Tell The Story, So The Story Lives On
In the fall of 2010 I met George Kahumoku Jr. Uncle George, as he is affectionately known is a 4 time Grammy Award winning Slack Key Guitar artist. He asked me if I wanted to film his Slack Key Show on Wednesday nights in Napili on Maui, and that is really the genesis of our film series.
For 2 years I filmed every Wednesday night in Napili, met so many incredible Hawaiian musicians, and of course helped out on George’s farm. It was a complete immersion in not just Hawaiian music, not just Hawaiian culture but also Hawaiian Living.
In 2011 a couple of things happened that set the course for our films to be made. The first was that sadly one of George’s friends, fellow slack key guitarist Peter “Pekelo” Cosma of Hana passed away at the young age of 51. We realized then it was very important to create a way for Hawaiian artists to be able to share their stories, so that the stories behind their music and their songs could be forever documented.
The other thing that happened in 2011 is that George’s album
“Wao Akua” was nominated for a Grammy Award. One of the results of this nomination was that several media outlets approached George with the desire to film him, and tell his story, however they were not really interested in the entire story. Instead they wanted to just know about his music. The music is just one part of “The Hawaiian Renaissance Man” but to really understand it, you have to understand where the music comes from, his Hawaiian life. It was at this time that George and I first discussed making a film to tell his story. Knowing that I was a filmmaker, and someone who worked on the farm and filmed the shows, George felt I was the best person at that time to tell his story.
At this point in time I had been working in film and television for over 15 years, and I had experience making films. For a film to be made the most important thing is to have a story to tell and that was the easy part, George’s life story is an incredible tale to be told. The harder part is that you have to have a budget to make a film. To make a feature length documentary and do it well costs a great deal of money. We had the story, and thanks to my production work we had the basic tools to acquire the footage and edit a film. Now we only needed the resources to see a film to it’s completion, and our fundraising was a big part of this story.
It was now 2012 and to make this film we decided to try a new kind of fundraising, called crowd funding. At this time, Kickstarter was something new to most of us. I decided that what was most important is that we made the film, and that we would make it for what we could raise, not necessarily what a feature length documentary would cost.
We thought about what we believed we could raise, and we decided we would try to raise $30,000. At the time, we had no idea if we could do that, but we decided to try. George tapped into his extensive network of friends and supporters to ask for support. George’s wife Nancy and her son Jeff, social media manager Elliot, the show staff Wainani, Peter and Sterling all stepped up to help promote our campaign. The outpouring of support was overwhelming and by July 1, 2012 more than 300 Hawaiian music fans had answered our call. We were funded, and the film that became “Seeds of Aloha” was now a reality.
We got right to work, and I traveled throughout Hawaii and the mainland US to film interviews for the film. The biggest challenge was fitting this story into a film. George was a teacher,
a successful musician, an artist and sculptor and most importantly a farmer. It was like making 3 movies and trying to fit them into one story, but we had a great thread that ran through the film... aloha. Everything George did was centered in spreading aloha,
and that made it all come together.
In the end we interviewed more than 150 people for Seeds of Aloha, and one year later they were all
included in the Directors cut.
Seeds of Aloha was selected for the 2013 Hawaii International Film Festival in Honolulu.
We screened the film in Kahului, Hilo and on Kauai. The film also aired on PBS Hawaii.
As the dust settled from Seeds of Aloha, it was now 2014, and George and I decided to work at documenting the lives and stories of more musicians. Ambitiously, I decided I could complete 2 films per year. We decided that uncle George would host the films, and we would pick 2 subjects per year to tell their stories.
For 2014, we decided we would document Richard Ho’opi’i and Dennis Kamakahi. We set a funding goal of $60,000 and went to work through Kickstarter once again to raise the funds for these films. By the end of March in 2014, 500 people answered our call, and we had raised the funds to make these films.
Richard Ho’opi’i The Timeless Voice was filmed on Maui and includes incredible heart felt interviews with Richard as he tells his story.
The film also features a wonderful performance in Kahakuloa featuring hula from 3 generations of the Ho’opi’i family. You can really feel his aloha and joy throughout the film.
