Ride the wave: the 10th Annual Southern California Slack Key Festival in Redondo Beach

Umi is both the Hawaiian word for ten and the Japanese word for wave. It is with grace, power, and something like the predictability of physics that a handful of the world’s best slack key guitarists, Hawaiian singers, and hula dancers will gather to perform this Sunday at the 10th Anniversary Southern California Slack Key Festival.

The festival, founded by Mitch Chang, is the most prestigious of its kind on the mainland, gathering ki ho’alu (slack key guitar) players together in the backyard setting common on the islands. This year’s lineup features two generations of the beloved Lim Family of the big island.  Musician, songwriter, and recording artist Lorna Lim-Ryder will be joined by her brother Elmer “Sonny” Lim Junior, slack key guitarist, musician, and veteran member of Makaha Sons of Ni’ihau. Niece Namakana, winner of Miss Aloha Hula in 2006 will dance for her aunt and uncle.

“I think [the Lim’s] will bring a really…old style Hawaiianness, the element of the Hawaiian family vibe to the festival,” Chang says.

“Our family, where I come from, I live in Waimea now, I grew up in Kohala, up at my mom’s place. We play a lot of the traditional music, it’s part of our DNA,” Sonny Lim says, “[Tradition has] always been a part of our style of music…You cannot be something you are not.”

The musical family began when Parker Ranch worker Elmer Lim, Sr. and hotel worker Mary Ann married their passion for music and formed a home not only supported but enlivened by Hawaiian music, specifically the slack key guitar entrenched in the cowboy culture of the Big Island.

King Kamehameha hired paniolos (Mexican cowboys) to teach Hawaiians to ride and rope the increasing numbers of wild cattle on the Big Island.

“[The paniolos] got off the ship. When they left they left the guitar here. So the tradition of ki ho’alu runs deep on this island,” Sonny Lim says. “Every island has a different style. There are a few different styles on this island. All of them came from the cowboys.”

“There is a bigger picture to how slack key fits into Hawaiian music. With the Lim family that is shown in an organic way,” Chang says.

Sonny and Lorna’s siblings include Kumu Hula Leialoha Lim Amina, Kumu Hula and musician Nani Lim-Yap, Charmaine “Minnie” Lim-Davis, hula dancer and owner of Minne’s Diner in Kapa’au, and the late James “Kimo” K.H. Lim, an award winning hula dancer.

The entire Lim Family was awarded a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Individual Nā Hōkū awards have been presented to the family, including Lorna Lim-Ryder’s Song of the Year honors in 2010.

Sonny Lim was featured on the first Grammy award winning Hawaiian music CD, “Slack Key Guitar Volume II.” He received a Grammy nomination for his first solo CD “Slack Key Guitar: The Artistry of Sonny Lim.”

Three things separate Hawaiian slack key guitar from the open tunings of other music forms and these three things are happening at once.

“You play the alternating base line with your thumb, that is the first part. The second part is the rhythm with the pointer finger. The third thing is a melody on top of those two things with your middle finger. It’s hard for people to get the three things going on at the same time,” says Sonny Lim. In the same way catching a wave requires practice, patience, tremendous effort, playing slack is difficult. But when it happens it is a beautiful thing.

“It is unique to Hawaii,” Lim continues.

We can expect this traditional sound from the Lims on Sunday in Redondo.

“My three sisters are kumu hula,” Sonny Lim says, “Tradition is a big part of that. When we travel away from Hawaii we promote and perform only original Hawaiian music.”

“Part of our response to getting older is to keep [tradition] alive, carry it into the future, leave it to our kids, the musicians and hula dancers in the next generation.”

“When you become kuleana….when you become, I am 56, grandparent’s status…a lot of the tradition of your culture becomes your responsibility to make sure that is passed on,” Lim says.  

And the younger Lims are indeed embracing and revitalizing that tradition.

“Manaola Yap, the son of Nani [Lim Yap], came out with his own fashion brand,” Chang says. “He is taking old lyrics and writing new songs in the old language. Applying old lyrics to new forms, rap, techo — that spirit of experimentation really came from what Gabby [Pahinui] was doing back in the 60s. That was crazy rebellious, now it is an institution. The overall spirit is supportive of that growth and adaptation. People like Jeff Peterson combine slack key with jazz. We all try to expand the boundaries.”

This Sunday’s lineup also features guitar greats George Kuo, Ledward Kaapana, Jim Kimo West, Jerry Santos, Jeff Peterson, Kamuela Kimokeo, Ken Emerson, and falsetto Keao Costa. The stage will fill with their unique styles, traditional songs, and new compositions.

“[The festival has] never been about getting a better lineup. It’s not really about headliners, so to speak. It is about experimenting with different artists. Mixing and matching. Mixing it up with instrumental artists, singers, virtuosos, older, and younger musicians,” Chang says.

“I get to see my friends again. [The festival] is a nice way to kick off the New Year. It makes me happy when I see my friends with their friends. It gives the musicians a chance to be onstage with one another, that doesn’t happen that often, even in Hawaii.”

If you’re looking for things to do in Long Beach or surrounding areas, the fun begins this Sunday, January 15 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The Island Marketplace is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with traditional Hawaiian food, products, and crafts. The concert begins at  2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at slackkeyfest.com or at the door.

For tickets and information please visit www.slackkeyfest.com. Don’t forget to check out the VIP party on Saturday January 14 or the workshops offered in conjunction with the festival.