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Keola and Kapono Beamer are two of the most important
Hawaiian musicians
of their generation. FAME REVIEW
Together they were one of the leading Hawaiian duos
of the 1970s
and early 1980s. Separately, working
as solo artists since
1982,
they have achieved stellar solo careers as ki ho‘alu (Hawaiian slack
key)
guitarists, vocalists, composers and recording artists.
Keola and
Kapono have each won multiple Na Hoku Hanohano Awards
(Hawaii’s regional
equivalent of the Grammy Awards), and they have each been finalists in
the
“Best Hawaiian Music Album” category at the Grammys as well.
This album, their very first together, captures them as young men in their
early twenties playing a variety of Hawaiian and hapa haole standards,
including one by their famous great-grandmother, Helen Desha Beamer. There
are also two originals – “Kalihi Street Jug Band” and “Sweet Okole.”
“Sweet Okole” was one of the most popular and controversial local songs of
the Seventies (for reasons we’ll explain inside). The brothers’ talent as
arrangers and song stylists made their version of songwriter Eaton “Bob”
Magoon’s
“Mr. Sun Cho Lee” the definitive version of the song.
Those two songs, and the brothers’ interpretations of the others, launched
two outstanding Hawaiian entertainers whose careers have helped shape the
evolution of modern Hawaiian music.
To put it another way, every story has a beginning, and for
Keola and Kapono Beamer, this album is it.
