As father of three renound Hawaiian musicians named Cyril, Martin and Bla, Gabby (Pops) Pahinui sits firmly on the throne as "The King of Slack Key". Slack key guitar style, known as "Ki ho'alu", is a soft and gentle style of jammin on the geetar. If you have never heard it, Gabby would be the one to try. The album entitled "King of Slack Key" (best of Gabby Volume 1) is a good place to start. On this cd, Gabby is intervied by Dave Guard of the Kingston Trio. I love Gabby's response to Dave's query about the specific notes in the first "C tuning" he learned as a boy. Gabby began simply "...it's hard for me to explain, like I said, I don't even know how to read music but I can tune the guitar..." That response is HERE in '.wav' format (5 seconds). Other songs on the cd include "Pauoa Liko Ka Lehua" and "'Ulili E".
On the other cd pictured here, "The Gabby Pahinui Band" (Volume 1), Pops teams up with up with sons Cyril and Bla, slack key masters Atta Isaacs and Sonny Chillingworth, Ry Cooder, Randy Lorenzo and others. Songs include "Aloha Ka Manini", "Moani Ke Ala" and "Blue Hawaiian Moonlight".
