He is a new Slack Key Artist currently going through the Hawaiian Music Curriculum at the University of Hawaii, Maui. As you can probably tell, he has already been playing for a while, and has a nice voice.
He recently joined with two others to form a group named Kuaola that is beginning to get some attention on Maui.
Scott Hillman did the video production while I did the audio and I thought that some Taropatchers might like to see him perform.
Awesome to see people of the younger generation perpetuating ki ho'alu. Also good to see that Shem Kahawai is also playing in a tuning other than G taropatch. I have a 14 year old haumana that is familiar with Leonard's C (what Shem is playing in the video) G wahine, High Bb Maunaloa & C6th Maunaloa but not quite what I'd call adept at these yet. Makes one feel good about the future of slack key. Seems to be in good hands if you ask me.
Great that Shem also sings because it opens the doors to many many more possible mele to add to his repertoire. My young haumana is an accomplished ukulele player & also sings but for some reason he's reluctant to sing while playing ki'hoalu songs. I hope to change that
New Artist- Shem Kahawaii
Posted - 11/24/2016 : 11:27:55 AM
