Harris Center Welcomes Legends Of Hawaiian Music

Legends of Hawaiian Music, featuring Keola Beamer & Henry Kapono with Moanalani Beamer, offers up an evening of contemporary Hawaiian culture, rich in history and as relaxed as a Hawaiian sunset. With a lineage that traces from five generations of Hawaii's most illustrious musical families, Keola Beamer is "the quintessential Hawaiian slack-key guitar master" (New York Times). Here he joins forces with Henry Kapono, "one of the great island songwriters of his generation" (Honolulu Star-Advertiser). Each became icons at the creative forefront of the 1970s "Hawaiian Renaissance" movement that brought language, music, hula, art, and all aspects of Hawaiian culture back to their central place in the life of the Islands, and have continued to lead the way for over four decades.

Legends of Hawaiian Music, featuring Keola Beamer & Henry Kapono with Moanalani Beamer, comes to Folsom on Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 7 pm. Tickets are $18- $43; Premium $48. Students with ID $12. They are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from the Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from noon to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. The Harris Center is located on the west side of the Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.

Keola and Henry first performed together in 2014, when Henry invited Keola and Moana Beamer to take part in "Back in the Day." This wildly successful show featured Hawaii's musical greats who changed Hawaiian music, starting in the "Hawaiian Renaissance" of the 1970s -- the seminal movement in Hawaii's cultural history that brought language, music, hula, art, and all aspects of Hawaiian culture back to their central place in the life of the Islands.

For their Harris Center concert, Keola and Henry will each perform a set, and then come together onstage to celebrate their original songs that have become beloved classics of contemporary Hawaiian music.

Keolamaikalani Breckenridge Beamer was raised on Hawaii Island, born into one of Hawaii's most illustrious and beloved musical families. He established himself early as the family's youngest standard-bearer. A child of the rock & roll era, he was at the vanguard of Hawaiian contemporary sound. Yet he also helped drive what became the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance, recording many songs written by his ancestors, including his legendary great-grandmother Helen

Desha Beamer and his mother Nona Beamer. "In my family, music was taken seriously," Beamer says. "It was an integral part of our lives, almost like a religion. But Hawaiians are up against a shallow stereotype, often demeaning to the native culture. That hurts." It has been the life passion of Keola Beamer to counter such images.

Keola studied classical guitar, and went on to publish a slack key method book using a 16th-century lute tablature system as his starting point. He was one of Hawai'i's first recording artists to integrate Hawaiian chants and instruments, like the tiny gourd whistle and nose flute, into contemporary forms of music. Keola has recorded and produced more than a dozen albums, has won numerous Na Hoku Awards, Hawai'i's "Grammy," and appeared on Sesame Street and NBC's Today Show.

Says Willie Nelson, "There's no better slack key player than Beamer."

Moanalani Beamer began her hula training at the early age of four with Kumu Hula (Hula Master) Johnny Hokoana, and continued training extensively with several different hula masters; she herself became a "Kumu Hula" in 2011, following a rigorous process of study and graduation ("uniki"). Her performing career included starring in several hula revues on Maui. In performance with Keola, she dances, chants, sings background vocals, and plays several ancient Hawaiian percussive instruments, including `ili`ili (river stone "castanets"), ka`eke`eke (cut bamboo) and Ipu (gourd drum). She also teaches, sharing her hula knowledge with students on Maui as well as in workshops across the U.S. and Europe.

Henry Kapono Ka'aihue is a performer who has it all - vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, composer, thrilling performer, audience favorite. He is an award-winning and Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter. He has taken home numerous Na Hoku Hano Hano Awards (Hawaii's "Grammy") including Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year, Single of the Year, and Album of the Year. He is also the author of the award-winning children's book, A Beautiful Hawaiian Day, has appeared in the films, and has made many television appearances.

At the forefront of Hawaiian music since the 1970s with the duo Cecilio & Kapono, the first Hawaiigroup to achieve a national recording contract (Columbia Records); together they recorded 13 albums, giving contemporary and folk rock a new perspective. Always musically adventurous, Henry launched a solo career in 1981, with 17 albums to date-and five Na Hoku (Hawaiian "Grammy") awards. Henry touches the soul with the simple honesty of his lyrics and music, and the gift of an evocative, plaintive balladeer's voice that haunts you long after he leaves the stage.

This Year Marks Seven Seasons of Great Shows. Up Close. In Folsom!

The Harris Center for the Arts at Folsom Lake College brings the community together to share in cultural experiences featuring the work of artists from throughout the region and around the world. Built and operated by the Los Rios Community College District, the $50 million, state-of-the-art regional performing arts center boasts three intimate venues with outstanding acoustics, an art gallery, a recording studio, elegant teaching spaces, plenty of safe parking and all the other amenities of a world-class performing arts venue. Each year the Center hosts approximately 400 events attracting upwards of 150,000 annually.

Tickets are available online at www.HarrisCenter.net or from the Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from noon to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time.

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