When it comes to music from Hawai’i, the Beamer Brothers Keola and Kapono will be forever known for their hit songs and their Hawaiian slack key guitar style.
But the Beamer family is known for their fingerprint in Hawaiian culture. Their mother is Winona Beamer, respected for the revival of Hawaiian culture and has published numerous books, wrote numerous musical scores. She was an early proponent of the ancient form of hula being featured in teach and public performances and is a hula master.
Winona is the granddaughter of Helen Desha Beamer, who was a significant composers of songs in the Hawaiian language from the late 1800s through the 1920’s. And Helen’s mother was Isabella Hale’ala Ka’ili Desha, a highly regarded Hawaiian composer, musician and kumu hula and is descended from notable chiefly lines.
Winona is also the cousin to tenor falsetto singer, composer and hula dancer Mahi Beamer.
Needless to say, the Beamer family have numerous notable people in the family and for Keola and Kapono, they have become musical legends in their own right.
Both have had successful solo careers but when they were together, they defined contemporary Hawaiian music and had the biggest selling album in the history of Hawai’i with their 1978 album “Honolulu City Lights” (which would be surpassed by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Facing Future” in 1993) and the album was voted the #1 for the “Honolulu Magazine” “Top 50 Greatest Hawai’i Albums of All Time”.
It’s rather interesting because while the Beamer brothers had worked together in an album with Jack de Melo (Keola had worked with de Melo for two albums), this album was with the first under Paradise Records, a new label started by Tom Moffat.
When Keola wrote the song, it was a real feeling because he had to go to college on the mainland and he had to leave Hawai’i to fly to Los Angeles and record the album. Their uncle, legendary falsetto singer Mahi Beamer even played the piano on “City Lights” and slipped in a
The album also featured “Only Good Times” which was written for one of the greatest surf films of all time, “Big Wednesday”. While “Seabreeze” was another local hit that was a reworking of Irmgard Farden Aluli’s “Puamana” (Note: Irmgard Farden Aluli was a Hawaiian composer who wrote over 200 songs and is considered the most prolific female composer since Queen Lili’uokalani).
For slack key guitar fans, this album is a classic as you can hear the two work together years before they decided to split and focus on their individual solo careers.
While the two never reunited to record anything together, the two did reunite once back in 2001 at the funeral of promoter Kimo Wilder McVay (who promoted the brothers back in the ’70s and loved them like they were his sons), who always wished the two brothers would come together. And they did.
Listening to “Honolulu City Lights”, it’s hard to believe that it’s been over 40-years since this album came out and how timeless and meaningful the song is.
There are several contemporary songs in English from Hawai’i that will be classics for many generations to come, Kui Lee’s “I’ll Remember You”, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s version of “Over the Rainbow” (composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg for the film “Wizard of Oz” for Judy Garland) and songs such as “Hawai’i 78” (written by Mickey Ioane), “White Sandy Beach of Hawai’i”, Don Ho’s “Tiny Bubbles” (written by Leon Pober), Kalapana’s “The Hurt” and “Nightbird”, etc.
Songs that will be forever cherished but listening to “Honolulu City Lights”, it’s no doubt a special song and listening to the album today, realizing of how the album set the direction for contemporary Hawaiian music is amazing!
Keola & Kapono Beamer’s “Honolulu City Lights” is highly recommended!
