A Wooden Boat for all time

Keola Beamer is one of the masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. Along with his younger brother Kapono, an accomplished player in his own right, the pair were one of the most popular Hawaiian groups of the 1970s as The Beamer Brothers (also billed as Keola and Kapono Beamer). The pair also recorded a genuine classic in Keola's "Honolulu City Lights" and its spectacular album of the same name.

After disbanding in 1983 Keola and Kapono both went on to successful solo careers. Keola was always the more visible of the two and that didn't change when the pair disbanded. Kapono released a number of successful solo albums but he remained largely out of the public eye. Keola on the other hand seemed to embrace his celebrity.

In the early 1990s Keola signed on to George Winston's Dancing Cat/Windham Hill record label whose goal was to promote Slack Key Guitar on a national level, the label also signed other masters like Leward Ka`apana, Cyril Pahinui, Ray Kane, and Sonny Chillingworth. Keola's first Dancing Cat release "Wooden Boat" (pictured above) in 1994 was one of the labels highlights as well as a highlight in Keola's discography. The album debuted at number 15 on Billboard's World music charts an extremely high place for a first album and is a return to the earlier style of albums like "This is our Island Home" and "In the Real Old Style." The music is traditional and innovative. The songs alternate between instrumental and lyric tracks forming a great balance and while on many albums instrumentals tend to fade from memory, not in Keola's hands. The instrumentation here paints pictures in the mind and builds an image of Hawaii that is not often seen. From taking a ride with the native birds "Elepaio Slack Key" to a hula through the realms of gods "Dancers in the land of Po" the imagery that Keola's music creates is vivid and powerful.

The album contains pop music "Don't you want to be my Baby?" calypso "Hemo da Kope Bean," classics "Kalena Kai," traditional "E Manono," and contemporary "Where I hold you." This album is a pleasure from start to finish and should be part of any Slack Key fan's collection. If you are a fan of Keola or The Beamer brothers this is highly recommended. The packaging is first rate with lyrics and little history about each song and the recording process as well as lots of information about Slack Key. "Wooden Boat" is mainly available on the internet because the record company is not widely producing it anymore, so get your copy while you can it is really a treasure.