E Kanikapila Kakou - Let's Play Music Together
Celebrates its 21st Year in 2004

On a rainy Monday night, December 26, 1983, a small circle of Hawaiian music enthusiasts sat with Kaleo Kakalia and Leocadia Miyajima in the Kaua‘i Community College dining room to learn Hawaiian songs. Who could have imagined that in 2004 E Kanikapila Kakou would celebrate its 21st year as one of the longest running programs of the Garden Island Arts Council? Each Monday night, this year starting in January and going into May, E Kanikapila Kakou took us into a performance space with marvelous and talented composers and musicians. Enjoy the pictures and stories on this page about the great performances in 2004.

EKK is pau for another year -- but look for our exciting new program for 2005. Great Hawaiian musician/composers in a relaxed talk story atmosphere.

Please click on these links to see the reviews of some of the 2004 programs:
Makana
Nick Castillo
Carlos Andrade
Kevin & Ikaika Brown
Keith & Carmen Haugen
Gordon "Manuel" Freitas
David & Dennis Kamakahi
Pekelo Cosma
Steel Guitars
Ku'uipo Kumukahi

Makana Shares Slack Key at EKK

Monday, February 16, 2004

E Kanikapila Kakou Leaps into the New Year with standing room only crowd of EKK faithfuls, our precious "snow birds" that return every year, and new fans from Japan, Italy, Scotland, Norway, many from Canada and states all over the continent .... over 50% of the nearly 250 crowded into the island School Main Hall were first time visitors or repeat visitors.

And what an awesome evening learning about the World of Slack Key and the many renown influences on the development of slack key through the songs and stories by Makana. He has a way of telling his stories that makes you feel you are right there experiencing it all with him. He demonstrated the special slack key styles by his mentors and other "greats" that influenced him, so we met Raymond Kane, Sonny Chillingworth, Gabby Pahinui, Atta Isaacs, Leonard Kwan, Dennis Kamakahi, the Sons of Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani, Tau Moe, Bill Tapia and many more.

Perhaps not so well known but still leaving an impression on his young life were the "boss bass player" in his guitar class, the "tita" in his high school and other real life players who were the subject of his humorous stories about what it was like growing up as "Slack Key Kid".

And best of all were the gems that came out of his lifelong passion for his music ... songs sung in a haunting voice that stays with you, that held the entire audience spell bound, and that left us with a greater appreciation for this unique music called Kiho'alu.

Carol Yotsuda [back to top]

Nick Castillo Captivates EKK Audience

Aloha Hawaiian Music Enthusiasts...

Well....wasn't that young man from Waimea something special?

Our second young composer for EKK 2004, 26-year-old Falsetto singer Nick Castillo shared three of his songs with us -- "Ka Pua Melia", "Ka Wahine U'i" (written about Queen Emma's trek through the Alakai), and "Laule'a" which switches back and forth from a chant style to auwana style. It certainly was a major stretch for all of us to try to sing his songs and we all made a valiant effort to learn the songs; but for me it was like vocal aerobics -- when Nick sang upward I was coming down, and when I was singing up and he was already gliding up and down and around and around so I was always about three-quarter beat behind. By the end of the first half we all realized that Nick's songs were written for Nick to sing and for our listening enjoyment.

So during the second half of the evening he shared his very unique style of singing. Although I have heard his voice floating across the meadow in Kokee at the Queen Emma Festival and at the Waimea Town Celebration over the sound of food vendors and beer garden chatter, the uniqueness and versatility of his singing could really be appreciated much better with a captivated audience. He sang "Hula O Makee", "Papa Lina Lahi Lahi", and "Nani Kaua'i" which prompted our resident hula dancer Verne Kauanui to grace us with his lovely hulas ... and can that guy dance naughty!

He spoke of his great admiration for Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom and belted out "Hanohano Haleiwa"; shared a beautiful rendition of "Kalena Kai" and "God Bless My Daddy" which he sang at his father's funeral as was requested in advance by his Dad -- total chicken skin. He sang one of Dennis Pavao's song; it was Dennis's singing that first got Nick hooked on the falsetto style of singing.

He said some songs "keep me out of the rafters" and he sang two of Dennis Kamakahi's songs -- "Pua Hone" which Dennis wrote for his wife Robin and the ever popular "Kokee"; as high as his falsetto voice can reach, his singing at the lower octaves is full and rich and still very uniquely Nick's own style.

