6 & 12 String Slack Key

Biography

Cyril Lani Pahinui (Waimānalo, Hawaii, April 21, 1950 - November 17, 2018) was a Hawaiian slack-key guitarist and singer. Slack-key guitar is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii. Its name refers to its characteristic open tunings: the English term is a translation of the Hawaiian kī hōʻalu, which means "loosen the tuning key". Most slack-key tunings can be achieved by starting with a guitar in standard tuning and detuning or "slacking" one or more of the strings until t...

Cyril Lani Pahinui (Waimānalo, Hawaii, April 21, 1950 - November 17, 2018) was a Hawaiian slack-key guitarist and singer. Slack-key guitar is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii. Its name refers to its characteristic open tunings: the English term is a translation of the Hawaiian kī hōʻalu, which means "loosen the tuning key". Most slack-key tunings can be achieved by starting with a guitar in standard tuning and detuning or "slacking" one or more of the strings until the six strings form a single chord, frequently G major.

Cyril was born in Waimānalo at the foot of the Ko'olau mountains on the Hawai'ian Island of Oahu. He is the son of legendary Hawaiian guitarist (and Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame inductee) Gabby Pahinui. He has contributed to more than 35 Hawaiian musical releases and three Grammy Award-winning compilations of Hawaiian music. His 1994 album 6 & 12 String Slack Key won the Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for Instrumental Album of the Year and contains "No Ke Ano Ahiahi", perhaps the greatest 12-string kī hō'alu (slack key) and vocal recording ever made. His 2007 album He'eia won the Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for Island Music Album of the Year.

In 2013, Cyril received a fellowship from the Native Arts & Culture Foundation to produce Let's Play Music! Slack Key with Cyril Pahinui & Friends, a program of traditional Hawaiian music developed for PBS Hawaii.[1] In 2014, he received a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award for perpetuating the craft of slack key music through performance and teaching. He was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2017.

Cyril began to play the ukulele at the age of 7 and learned how to play guitar from watching his father play with other Hawaiian musicians such as Leland Isaacs Sr. and Sonny Chillingworth. He joined his father's band in the early 1970s, and performed on his father's early recordings for Warner Bros. Records. Cyril and his older brother Bla started a rock band, after which, Cyril joined Sam and the Samlins, and continued to sit in with his father at shows. In 1968, Cyril made his first record with The Sunday Manoa, a loose association of like-minded young people intent on helping perpetuate the classic Hawaiian sound. At the age of 19, his musical career was interrupted when he was drafted into Vietnam, where he served as a sergeant and section chief in the 101st artillery for two years. In 1975, Cyril formed The Sandwich Isle Band, one of the first young bands to feature steel guitar and revive the jazz-inflected songs of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1979 he joined the Peter Moon Band, which also included brother Martin. Throughout the 1980s, he continued to expand his musical horizons, especially in the C major tuning he inherited from Atta Isaacs.
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