact a younger audience, and even the mainland audience because the mainland loves rock ’n’ roll. And it did impact a lot of young people from the mainland, more so than here. I know that so many traditionalists want to hear the song sung the same way, but there’s enough of that already, I don’t need to join the party. I just wanted to identify myself as a singer-songwriter, and do something more modern and more forward moving.
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Did you know?
In 1982, Kapono recorded a children’s album with comedian Rap Reiplinger. Inspired by Kapono’s daughter, “Dreamerboy” is a touching, 12-song fairy tale. The recording won Kapono a Na Hoku Hanohano award for male vocalist of the year in 1983.
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Henry Kapono Celebrates 50 Years of the Songs of C&K
>> Where: Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell
>> When: 7 p.m. Saturday
>> Cost: $45-$150
>> Info: ticketmaster.com
>> Support for Maui: Kapono is donating $1 for each reserved-seating ticket sold, $10 per lawn ticket sold, and 10% of net concert and T-shirt sale proceeds to the Henry Kapono Foundation We Are Friends Maui program. Kapono also is supporting Maui’s professional musicians directly through the foundation, which will provide $500 Foodland gift cards to music industry professionals who have been directly impacted by the Maui wildfires. For more, go to henrykapono foundation.org.