Sadly, Dennis Kamakahi became ill, and cancer took his life before we could begin filming. After we had mourned the impossible loss of uncle Dennis, the task at hand
still needed to be accomplished.
Fortunately, I had filmed many of Dennis’ performances on Maui, and he was such an incredible storyteller that we had much of his story, and the stories of his songs recorded from
his performances. Uncle George and I traveled to Molokai
and Kauai to uncover some of Dennis’ greatest inspirations.
Additionally, Dennis’ son David agreed to take on a larger interview roll to help tell his Dad’s story and we were able to finish Dennis’ film, called Dennis Kamakahi
The Legend of Grey Wolf.
In 2015 we once again looked to make 2 more films, this time on Martin Pahinui and Brother Noland.
Again, we crowd funded the films and set out to begin production, this time mostly on Oahu.
Martin’s film includes wonderful interviews with Martin and some of his contemporaries as well as a wonderful set of songs performed on the beach in Waimanalo.
The film documents Martin's experiences growing up the son of the legendary Gabby Pahinui and his thoughts on fusing his love for The Beatles and rock and roll with traditional Hawaiian music.
Martin’s brilliant talent and warm heart shine in this film.
For Noland’s film, he told his story entirely in the first person. His story is hugely impacted by a very unique childhood that mixed living in the city, as well as living in the country.
It is a wonderful study in how a musician makes his music, and how that music is the product of the life they have lived.
We filmed on Molokai, Oahu and Maui. The film contains beautiful performances of some of Noland’s greatest hits as well as Hawaiian standards.
In 2016 we turned our attention to the generation of musicians that followed George, Dennis and Richard with films on Kawika Kahiapo and Jeff Peterson. Once again we funded the films through Kickstarter, and uncle George continued to host the films.
Further Kawika’s film is a great example of a life centered in community service. Finally, the film includes great performances of Kawika’s songs in the incredible settings that helped to inspire them.
Kawika Kahiapo Ke Kani Mo’olelo tells the story of a contemporary artist with a traditional old Hawaiian soul. Kawika’s film details how he learned Slack Key from his father, and many of the great players that came before him including the great Gabby Pahinui.
Jeff Peterson Wahi Pana is like a musical journey. Told in the first person by Jeff, it begins with his childhood as the son of a paniolo, Hawaiian for cowboy, on the slopes of Haleakala.
We discover how Jeff has traveled around the world to share his music and aloha, as well as soak up whatever local traditions of music he encountered, which he then incorporated into his own musical compositions.
Jeff and I traveled all over to film him performing his songs in the places that inspired him.
The final film in our series was a story that I wanted to tell all the way back in 2012 when we first started with Seeds of Aloha. Slack Key music is a traditional Hawaiian art form that was born in Hawaii. It was passed from generation to generation within the families that played the music and it was not shared. In fact it was secretive. Yet after the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s Slack Key guitar exploded and in a very short period of time grew to be loved and shared around the globe. How did this happen? That is what we explore in the film Share The Music, which was completed in 2018.
In 2012 we set out with the idea “Tell The Story So The Story Lives On.” It was something that George often said during his live performances. In the short period of 6 years we made 8 films, and I am incredibly proud of that accomplishment. I am proud of each one of the films we created. These films would not exist without the support of more than 1000 music lovers from all around the globe. We had help each year from Nancy Kahumoku, Elliot Prestwich, the Slack Key show performers (Wainani Kealoha, Peter deAquino and Sterling Seaton) and so many more. Mahalo nui to you all.
George taught me about a Hawaiian concept called laulima, loosely translated it means many hands working together, and The Masters of Hawaiian Music Film series is a perfect example of that. Many hands working together to tell the stories, so the stories live on. I am profoundly grateful for each artist that allowed me to tell their stories, for uncle George and his tireless effort to make sure these films could be made, and to everyone that supported the series, because the films would not exist without you all. Together, we achieved something very special. Mahalo nui loa.
2024 UPDATE-
I am pleased to say I have recently digitally remastered all of the films in 4K! Using AI, I have upgraded the image quality, restored and colored old photos, remastered the audio for pristine sound, and in many cases even created images and footage to support the story being told on screen. These newly enhanced films take on a whole new life now. They are all available in the store here.