Hawai‘i as a whole doesn’t always take kindly to change. When centuries-old tradition collides with modern-day innovation—namely a thriving international art scene—some folk turn their backs on the future.
Not Makana. Nor does his incredibly loyal following, and with good reason. It is widely known that the young singer, songwriter and guitarist has forged his own path across Hawai‘i’s challenging musical landscape. Along the journey, he has lost some staunch slack-key purists. Yet the respect, admiration and praise he has received from devout followers, fellow musicians, and producers has been well worth the experience, he says.
“I love Hawaiian music,” Makana recently explained over breakfast of fresh papaya on Waikïkï Beach. “But it’s not the end. It’s the beginning.”
Makana’s beginning, in Pearl City, O‘ahu, started with a guitar lesson from the legendary Bobby Moderow. At 13, he met and began modeling his style of play after “uncle” Sonny Chillingworth, whom Makana warmly refers to as “the master of slack key.” In 1999 Makana released his first album, a self-titled compilation that was followed by three others. In 2001, he was asked to open for Sting at the Blaisdell Arena. A year later he took the stage before Santana, in Germany.
During any extended chat with this artist, a single theme may arise many times. Makana frequently speaks of “building bridges,” explaining that his focus in music isn’t about the form but content.
“The form is just the carrier, a key. Different keys will unlock people’s minds and hearts,” he says. “But it’s the intention inside that’s all the same; to get to that place.”
Makana uses bridges between themes, tonalities, and ideas to take listeners on a journey that transports them away from their common knowledge of music—something on a car radio or background noise—and introduce them to a medium that can soften edges, dissolve stereotypes, and eliminate insecurities.
“Each intention always starts with expansion,” he says. “A lot of music today is very defensive: Me against you; me against the world, and shutting everything out. That’s not my music,” Makana warns. “My themes are forgiveness, expansion, healing, exploration, recognition and love. True love—not controlling or conditional love.”
Thematically speaking, these are generally not the devices of a musician in his mid-twenties. Yet Makana is a different breed…an old soul. This is reinforced by his journal—a very personal account of dreams, love gained or lost, fleeting thoughts or travel adventures—which the songwriter posts weekly (sometimes daily) on his web site.
Makana says he’s influenced by genres he’s discovered while traveling and playing throughout China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Latin America, Europe and the mainland. “The way Jimi Hendrix interpreted the blues is very similar to how I translate Hawaiian music or slack key,” he says. “It’s how I came up with the term ‘slack rock,’ really.”
According to Makana, slack key comes from a defined set of boundaries. What started as a way to freshen up the century-old style (which originated when paniolo [cowboys] would loosen the strings on their guitars, playing in a variety of open-tuned keys) has become an ongoing passion. Makana will delve head first into a single theme or idea that is rooted in slack key—and exploit it—sometimes for a song, sometimes for a day and occasionally for months.
His latest album, Different Game, may represent his greatest departure yet from his Hawaiian roots. Recorded in an Austin, Texas, studio, the album is part rock and roll, part folk, part fable. It tells the tale of love found, corrupted, lost and desired again. His live shows, meanwhile, offer a surprisingly eclectic mix of his own music with anything from Led Zeppelin’s “Going To California” to Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” It’s usually during one of these bridges that half the audience is caught in his ray.
"I love fusing the energy of rock and roll with Hawaiian music," Makana smiles. "It allows me to introduce people all around the world to Hawaiian music, who might otherwise not be interested. They can cross the bridge to other Hawaiian artists if I take them over at the right time. An education is a huge part of my performances."
The musician tells one story that provides great insight into his inner workings. He describes a scene that he pictured one time, and how he shared the moment onstage with an audience.
“I was picturing what it would be like if Sonny Chillingworth were sitting on a subway in New York,” he recalls. “The doors open at a stop, and in walks Ravi Shankar. They’re seated next to each other, on their way up to Carnegie Hall to see Leo Kottke perform. And I picture what’s going through both their minds… as I’m in the middle of a solo during one of my songs.
“And I’ll break it down and show—thematically, on the guitar—what Ravi is thinking,” he continues. “And then what Sonny is thinking. And for each, I see people’s jaws drop. They’re impressed. And then I combine them, and people get on their feet.
“When they’re up, I start playing a combination of what Leo, Sonny and Ravi would sound like all together. Soon enough, the three of them, plus me and the audience are all involved in this scene. It leads to an epiphany, more often than not, for many audience members.”
Makana performs regularly across the Hawaiian Islands. In January he will tour the mainland U.S., followed by a February appearance at the St. Barths Music Festival.
