Taking something old and creating something new. That’s exactly what O’ahu native Makana is doing with his guitar. At the ripe old age of 11 Makana began learning the ancient art of slack key, studying under a number of greats including Sonny Chillingworth. By the time he was 14 he had already been dubbed the youngest master of slack key guitar. Then the innovations came. Makana toyed with slack key and worked to modernize the art. Now with a few albums, and a few years, under his belt, as well as both headlining performances and opening gigs for the likes of Sting, Santana, Elvis Costello and No Doubt, the man whose name means “a gift given freely” is hitting listeners with his latest effort, Different Game. After hearing some of the music from the album I was blown away by both its originality and Makana’s lyrical content, which is why this week I caught up with him to find out more about his work, how some of the old school practitioners of slack key guitar reacted when he started altering the craft, and some of the pros and cons of being an artist in Hawaii. [Read More...]
May 5, 2008
Artist Of The Week - Makana
Taking something old and creating something new. That’s exactly what O’ahu native Makana is doing with his guitar. At the ripe old age of 11 Makana began learning the ancient art of slack key, studying under a number of greats including Sonny Chillingworth. By the time he was 14 he had already been dubbed the youngest master of slack key guitar. Then the innovations came. Makana toyed with slack key and worked to modernize the art. Now with a few albums, and a few years, under his belt, as well as both headlining performances and opening gigs for the likes of Sting, Santana, Elvis Costello and No Doubt, the man whose name means “a gift given freely” is hitting listeners with his latest effort, Different Game. After hearing some of the music from the album I was blown away by both its originality and Makana’s lyrical content, which is why this week I caught up with him to find out more about his work, how some of the old school practitioners of slack key guitar reacted when he started altering the craft, and some of the pros and cons of being an artist in Hawaii. [Read More...]
