| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Kahalenahele
Lokahi
USA
102 Posts |
 Posted - 11/13/2003 : 3:50:22 PM
|
I attended the Cyril Pahinhui and Patrick Landeza show last night at Henfling's in Ben Lomond. WOW! Joe Diamond joined Patrick on bass, and later joined Patrick and Cyril on steel guitar.
It was a fantastic show in a very comfortable atmosphere. Patrick and Joe opened the show with a mix of traditional songs (i.e., Maori Brown Eyes) and originals. After about half an hour, Patrick introduced Cyril, who played a solo set. After a break, Cyril brought Patrick and Joe back out to play the second set.
Both Patrick and Cyril interspersed their songs with a little bit of history and a little bit about what they were playing and what it meant to them. My favorite part of the show was the interplay between the three musicians as Cyril called out who was taking the next solo - truly seamless passing back and forth of the melody and lead.
Of course everybody was available to talk before and after their sets and during the break. Both Patrick and Cyril are wonderfully friendly and open people (unfortunately, I did not get the chance to talk with Joe).
If you're anywhere within driving distance of their upcoming shows (listed in this thread: http://www.taropatch.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1163 ), be sure to attend!
|
|
|
hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2003 : 02:20:31 AM
|
I just caught the show in Spokane, Washington Thursday night and it was awesome. I have only seen a few slack key concerts, so I can't rate all the great players against each other. But here's my take...
Patrick was emcee and introduced a local trio, Lokomaika'i, who did a few traditional songs and turned it over to the local halau, the Northwest Hula Company. They did a hula kahiko accompanied by the ipu heke and chant. Then Patrick took the stage and played a set. He's a very personable guy and had the crowd feeling very comfortable. His technique is flawless and his all-koa Tacoma guitar was very warm and mellow. He played some instrumentals, like "Manuela Boy" and his own "Monorail Slack Key". He sang "Wai o ke Aniani" and "Dad's Song", among others. He brought out the local dancers for "Ulupalakua." Then came intermission.
Second half opened with Uncle Cyril on stage in an aloha shirt over a longsleeved tshirt. He joked about the cold. Cyril Pahinui is undoubtedly in the top handful of slack key masters, living or dead. Even if slack key is not your favorite style of Hawaiian music (sorry guys, I'm a uke guy), watching Uncle Cyril play is absolutely amazing. He makes it look effortless. Sometimes slack key concerts can be monotonous with every song on the same key. But just when you think you've heard it all, he breaks out some new chime pattern or jazz chord progression or bass run that brings you back to the music.
He plays a jumbo dreadnought cutaway Tacoma with a spruce top which is much brighter than Patrick's koa guitar. It's in some kind of modifed taropatch tuning and he uses fingerpicks. It sounds like a guitar orchestra! Patrick's playing was very nahenahe, and George Kahumoku (the last major slack key artist to perform here) sings wonderful traditional music with hilarious stories, but Cyril beats them all for musicality, improvisation, technique, variety and maoli Hawaiian sound. He played traditional mele, jazz, hapa-haole tunes and songs with lots of minor and diminished chords and he almost never looked at the fretboard. Amazingly, he almost never played the same turnaround twice in the same song. For guitarists, it had you watching his hands the whole time.
Above all, his style sounds so much like Gabby's, as many have pointed out, that it's eerie to hear him sing "Hi'ilawe" live. It's like listening to a Gabby album.
Patrick played a couple songs with Uncle Cyril at the end of the show, with Patrick playing a tiny koa Tacoma guitar.
Some of the highlights: Cyril played "Blue Hawaiian Moonlight" in tribute to Atta Isaacs; his husky falsetto on "Hula 'o Makee" and "Makee Ailana", which he sang in honor of Sonny Chillingworth; a quick version of "He'eia" which he ripped off to give Patrick time to run from the back of the auditorium to the stage for the duet set; the song dedication he made to a lady who was scolding her family in the lobby before the show after she made her husband and son run back to the car to get her credit card for their tickets because the box office wouldn't take a check; The duet of "Ulili E" with Patrick singing backup was nice, too. The story about how they missed their 6 a.m. flight that morning because they both slept in was pretty funny. So were the stories Patrick told about travelling with Cyril on Hawaiian Airlines and being treated like royalty because of the name "Pahinui".
If you haven't seen Cyril before, it's worth whatever it takes to get there. Especially if you're a guitar player.
Jesse Tinsley
|
 |
|
|
javeiro
Lokahi
USA
459 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2003 : 12:49:36 PM
|
Hi Jesse,
Mahalo for the great review of the concert you attended. Cyril will be playing in Seattle on January 28th with Dennis Kamakahi and Cindy Combs and we were thinking about going to see that. Your review makes me want to see it even more, so I'd better go find out how to get tickets.
Aloha, |
Aloha,
John A. |
|
|
|
hwnslacker
Lokahi
USA
295 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2003 : 7:39:22 PM
|
Mahalo for the recap of the evening to both of you guys! Cyril and I had a lot of fun!!! Hope to be back in May with more Slack Key!
Aloha!
Patrick Landeza
www.patricklandeza.com |
|
|
|
hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2003 : 01:39:21 AM
|
Aloha e Patrick! I was fifth row waaaay on the left at the Met Theater in Spokane. Great show! I don't think you ever leave any strangers behind because the crowd immediately feels comfortable when you're on stage. I think the crowd enjoyed your music and family stories as much as Uncle C's jazzy guitar work. So many mainland-raised ethnic Hawaiians (like us), former Hawai'i residents and Hawaiian expatriates can identify with your cross-cultural upbringing and the yearning for Hawaiian cultural identity, even if you live in a mostly haole culture.
FYI, I'm lusting after that cool Tacoma koa guitar!
Even with a small-kine Thursday night crowd, we had a blast and big-time mahaloz for coming all the way to Spokane!
Jesse Tinsley
|
|
|
|
hwnslacker
Lokahi
USA
295 Posts |
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
