finetune artist: Keola Beamer

b. Keolamaikalani Breckenridge Desha Beamer, 18 February 1951, O'ahu, Hawaii. Beamer was raised in Kameula in one of the island's most famous and highly regarded musical families. The Beamers could trace a heritage going back to the fifteenth century, claiming in their ancestry the Queen Ahiakumai Ki'ekl'e and Ho'olulu, child of the favoured wife of King Kamehameha I. His grandmother was Kapuailohia Desha Beamer, one of the island's greatest singer/songwriters. Her daughter and Keola's mother, Winona Kapuaiohia Beamer, continued this tradition, dedicating her life to protecting and recording "Hawaiiana". Always in touch with his native musical conventions, the young Keola was also exposed at an early age to the emerging rock 'n' roll tradition, immediately beginning work at his family's Honolulu studio. His marriage of these two disparate styles has ensured him massive popularity on the island of his birth and cult notoriety abroad over the course of numerous albums (many recorded with brother Kapono). Credited with being the driving force behind the "Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance", Keola merged ancient native chants and instrumentation (including the gourd whistle and nose flute) with contemporary instruments and production techniques. He had studied classical guitar at college, and later began to teach the instrument - leading to the publication of a book, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. The book and the accompanying album were enough to ensure his long-term popularity in international guitar circles, and he has gone on to become one of his island's most high-profile exports, appearing on US television's Sesame Street and The Today Show, in addition to a clutch of domestic Hoku Awards. His sporadic recording career was revived in 1994 when he recorded Wooden Boat for Dancing Cat Records. This returned to the sounds of native Hawaii as its central reference point, with Keola's own arrangements of several traditional tunes, as well as his own songs, which declared his interest in other ethnic musics he had discovered (notably the Latin touches of "Hermo Da Kope Bean").

Listen to Keola Beamer at Finetune.

(2006) Kahikina O Ka Hau (The Coming of The Snow)
(2002) Soliloquy - Ka Leo O Loko

Pailolo
Kapalua Bay
'imi Au La Oe
The Beauty Of Mauna Kea (Vocal)
Kaulana Na Pua