Even if you don’t know exactly what a Hawaiian slack key guitar (or ki ho’alu) is, you can probably easily recognize its music. It’s that smooth, sweet sound that evokes island breezes and warm sunny ...

Slack key guitar is the sound of Hawaiian fellowship, protest, and love for native land. Most scholars trace the origin of the indigenous fingerstyle technique—named for the fact that the strings are ...

Select an option below to continue reading this premium story. Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading. Slack key guitarist Lance Takamiya responds to the first ...

Dennis Kamakahi, a prolific songwriter and master of slack key guitar whose music helped propel a renaissance of traditional Hawaiian culture in the 1970s and 1980s, died of lung cancer Monday in ...

According to Matthew Swalinkavich, known by fans as Makana, there are obvious reasons that few musicians master slack key guitar. "It's a very challenging style technically, and it's hard to learn ...

The best musicians are usually the most versatile, such as Jim “Kimo” West. Van Nuys resident West is the guitarist for “Weird Al” Yankovic, whose latest effort, the chart-topping “Mandatory Fun” (RCA ...

Music lovers visiting Oahu can soak up some distinctively Hawaiian tunes on Aug. 12 at the third annual Slack Key Jam planned for the Outrigger Waikiki Reef Hotel. Some of Islands' most beloved slack ...