Makana
Wailuku, Hawaii, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
"Makana provided a textbook illustration of slack-key style"… "dazzling." - New York Times
"His transfixingly agile slack-key technique and genre-crossing music have relit a fire for live music in Waikîkî." - San Francisco Chronicle
"An immensely gifted artist, Makana's instrumental brilliance bears comparison with the work of such groundbreaking acoustic guitarists as John Fahey and Michael Hedges." - Maui News
"Slack key guitar music, indigenous to Hawai'i, has been around longer than the blues, and Makana is considered the greatest living player." - Esquire
"I've been deep into classical music and Hawaiian slack-key guitar. I've gotten way into Andres Segovia, and this Hawaiian guitar player called Makana" - Guitar World
"He's lean, young, expressive, with impressive stage presence and jewel box precision… He is a master, for certain, but blessed with sizzling showmanship." - Honolulu Advertiser
“With five albums to his credit [now 6], he has taken this centuries-old tradition and blasted it into the 21st century, fusing it with influences from Bob Marley to the Smashing Pumpkins, and opening for Sting and Santana. See why this young guitar hero is poised to break out.”
- National Geographic
Discography
-Venus, and the sky turns to clay: The Instrumental World of Makana
-Makana: Different Game
-Ki Ho'alu: Journey of Hawaiian Slack Key
-Koi Au
-Makana
Photos
Bio
Makana provided a textbook illustration of slack-key style" "dazzling." The New York Times
"He's lean, young, expressive, with impressive stage presence and jewel box precision He is a master, for certain, but blessed with sizzling showmanship." -- Honolulu Advertiser
"I've been deep into classical music and Hawaiian slack-key guitar. I've gotten way into Andres Segovia, and this Hawaiian guitar player called Makana"
--Kirk Hammett interview, Guitar World (Lead guitarist for Metallica)
Virtuosic and versatile, Makana defies description. As a young prodigy, he was known as The Ki-hoalu Kid (The Slack-Key Kid). He has since far exceeded the promise of his younger days in both his playing and songwriting. His mastery of slack keys open tunings and technique, along with a naturally engaging voice, allows him to successfully explore the breadth of slack key guitar as well as folk, rock, classical, bluegrass, ethnic, jazz, and any genre that sparks his imagination. Check him out at www.makanamusic.com. and YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgucjm7qwrs
He has also just started played with renowned percussionist Gerardo Velez (played with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock and such musicians as David Bowie, Sir Elton John, Duran Duran, Slash from Guns & Roses, and Stevie Wonder) --an amazing collaboration between two artists who keep pushing boundaries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gciAoajeP8A
Says Makana: It's not easy to categorize my music; it crosses multiple genres. Like my kumu (teacher) Uncle Sonny Chillingworth, one of Hawaii's legendary performers: he played Hawaiian slack key guitar, Portuguese music, country, bossa nova, katchi-katchigrowing up in Hawai'i exposed me to both a melting pot of ethnicities as well as a constant influx of sounds from around the world. My various records reflect those diverse ingredients, and I am blessed to have deep roots, having learned from the Slack Key Masters as a young boy.
Makana's original songs are distinctly his own, yet infused with the spirit of Hawai'i. He weaves together a broad spectrum of cultural, lyrical, and musical styles, enabling him to explore, conjure and transport -- to past and future, familiar and foreign, dream-like to rousing. Makanas growing world of fans, of all ages, all backgrounds, have discovered the thrill of his performances: amazing guitar, heartfelt songs, impassioned playing, and music that touches the soul.
With five albums to his credit [now 6], he has taken this centuries-old tradition and blasted it into the 21st century, fusing it with influences from Bob Marley to the Smashing Pumpkins, and opening for Sting and Santana. See why this young guitar hero is poised to break out. -- National Geographic
Links