Upon request, he sang "Alika" a song most often sang by Aunty Genoa Keawe. As he held those notes that went on and on and on, he strummed his ukulele like the ticking of a clock and we all held our breath and let out huge sighs when he got to the end of each very long note.

"Kauai", a song that he composed based on a letter written in Hawaiian from his friend, described his feelings about this wonderful island. This brought an evening of captivating music to an end and everyone stood up to applaud their new heart throb. What a gem!

Carol [back to top]

Holo-holo all over with Carlos Andrade

March 8, 2004

Last Monday night a perfect double rainbow arched over the sky as many cars drove through the drizzle to get to Island School to sing along with Carlos Andrade; how appropriate that one of his blues song called Hanalei Bay Blues was all about rainbows. In between the verses, Carlos called for the instruments and Big John Kauo and his guitar-toting friend from Molokai went to town. I can't remember his friend's name but I found out later he is Gabby Pahinui's nephew...no wonder he could play like that.

We began our journey with "Na U'i O Kaua'i", a song that spoke of so many place names from the North end of Kaua'i and around the Na Pali area to Mana; the stories about the words and phrases in the song took us back to an earlier time. "Moonlight Lady", a beautiful song inspired by the ladies who worked in the taro fields, is another of Carlos's compositions that we all managed to sing.

We traveled the world with the legendary Taj Mahal in "Hula Blues Tour #3" as Carlos shared the experiences of the Hula Blues Band who toured all over Europe with Taj in their bright Aloha Shirts riding their giant tour bus through cities and towns in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France; they played at nightclubs, castles, festivals, and much more. It's all captured in the song.

"Maikai'i no Kaua'i", a very old favorite sung by everyone, took on new meaning when Carlos explained what the words meant. I even found out I was singing wrong words...something that happens often when you pick up a song by listening to others sing it. We sounded great with the males singing their part and the females singing the female part. " 'Ekolu Mea Nui" a beautiful hymn with a reggae ending also sounded great with all the voices singing in harmony.

Carol [back to top]

Three Musical Journeys Shared at EKK

Kevin & Ikaika Brown

Kevin Brown and 22-year-old son Ikaika found EKK on the Garden island ArtsCouncil website and loved what they saw and sent an e-mail asking if they could participate in it. An unexpected opening brought them to EKK asFather-and-Son team playing slack key; what a treat that was for us. Kevin shared many stories to introduce each song and a couple of stories really stand out.

Growing up poor, Kevin's seven siblings shared one ukulele, and Dad's precious guitar as off limits to everyone. One day Kevin heard his teacher playing slack key and asked if he could learn to play. Teacher asked if he had a guitar, and not wanting to lose the opportunity to learn, he tweaked the truth a bit and said "Yes" although it was his Dad's guitar. The teacher, trying to discourage him showed him a very difficult song and told him to practice that and if he could learn it, he would teach him. He came back the next day and was able to play the song, so began his life-long study of slack key.

Of course the off-limits guitar was his only way to practice so each day he rushed home from school and while his father was still at work he practiced for four hours and when he heard his Dad's screeching car with the broken transmission coming up the hill, he carefully replaced the guitar under his Father's bed exactly as he found it. He did this for four years during highschool.

One day the family was watching a slack key concert on television and his Dad said he always wished he could play like that and Kevin told him that he knew how, so his Dad took out his precious guitar from under his bed and told Kevin to play.... and he did. But he admits he's never been able to tell his Dad to this day how he had learned to play.

Ikaika's story is just as heartwarming. Kevin wanted to pass on the slack key to one of his children so he asked each child if they wanted to learn but they all had other interests. He didn't ask Ikaika because he was only 10 years old and too young. Ikaika asked his Dad several times to teach him, but Kevin said he was too young. His wise wife said he should give Ikaika a chance so he finally gave in and taught Ikaika a very difficult song and Ikaika learned it in two shakes. Then....Kevin and Ikaika Brown together played the song he learned -- the beautiful and not easy to play "Maui Chimes".

Ikaika at age 12 wrote a song called "Kalo Man" as part of his homework assignment and performed it to get a grade. When Kevin was trying to promote slack key music with a CD, he was short one song so told his associate that Ikaika had written a song called "Kalo Man" so they added that onto the CD. When Kevin told his 12 year old son what he did, Ikaika cried all night, upset that his friends would hear him singing on the CD."Kalo Man" became the hit song and the one that everyone remembers. Today, Ikaika performs and sings like a pro. [back to top]

Keith & Carmen Haugen

A musical couple with the longest running show in Waikiki next to Don Ho spent a busy weekend on Kauai, performing at Kukui Grove Shopping Center Center stage at lunch time, for the Kamalani volunteers at dinner time, for the Kupunas at Kauai Heritage Center on Monday morning, and finally at EKK.

