Ledward Kaapana
Encyclopedia
Ledward Kaapana is a Hawaii
an musician, best known for playing in the slack key guitar style. He also plays steel guitar
, ukulele
, autoharp
and bass guitar
, and is a renowned falsetto
singer.
where he states there were few distractions. "We didn't have electricity, not television, not even much radio, so we entertained ourselves. You could go to any house and everybody was playing music." At fourteen, he began performing professionally with his mother, Tina, and his uncle, the rarely-recorded slack-key master Fred Punahoa
.
. Hui 'Ohana released fourteen albums, each of which was a commercial success. Kaapana left the group eventually, then released six albums as the leader of another trio, I Kona, and performed with the Pahinui Brothers, Aunty Genoa Keawe, David Chun, Barney Isaacs and Uncle Joe Keawe.
His first solo album, Simply Slack Key, was released in 1988 on Paradise Records; the album won the Na Hoku Hanohano Award for "Instrumental Album of the Year" in 1989. He released Led Live in 1994 on Dancing Cat Records
. He has performed and recorded with acoustic lap-steel player Bob Brozman, and released several more albums on the Dancing Cat label from the late 1990s onward.
Kaapana spells his name without using the modern 'okina
marking that is used to indicate the proper pronunciation of certain Hawaiian words. Kaapana has said that his family has always spelled it without an 'okina and that he prefers the traditional spelling Most of his marketing literature is without the okina.
Many of his fans refer to themselves as "Led Heads."
In Winter, 2008 he toured North America with Mike Kaawa.
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
an musician, best known for playing in the slack key guitar style. He also plays steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
, ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
, autoharp
Autoharp
The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
and bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, and is a renowned falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
singer.
Early life
Led grew up in a musical family living in a small black sand bay village of KalapanaKalapana, Hawai'i
Kalapana is a town and region in the Puna District on the Island of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands and can be reached either by Hawaii Route 130 from Pāhoa or by Hawaii Route 137....
where he states there were few distractions. "We didn't have electricity, not television, not even much radio, so we entertained ourselves. You could go to any house and everybody was playing music." At fourteen, he began performing professionally with his mother, Tina, and his uncle, the rarely-recorded slack-key master Fred Punahoa
Fred Punahoa
Fred Punahoa was a Hawaiian musician and slack key guitar player from Kalapana, Hawaii. Though only two known recordings exist of "Uncle Fred," he remains one of the most influential slack key artists of all time....
.
Professional career
His professional breakthrough came a few years later, when he was a part of Hui 'Ohana, with his twin brother, Nedward Kaapana, and his cousin Dennis PavaoDennis Pavao
Dennis Pavao , was one of several Hawaiian musicians who, during the 1970s, led a Hawaiian music renaissance, reviving Hawaiian music, especially "ka leo ki'eki'e," or Hawaiian falsetto singing. Along with his cousins, Ledward and Nedward Kaapana, Pavao started the group Hui Ohana. Hui Ohana...
. Hui 'Ohana released fourteen albums, each of which was a commercial success. Kaapana left the group eventually, then released six albums as the leader of another trio, I Kona, and performed with the Pahinui Brothers, Aunty Genoa Keawe, David Chun, Barney Isaacs and Uncle Joe Keawe.
His first solo album, Simply Slack Key, was released in 1988 on Paradise Records; the album won the Na Hoku Hanohano Award for "Instrumental Album of the Year" in 1989. He released Led Live in 1994 on Dancing Cat Records
Dancing Cat Records
Dancing Cat Records was a record label founded in 1983 by pianist George Winston to publish both his music and music in the Hawaiian slack-key guitar style. Its mission later expanded to cover other Hawaiian musicians. The label has a distribution deal, but is not owned by Windham Hill Records or...
. He has performed and recorded with acoustic lap-steel player Bob Brozman, and released several more albums on the Dancing Cat label from the late 1990s onward.
Kaapana spells his name without using the modern 'okina
Okina
The okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
marking that is used to indicate the proper pronunciation of certain Hawaiian words. Kaapana has said that his family has always spelled it without an 'okina and that he prefers the traditional spelling Most of his marketing literature is without the okina.
Many of his fans refer to themselves as "Led Heads."
In Winter, 2008 he toured North America with Mike Kaawa.