Back in the early ’70s, Ledward Kaapana, his twin brother Nedward and his cousin, Dennis Pavao started the music group “Hui ‘Ohana”.
Ledward Kaapana is considered a legend when it comes to slack key guitar style (he also played steel guitar, ukulele, auto harpo and bass guitar) and sings with a baritone and falsetto vocals.
With a total of 14 albums released, despite how popular they were, the group would eventually split in 1978. Ledward would go on to leave the group to create a new group known as I Kona and then in the ’80s, go on to a solo career.
Nedward grew up differently from Ledward, Nedward was raised by their grandfather in Pahala, while Ledward was raised with his parents in Kalapana. The two would eventually work together as professional musicians in their midteens. But Nedward was known for his bass line and soulful baritone and released solo albums until his death in 2015 and also is considered a legendary slack-key guitarist and his crazy finger style.
While Dennis, known for his guitar playing and considered one of the legendary falsetto vocalists in Hawai’i, would go on to have a successful solo career until his death due to a brain aneurysm in 2002.
The group received the Hawai’i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 and their music continues to live on and is enjoyed by generation after generation.
For today’s review, I am listening to their album “Live at Sounds of Hawaii Studios”.
It’s a 35-minute album but what a beautiful live album this turned out to be. The live performance features a live audience and the trio performed wonderfully.
In fact, despite the fact that this album was released in 1975, it’s timeless and the audio quality is great.
The vocals and harmonizing is great, but you can’t help but listen to the guitar playing. Just listening “Sanoe”, how beautiful this song is! Along with tracks such as “Naka Pueo”, “Macao”, “Love Story of Kalua”, “Ahuilili” and the beautiful ballad “Kahealani”.
For slack-key guitar fans, you are in for a real treat with songs such as “Panini Pua Kea”, “Paokalani”, “L-N-D Slack Key” (which the three have a great slack-key jam session), “Anapau” and the final track, “Honeysuckle Rose” (you can hear the trio joke around and really get the audience into the performance).
Overall, this 12-track live album may be on the short side at 35-minutes but it’s one of favorite albums from Hui ‘Ohana because it’s full of energy.
This is a great live album from one of Hawai’i’s legendary groups. Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong with a Hui ‘Ohana album but “Live at Sounds of Hawaii Studios” is so awesome that I highly recommend it!