Man of many talents and languages, Keith shared a scholarly history of songs that evolved from other songs -- did you know that the 1950 version of "Love Me Tender" made famous by Elvis was written by Vera Matson is based on the same tune as the 1860's West Point Cadet song "Army Blue" which has the same melody as "Aura Lee", a 1700's college glee club barbershop quartets song.He then shared a love song that he wrote for his wife Carmen based on the same tune. It's amazing to learn of the geneology of so many familiar songs and never know where they came from until someone points it out. Keith has really researched this topic quite a bit.

A very special song called "We Still Care" written about the attack on Pearl Harbor was sang by Keith while Carmen did a sign-hula ... really chicken skin. He also shared his version of how Gordon Freitas came to write"Peaceful Arizona". (which definitely was different from Gordon's version).

Finally, the couple did a concert of nine songs -- among them "In Your Eyes", "Kalena", "Pua Carouna" (Crown Flower), "It's Christmas All Over the World", "Kaimana Hila", "Ukulele Lady", "Kipu Kai" (with Carmen doing the hula), "Song of Old Hawaii".

How did such a haole-looking gentleman come to play such a key role in Hawaiian music? Keith played in Hawaiian Bands while serving in the military in Japan, speaks fluent Japanese and Hawaiian, teaches Hawaiian language to school children, composes Hawaiian songs, performs with his wife in Waikiki, co-hosts Hawaiian music radio show, is very active in the music circles, and is a photographer, marketing expert, promoter, and probably much more -- you name it, he done it! [back to top]

Gordon "Manuel" Freitas

Have you ever met a man who can teach you a song while telling a story about the song, go off on a tangent with some side stories or geneologies of who is related to who, come back to the main story if you remind him, perform a song with incredible guitar fingering, continue teaching you the song until you can sing it, throw in an instrumental while you catch your breath, and then sings another song that takes your breath away....well, that's Gordon,a story-teller in the true Portugee - Chinese - Hawaiian - Japanese - etc - etc - etc tradition.

Growing up in Holualoa where riding horses were favored over riding bikes - that's where the Paniola-Paniolo yodeling songs come in; grew up in amusical family - that's where all the songs about the land and the people come in; was the only non-black kid in an all-black high school on the mainland where he developed his artistic skills; served in the US Navy and retired as Chief Petty Officer -- that's where the partiotic songs come in -- and when he taught us "Peaceful Arizona" which was written after he saw an elderly Japanese lady throw a ginger lei into the water and the oil perking up from the ship below burst into rainbows within the circle of the lei and also when he sang "BB49" (the true name of the sunken Arizona),folks were sniffling or wiping their eyes.

All too soon the three hours came to an end and the appreciative audience stood up to applaud and shout "hana hou", so of course, he obliged.

One phrase Gordon left me with was "All art conspires to become music"; that is his chosen means of expression because he does it so well.With all this great music each week, for me "All music conspires to become stories".

Be sure to come on Monday, April 12 and become part of Pekelo Cosma's musical story; from all reports, it promises to be a most unique adventure.

Carol Yotsuda [back to top]

Pekelo Cosma

April 12, 2004

Growing up in Hana Maui where backyard jams were one of the few kinds of entertainment -- a place where everybody had a back yard and everyone's back yard was a gathering place for the small community to sing and play and share music -- this is where Pekelo came from.

Pekelo Cosma was a new talent at E Kanikapila Kakou although he is not new to the world of Hawaiian music. Well known for his Gabby style of singing and falsetto voice, Pekelo is in constant demand to share his music.

On Kevin Brown's recommendation, Pekelo rose to the occasion to fill an open date at EKK by sending everything we needed in record time: photo, bio, songs, agreement, travel dates, etc. and for someone with a schedule like Pekelo, that was an awesome accomplishment in itself.

A couple of days before Monday night, Pekelo calls and says that he wrote a song for E Kanikapila Kakou - an "oli oli" (rejoicing song) that he wanted to share. The catchy words "E Kanikapila Kakou" is something I can't get out of my head, he confesses.

More challenges: He calls very early Monday morning from Maui, "My voice is hoarse -- I had to sing five hours yesterday; maybe it will get better by tonight."

