Aloha no hoapili na mele,

We are reaching out to you to support for our kickstarter project found at:
Join us Now
As you may know with these social media projects even the smallest contributions add up and become vital to meeting these enormous goals. So anything you can afford to add is graciously and sincerely appreciated. And sharing the information out to others on your networks is often of value as well. With this in mind we have provided our quick post release info below to make it easy to cut and paste for sharing with your own social and online media sites. Mahalo in advance for your consideration and support! We look forward to having each of you out to our Waimanalo backyard to kanikapila.

We are very excited to introduce our exciting Hawaiian Music Documentary project and ho’olu komo la kaua, the untold story of the Hawaiian Music Renaissance of the 1970s and 80s, Moea No I Ka Pu‘uwai E Waimānalo, Straight From the Heart of Waimānalo. Part II of our Let’s Play Music video project.

Following the release of this film we will again contract it to PBS for their fundraising purposes in support of the new center they are building on Oahu. PBS has continued to be a major supporter documenting Hawai‘i’s music masters and adding to Hawaiian music archival collections.

We are also introducing our webisode broadcast from Waimanalo monthly. With this, we hope to have as many of Hawai‘i’s musicians young and old come out to the backyard to kanikapila and do extended interviews with our project MC Skylark Rossetti. Content form these sessions will be made available as archives for future generations.

So your contribution to this kickstarter campaign helps to preserve the story of Hawai’i’s pivotal musical generation from the 1970s and ’80s and many of today’s next generation of musicians, makes it possible to create some amazing new music, kanikapila style and supports PBS Hawai‘i.

The contribution of the music of the Hawaiian Renaissance to the social changes underway in Hawai‘i today should not be overlooked. Before dismissing music as “epiphenomenal,” one should at least consider the question of whether it may be of more basic influence as an impetus to social change.

Hawaiian music and dance as the focal point in many cases have been effective in helping to establish a common consciousness and concern with pressing social issues that on the part of Hawaiians can be seen in many areas of life today. By tying these pressing social issues to traditional culture and musical forms, artists have also tied them to the central values and symbols of the Hawaiian people, giving them at the same time cultural legitimacy and emotional urgency. The Honolulu Advertiser remarked in an editorial on March 23, 1982: “A movement which some people dismissed as short-lived and superficial has become well established. My own family’s recordings and Waimanalo sessions have supported and continue to support this goal.

The timing of this project is critical, as recognized through the passing of Dennis Kamakahi shortly after the completion of Let’s Play Music Part I. We cannot begin too soon to record and capture these treasured performers and their beloved music.
The questions is how big can we make it? Although our goal is $65,000, we have an angel investor who has committed to match up to $115,000 if we can raise it. So every dollar counts and is sincerely appreciated.

Please join us at:
Join us Now
Mahalo nui in advance for your consideration and support.

Me ka ‘oia ‘i’o a hui hou,

Cyril

HONOLULU PULSE / JUN. 3, 2015
BY JOHN BERGER / jberger@staradvertiser.com

Cyril Pahinui — multi-Hoku Award-winner and 2014 recipient of the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievenment Award — was presented with the 2015 Duke’s Ho‘okahiko Award Tuesday at Duke’s Waikiki in the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort.

The Ho‘okahiko Award recognizes individuals who exemplify Hawaiian cultural traditions; Pahinui was honored for his career accomplishments as a singer, musician, teacher and recording artist with the Sunday Manoa, the Gabby Band, the Sandwich Isles Band, the Peter Moon Band and as a solo artist.

Several dozen friends, relatives and members of the Hawaii music and visitor industries joined Duke’s Waikiki manager Keli’i Gouveia for the late-morning presention. Kimo Kahoano emceed; he was also one of many who shared memories of Cyril and his parents, Emily and Gabby “Pops” Pahinui.

Called forward to accept the beautiful Hawaiian petroglyph-style trophy, Pahinui acknowledged several of the entertainers in the audience and mentioned he started playing slack key when he was 7 years old. He thanked Outrigger Hotels and Resorts for its commitment to presenting Hawaiian music seven days a week (he plays there Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m.).

Pahinui also recalled the great musicians he had the opportunity to work with while growing up — his father, Sonny Chillingworth, Atta Isaacs and Peter Moon. And he thanked his wife, Chelle, for her support with his career and with the Gabby Pahinui Waimanalo Kanikapila music, saying simply, “She’s everything to me.”

“I’m so glad that I can continue to pass (the music) down to the new generation of young kids,” he concluded. “I’m still playing. There’s no end.”
———
John Berger has been a mainstay in the local entertainment scene for more than 40 years. Contact him via email at jberger@staradvertiser.com.

Ano‘ai kākou,

I am honored to announce that I have been selected for a 2014 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award.

http://www.nahokuhanohano.org/#!lifetime-achievement-awards/cak

Me Ka hau’oli!

Although there are so many, including each of you my Friends, Family and Fans who have brought me to this place. Each of us has someone who has “loved us into being”, encouraged us to continue, and inspired our greatest achievements. For me it is my dad. Although he had very little money and few material things his ALOHA for music and his homeland and his ability to share that love has enrich my life beyond anything else.

Sometimes people ask me how I feel being compared to my dad.  To tell you the truth, it doesn’t bother me. I have his blood but my own style. I’m proud to carry on the Pahinui name, do things the way he did, like singing and playing Hawaiian music, respecting and sharing with other musicians.  And if people hear me and remember my dad, that makes me happy too.

My dad once told his friends,  “my son’s time will come, I don’t know when, but it will.”  I only hope that if my time has come, I hope he is proud of what I’ve done.

• Pre-order NOW for April 11th, 2014 release!
• Download a PDF of the album cover and liner notes

Today we officially announce the recognition of Cyril Pahinui for the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award. And to commemorate his preeminent career and receiving this highest of honors, the re-release of The Sandwich Isle Band, Cyril Pahinui’s debut album released in 1978 and one of the first of the next generation releases that defined contemporary Hawaiian Music! The Sandwich Isle Band is the creation of Grammy-nominee Cyril Pahinui’s first group formed in 1975. The recordings feature the innovative sounds of bass player sensation Brian Hussey, steel guitar wonder Eddie Palama, the phenomenon guitar of Steven Hall, on loan percussionist Merv Ching and guest artist the virtuoso, Peter Moon, set in the picturesque exotic tropical paradise, the Sandwich Islands.