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Keola Beamer - biography


One of the most innovative and influential slack key guitarists of the modern era, Keolamaikalani Breckenridge Desha Beamer was born February 18, 1951 in Honolulu. He grew up in Kamuela on the Big Island of Hawai'i, an experience he lovingly recounted in the language of slack key on his 1997 album MAUNA KEA - WHITE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL (Dancing Cat 38011). Keola recognized early in life that words have limitations. "That's why I turned to music," he says. "I longed for a better way to convey what was in my heart."
   Keola's 'ohana (family) was well equipped to nurture his musical interests. One of Hawai'i's best known musical clans, the Beamers trace their roots back to the 15th century. Ancient ancestors include Big Island Queen Ahiakumai Ki'eki'e and Ho'olulu, one of the kapu (sacred) twins born of Kame'eiamoku, favored wife of Kamehameha Nui. More recent family members include composer and hula exponent Helen Desha Beamer (Keola's great-grandmother), composer Pono Beamer (his grandfather), master teacher Louise LeiomAlama Beamer (his grandmother), falsetto singer and pianist Mahi Beamer (his cousin), and chanter and teacher Winona Beamer (his mother). Keola cites his family as his primary musical influence and consciously seeks to maintain its legacy.
   Hawaiian society has always placed a high value on sound, which has led to a strong commitment to preserving traditional musical forms and an equally powerful interest in the music of other cultures. Reflecting this duality, Keola has crafted his style with elements of the ancient and the modern, the indigenous and the introduced. On the one hand, he actively champions Hawaiian forms that predate contact with Europeans. As illustrated by the pieces The Beauty of Mauna Kea and Pele Trilogy, he loves the chant form and plays traditional instruments such as 'ohe hano ihu (bamboo nose flute) and 'ili'ili (lava stone castanets). Says Keola, "For me, as for most Hawaiians, hula and chant connect the generations."
   On the other hand, Keola was one of the first slack key masters to experiment with electronic effects, multi-track recording, complex chord progressions, even innovative guitar construction. Keola attributes the controversy this sometimes causes to healthy aesthetic and generational differences. "I remember at fifteen sitting at the feet of Aunty Alice Namakelua and hearing her call Gabby Pahinui a radical," relates Keola. "Now he's considered traditional. For me, that's the beauty of slack key. Who wants to be in an art form with no room for expression left in it?"
   In the 1960s, Keola studied at the Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, a hotbed of the emerging "Hawaiian Renaissance." He also gained valuable experience performing with his mother, who remains his favorite collaborator. Their most recent project, a CD of stories and slack key entitled THE GOLDEN LEHUA TREE (Starscape Music 96112), brings Hawaiian folklore to children and adults around the world.
   In 1973, Keola released his groundbreaking solo album, HAWAIIAN SLACK KEY GUITAR IN THE REAL OLD STYLE (Music of Polynesia 22000), and published the first slack key instruction book. In the 1970s, Keola and his brother, Kapono, also formed The Beamer Brothers, bringing slack key to the rock generation. Their mix of Hawaiiana and pop produced many Island standards, including Keola's best known original, Honolulu City Lights. Through the 1980s, Keola continued his solo exploration of new musical territory while gaining inspiration from traditional music.
   Keola's first album on Dancing Cat, WOODEN BOAT, was released in 1994. Each of his Dancing Cat albums focuses on a different aspect of his art and is characterized by keen intelligence, instrumental virtuosity and deep sensitivity to nature. "I'm pretty much a nature person," Keola says. "Wherever we go, my wife and I always pause and listen to the environment: the wind blowing through the hala leaves, the water, the birds. I get a lot of inspiration from those moments." One such moment inspired Keola's fourth album for Dancing Cat, KOLONAHE - FROM THE GENTLE WIND, which centers on images of ka makani (the wind). Several songs in this recording make direct references to wind, an important image in Hawaiian music, while others incorporate subtle musical allusions to it.
   In Hawai'i, the creative impulse usually stems from a pleasurable experience. The concept for KOLONAHE came to Keola one afternoon on Maui. "I was out in a distant valley sitting under some hau trees enjoying the space, the quiet, when all of a sudden, the most beautiful, refreshing breeze came through. It caressed everything in its path: the trees, the grass, the stones. It changed the whole complexion of that day. At a time like that, how can you feel anything other than peace in your heart? Music is like that too. You can't see the kolonahe, but you can feel its presence. It brings something beautiful into our lives."