A Conversation with Ledward Kaapana
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Series: Art Works Podcast
Length: 27:07
To call Led Kaapana a master of the slack key guitar doesn't begin to do him justice: he's also an extraordinary ukulele player and one terrific singer with a voice that somehow encompasses a soaring baritone and a yearning falsetto. Little wonder that he's been a celebrated performer for over forty years entertaining audiences in Hawaii, on the mainland and around the world. He's not exactly a slacker in the recording department either; he has 31 cds to his name and performed on almost 40 others. Although Led Kaapana has dedicated himself to perpetuating the traditional style and musical repertoire of Hawaii, he's also worked with a wide range of musical talent, including Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Wayne Henderson, and Chet Atkins. The traditional Hawaiian virtues of ohana (family,) aloha aina (love of the land), and lokomaika'i (generosity) inform Led's music and his life. All roads lead to the small town of Kalapana where Led's family settled in the mid-1950s and music was a way of life.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
To call Led Kaapana a master of the slack key guitar doesn't begin to do him justice: he's also an extraordinary ukulele player and one terrific singer with a voice that somehow encompasses a soaring baritone and a yearning falsetto. Little wonder that he's been a celebrated performer for over forty years entertaining audiences in Hawaii, on the mainland and around the world. He's not exactly a slacker in the recording department either; he has 31 cds to his name and performed on almost 40 others. Although Led Kaapana has dedicated himself to perpetuating the traditional style and musical repertoire of Hawaii, he's also worked with a wide range of musical talent, including Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Wayne Henderson, and Chet Atkins. The traditional Hawaiian virtues of ohana (family,) aloha aina (love of the land), and lokomaika'i (generosity) inform Led's music and his life. All roads lead to the small town of Kalapana where Led's family settled in the mid-1950s and music was a way of life.
Transcript
Transcript of conversation with Led Kaapana
Led Kaapana: See, in Kalapana we never had any electricity. Yea, everything was run by kerosene. The first I had guitar I had was run by kerosene.
Jo Reed: That was slack key guitarist and 2011 National Hertiage Fellow, Ledward Kaapana. Welcome to Art Works, the program that goes behind the scenes with some of the nation's great artists to explore how art works, I'm your host Jospehine Reed.
To call Led Kaapana a master of the slack key guitar doesn't begin to do him justice: he's also an extraordinary ukulele player and one terrific singer with a voice that somehow encompasses a soaring baritone and a yearning falsetto. Little wonder that he's been a celebrated performer for over forty years entertaining audiences in Hawaii, on the mainland and around the world. He's not exactly a slacker in the recording department either; he has 31 cds to...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mauna loa Slack Key | Ledward Kaapana | Led Live Solo. | Dancing Cat Records | 00:00 | |
| I Kona | Ledward Kaapana | Led Live Solo. | Dancing Cat Records | 00:00 |
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