<< back to EKK main page

Dear EKK Fans

As the 2006 season of "Musical Ohana" winds down to the final night, Monday, April 24, featuring the combined musical virtuosity of Hawai'i's beloved composer Dennis Kamakahi, rising ukulele star David Kamakahi, and Shane August - a musical gem with one foot in Kilauea and the other in Los Angeles, we are thankful for our wonderful dedicated and ever-growing new audiences that show up at EKK no matter what stands in their way.

Thunderstorms, lightning, electrical blackout, and just last week a traffic accident 25 miles away that stalled the traffic all the way through Lihu'e town that most folks took an hour to get from the Marriott to KCC...all five miles of it....but folks showed up FINALLY to enjoy a smorgasbord of musical treats.

Well known Kaua'i ukulele instructor Kenny Rapozo provided the "appetizer", working with the ukulele gang for the first hour on some very solid ukulele basics. When it looked like the talents scheduled for the evening might not get through the stalled traffic, two EKK favorites -- Kawika Hanakeawe and Rocky Pau -- took to the stage with their old style slack key music. We could call them "soup and salad", whetting the appetite for more.

Nick Castillo, Kaua'i's well known falsetto favorite with lovely Nalani Duarte-Vidal and newcomer on guitar Randall Giminez finally made it through the traffic and took to the stage and served up an "entree" of great falsetto songs. Nick definitely has his own style of singing, savoring each note, letting the song roll out through his lips like thick rich honey....sometimes high up in the rafters and at other times very low and powerful. He truly has a style of his own.

Nick loves to intertwine mele and chanting wherever possible as in his "Ku'u Home O Waimea", but when we tried to sing it, it was definitely a song for us to listen to and enjoy rather than sing.

Nick took a song made popular by Dennis Pavao and later recorded by Pueo Pata and sang it in both Pata's interpretation and his own; the song sounds entirely different. He also sang a song made popular by Amy Gilliom and it again sounded like a very different song.

One of the most beautiful songs Nick sings is one he wrote about Queen Emma's trek into the Alakai. He wrote this because he found his could not sing the Queen's Jubilee for the Queen Emma Festival and chose instead to compose a song that he could sing.

A wonderful unexpected surprise was a song by Nalani Duarte-Vidal. A lovely voice and an exquisite hula dancer. She was definitely the "dessert" for the evening. What a treat the evening turned out to be...in spite of stalled traffic.

Kaua'i has wonderful young talent finding their own voice and many of them have graced the EKK stage and shared so generously with our Ohana...and everyone is already asking, "Now, what I going do on Monday nights?"

Carol Yotsuda

<< back to EKK main page