“To stand up on a stage alone with an acoustic guitar requires bravery bordering on heroism. Bordering on insanity.” – Richard Thomson
What an amazing experience. It was a true honor to be invited to be the sole Hawaiian slack key guitar performer on the bill and to share the stage with legendary musicians.
Margo Reola opened the show with I Miss You, My Hawaiʻi and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Margo hasn’t graduated from high school yet and has the voice of an angel. The Reola ʻohana were so kind and so musically talented.
I played Kuʻu Ipo Onaona, Molokaʻi Sweet Home and ʻOpihi Moemoe. The sold out New Hampshire crowd was warm and full of aloha. I met amazing people from Maine to Maui to Connecticut to New Hampshire.
If you have the opportunity to see Hōkū Zuttermeister (website) along with the Mākaha Sons (website), don’t miss it. Musicianship and entertainment to the max. Hōkū is the real deal. By the time he finished his set with the Sons, the crowd was on their feet.
This was the first Hawaiian music show of its kind in Stratham, NH. People came from far and wide. Many had never heard Hawaiian slack key guitar including the sound guys.
Mahalo nui to Rick and Janet Savastano, Alex and Ruthie Reola, and everyone else who made this show possible.
Tomorrow, Hōkū, Ioane, and the Uncles Jerome, John, and Moon perform the National Anthem at the New England Pats game.