"Just come! It's okay" I assured him. By the time he arrived, he definitely had a persistent buffo lodged in his throat. But Pekelo was determined to teach his songs, so he worked with the instrumental group to learn "Going to Hana Maui", "Koali" and "E Kanikapila Kakou". By the time the singers showed up at 7:00, the group was in full swing.

When the singing session started, Pekelo was beginning to lose his voice and instead of a high falsetto, we heard the deepest bass voice we ever heard. The Kauai Ohana rose to the occasion -- Fran Nestel with her soprano voice, Kaiopua Fyfe with his harmonizing tenor, and Bruddah Kawika Hanakeawe with his nimble slack key fingers all jumped up on stage with Pekelo and turned the evening into a backyard jam -- Hana style. It was wonderful!

Pekelo shared the stories of the long long long road to Hana in his song "Going to Hana Maui" which is also the name of his CD; the road is sometimes called Divorce Highway because by the time the couple reaches Hana, they are ready to file for the big "D". He shared his love for a special place called "Kauiki Point" in a very beautiful song by Tandy McKenzie and translated by Pekelo. "Koali" written by his Grand Aunt for Ohana O Koali prompted Sabra Kauka to get up and dance -- such an elegant hula dancer bringing the mele to life in her dance. "My Hawaii Nei" written by Pekelo has such a beautiful simple and straight forward message of Aloha and is surely one that kids should be singing in schools throughout the island state. I could just imagine several hundred kids singing it together at a May Day celebration.

The participants immediately embraced the song written for them -- "E Kanikapila Kakou". Pekelo had everyone standing and singing it Faster! Louder! Swing with it! and everyone did because it was so catchy and so rejoiceful.

"I want to come back to E Kanikapila Kakou" said Pekelo, and everyone cheered. We all enjoyed our backyard jam in Hana!

Monday, April 19 -- EKK begins at 6:00 pm with the extraordinary father and son team -- Dennis and David Kamakahi. Come early if you want a seat.

Carol Yotsuda [back to top]

David and Dennis Kamakahi

April 25, 2004

"You could say you were there at EKK when David and Dennis Kamakahi did their first public performance of songs from David's first solo album coming out in July 2004"

Yes! A packed house of EKK enthusiasts had the very special privilege of hearing the stories behind the songs and listening to the father and son duo share their music.

The instrumental session was a real challenge as one group of guitarists clustered up around Dennis for the first hour to get special tips on how to maximize their instrumental techniques while a huge group of 40 with ukulele in hand strummed and played with David just a few feet away. Auwe! We need more space!

The first hour was a sharing of "Nani" by Alice Nakakelua who at age 96 was still strumming away. Dennis recalls her beautiful guitar acquired in the early 1900's, but when he asked his 96-year old Aunt where it was, she said, "The termites got it".

"E Pili Mai" and "Na Ka Pueo" were two more songs shared by David. "Kupa Landing" (Cooper Landing on the Big Island where the cattle were shipped out) which David sang a lot of Kamehameha schools was a yodeling song that the audience sang with such zest.

"In my younger days... " Dennis often starts out like this as he shared the story of how he aspired to be a cowboy in Kamuela. He described Ho'okena, which was a cattle landing on the big island, and how his cowboy Uncle was trying to teach Dennis how to rope cattle. Being near-sighted, Dennis kept roping his Uncle instead of the cattle, so his uncle told him, "Kawika, you stick to music!", so Dennis David Kamakahi left his dream of being a cowboy and went on to continue his career as one of Hawai'i's greatest living composers of Hawaiian music.

"Pa'ani", the title of David's soon to be released CD, has a lively mix of songs, several in other languages... quite a surprise. The songs they shared were:

"Begin the Beguine" by Cole Porter, a song that Dennis's dad, a great jazz trombonist brought back to share; David's ukulele solo of this song is quite awesome.

"Mokupuni I Na Pu'u" with music by Herb Ohta Jr. and words by Uncle Dennis is a beautiful song about a house on the hills in Tierra Santa where they stayed. When their hosts heard the song about their home, they cried. Dennis shared that Herb Ohta, Jr. is one of the up and coming young composers of Hawaiian music.

A real surprise was a song in French entitled "Dancez Par La Nult" (Dance Through the Night) by Dennis Kamakahi which describes the cajun parties which begin on Friday night and end on Sunday night with just a short break on Sunday morning to attend church.

