Raymond Kāne

Raymond Kaleoalohapoinaʻoleohelemanu^[a] Kāne^[1] (/ˈkɑːneɪ/, Hawaiian: [ˈkaːne]; October 2, 1925 – February 27, 2008),^[2] was one of Hawaii's acknowledged masters of the slack-key guitar. Born in Koloa, Kauaʻi, he grew up in Nanakuli on Oʻahu's Waiʻanae Coast where his stepfather worked as a fisherman.^[3]

Raymond Kāne
Kane in 1987
Background information
Birth name	Raymond Kaleoalohapoinaʻoleohelemanu Kāne
Born	(1925-10-02)October 2, 1925 Koloa, Kauaʻi
Died	February 27, 2008(2008-02-27) (aged 82) Honolulu
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Slack-key guitar

Kāne's style was distinctive and deceptively simple. He played in a number of ki ho'alu tunings always plucking or brushing the strings with only the thumb and index finger of his right hand. He also played hammer-ons and pull-offs in a unique way; his finger moving up and out, instead of down and in, after striking a string. He emphasized that one must play and sing "from the heart".^{[citation needed]} He was never flashy or fast. In Hawaiian, his sound is described as nahenahe (sweet sounding).

He was a recipient of a 1987 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.^[4]

Discography

• Slack Key [the "Black and White Album"] (1958)
• Party Songs, Hawaiian Style, Vol. 2 (1959)
• Nanakuli's Raymond Kane (1974)
• Master of the Slack Key Guitar (1988)
• Punahele (1994)
• Hawaiʻi Aloha (1996)
• Waʻahila (1998)
• Hawaiian Sunset Music, Vol. 1 (1998)
• Cherish the Mele of our Elders (with Elodia Kāne) (1998)
• Maikaʻi No Blues (1999)
• Tribute to Lena Machado (with Elodia Kāne) (1999)
• Holoholo Slack Key (2000)
• He Leo ʻOhana (with Elodia Kāne) (2000)

Notes

1. His middle name is pronounced [kəˈlɛjowəˈlohəpoˈwinəˈʔolejoˈhɛlɛˈmɐnu] in Hawaiian, and means "the voice of love that comes and goes like a bird and will never be forgotten".