"Mother's Memory", an instrumental by David Kamakahi, was written in honor of his Aunt who recently passed away. The beauty of the song reveals his love and appreciation felt for the mother of Keoni and Lauren Ka'awa; she was a wonderful surrogate Mom to their whole group of friends.

"Alla En El Rancho Grande" by Uranga and Del Moral is a lively Mexican song that had everyone stomping their feet. Dennis said that there are over 1000 hula halau's in Mexico.

They ended with a lively instrumental based on the Old Looney Tunes by Ledward Ka'apana. David and Dennis played for a month with Ledward at the Ocean Terrace in Waikiki. During this time David expressed desire to learn from Ledward, so of course, Hawaiian style is to just learn by watching. One day Ledward noticed David intent on watching his hands so he began every so slightly turning his body the other way, and David kept leaning forward to watch until he fell off the chair. That must have convinced Ledward that David really wanted to learn from him, so they will soon embark on an Ethnic Heritage Apprenticeship Grant from the SFCA so that Ledward will be able to share his music with young David.

"Koke'e" by Dennis must be one of the songs that hula dancers dance the most, so they gave the hula dancers a chance to get up on the floor to dance.

Of course, the group stood up and demanded a hana hou with great applause. Dennis shared a beautiful hymn by Moe Keale. What a special night at EKK!

Carol Yotsuda [back to top]

Steel Guitars at EKK

Aloha EKK fans ....

Every so often on a warm evening, a surreal phenomenom occurs in Hawai'i...everything is normal one minute and then suddenly the night air is swarming with termites around every light. You can't imagine where they suddenly appear from because they are quietly doing their job until the time is right and then they appear.

Monday night at EKK was a bit unusual, almost surreal, because one rarely sees musicians performing with only their steel guitars and especially not all at the same time in one room. We got to see the entire gamut of steel guitars from novice to professional.

Pops Matheus who has been diligently studying Lorene's instruction booklet for a year started out the program with two songs that he had practiced with Marlys accompanying him on her ukulele. Pops was right on key and demonstrating the proper movements but his adapted acoustic guitar became a bit stage fright in front of the audience and was slightly faint; Lorene assured us all that the day before he had played the numbers perfectly. Audience cheered his perserverance in mastering the instrument in just one year. That's what it takes... perserverance!

Derrick Mau of Honolulu who got started on Lorene's instruction book two years ago and is now studying on his own played a couple of more difficult songs; you could see that even a year makes a huge difference. Derrick is interested in hooking up with the vintage steel guitarists because they have these different sounds that many of the new players don't create with their instruments.

Lorene and Art Ruymar of Vancouver BC came prepared with 17 very old songs to share. Many were the hapa haolo tunes of yesteryear and some were traditional well known songs. On some songs Lorene played the steel with husband Art backing her up on the guitar, and then they switched as Art demonstrated his skill on the steel and Lorene backed him up. Lorene has sent to every school in Hawai'i a copy of her instruction book hoping that young folks would give it a try so that the steel guitar tradition, so hot in the '40's and '50's, would not die out. The steel guitar conventions they started in 1985 continue every other year in Hawai'i and every year inIlliois.

Ernie Palmeira, attending EKK for the first time, sat quietly in the back, and when asked to play, he sank lower and lower into his white plastic chair and mumbled something like, "The tuning is different." Apparently, steel guitars have so many different tunings that one steel guitar player would never play on another's steel, but after much prompting, Ernie got up and let 'er rip; he made that instrument sing. His years of playing the instrument professionally was evident as he played a couple of numbers and then came back to play Hawai'i Aloha. Kekai Chock, the nephew of Joseph Kukupu who invented the steel guitar while he was attending Kamehameha School, got up with his guitar to accompany Ernie and sing the songs.

Lorene shared that they discovered that Joseph Kukupu is buried in Dover, New Jersey, and the folks of Dover are going to celebrate and honor him with a "Joseph Kukupu" day.

Edward Punua, another accomplished steel guitar player, had quietly snuck in from the back with his wife Vanessa and his four children. He obliged everyone's request and was really thrilled to be playing on a beautiful silver dobro, saying, "I never played on a beautiful instrument like this before," but to hear him play, one would never have guessed that. It was quite an honor to have a busy accountant show up during tax time to share his music, and the audience really loved it. Edward hopes that he can pass on his love of playing the steel guitar to his children.

According to Nalani Brun, there are thousands of steel guitar players in Japan. According to Keith Haugen, there are lots and lots of Hawaiian bands in Japan. It appears that the hum of steel guitars is louder in Japan than in Hawai'i.

I just learned from my brother that Owana Salazar who plays the steel guitar was invited to play in the New Orleans Jazz Festival this weekend. Pretty neat. She will be at the Kauai Music Festival at end of May at the Hyatt. That's a program to not miss.

All too soon, E Kanikapila Kakou 2004 will come to an end this coming Monday with Hilo's Ku'uipo Kumukahi. It's also the Paina night so everyone's invited to show up with their potluck dish at 6:00 pm at Island School. Bring your instruments for some good fun jammin'.

Carol Yotsuda [back to top]

Ku'uipo Kumukahi

May 3, 2004

So...what am I going to do Monday nights?

That was the number one question everyone at E Kanikapila Kakou was asking each other as we were putting away the chairs and clearing up the remnants of a fabulous potluck table on the final night of the EKK 2004 season.

What a great way to end the season with Ku'uipo Kumukahi singing so many great songs in her marvelous voice; she was accompanied by Kekai Chock and his magical fingers -- he can play just about any song; it was a colorful fast-paced, go-with-the-flow kaleidoscope of music, talk story, and dance. Many of the songs were sensuous with many levels of hidden meaning, so they moved the hula dancers to strut their stuff. Karen Aiu of Honolulu, Verne Kauanui, Healani Trembath, Fran Nestel, and Keola Alalem got up and danced with such grace and spirit.

Since Haunani Apoliona was unable to be at EKK as scheduled, Ku'uipo dedicated the "teve teve" hula song to Haunani. She dedicated a very popular hapa-haole song and its Japanese language version to Ku'uipo and Takashi Tanaka of Japan who were finally there in person after weeks of e-mailing us about their visit to Kaua'i. And... Ku'uipo and Takashi knew the song by heart because they were singing along...Wow!

Keola Alalem shared an original composition written after his trip to visit his relatives in Ni'ihau. He can not only dance but he's got a great voice. Grandma Isabella Iida was beaming with pride to see her grandson finally up on that EKK stage. We've been trying to get him to come for several years now. Keola invited entertainers to sign up to perform at the E Ho'omau Hawaiian Festival at Kapa'a Ball Park on June 18 - 19 weekend.

Ku'uipo put a great deal of time and effort collecting an anthology of songs about the WIND. Some songs were by ali'i, some by islands, and various other groupings. These were the songs that she shared during the introductory portion of the evening. Although time was too short to cover all the songs that we brought with her, the song sheets are a valuable reference for anyone who wants to further explore songs about the wind. She encouraged everyone to check out www.huapala.org website as a great resource for songs.

All too soon, the evening and the season came to an end, but here are some things to look forward to...

This Saturday at Kukui Grove Shopping Center is the annual Ukulele Festival with ukulele workshop starting at 10:00 am and performances on Center Stage from noon on -- all day. Look in the paper for details or call 245-7784.

Hal Kinnaman is soon to offer a series of workshops for PICKING on the ukulele; contact Frank Frazier at frazier@hawaii.rr.com for details.

Garden Island Arts Council is sponsoring "Bluegrass Beat Meets Hawaiian Heat" concert on Monday, May 24 at KCC Performing Arts Center at 7:00 pm -- stars are Tim Stafford and Rob Ickes of Nashville, Ledward Ka'apana on Kiho'alu, and Ken Emerson. Opening up the concert will be the "Happy Enchiladas" -- the whole enchilada!

Best of all....we are already gearing up for EKK 2005 as we have many outstanding musicians lined up for another great season.

Mahalo to the amazing line up of resources that gave so much of their talent and then some, to all our loyal local and visiting participants who came every Monday, to the County of Kauai and the Hawaii Tourism Authority for funding this program, to those who gave generous donations to the program, to Island School for providing the space for the program, to Fran Nestel for her weekly outpouring of flower leis, for Brian Nestel and Barney for bringing the sound system each week and videotaping the series, for Pop and Marlys Matheus for being our perennial official greeters, to Anne O'Malley for getting all the PR out so folks would know what was happening, to Carrie Johnson our webmaster for keeping our website up and alive, to The Garden Island Newspaper and all the tourist publications and all the radio stations for helping us get the word out, and all the too-many-to-name volunteers who helped us with so many aspects of making this program happen.

Keep Hawaiian Music Alive!

Carol Yotsuda [back to top]