Ku`u Ipo Onaona - Backyard Slack Key from Walnut Creek

"Ku`u Ipo Onaona" is an old song written by Maddy Lam. http://www.huapala.org/Kuu_Ipo_Onaona... Ledward's uncle Fred Punahoa used it as the basis for a hot instrumental, and Ledward has made that arrangement one of his signature tunes. He teaches the song on his Homespun Music instructional video "The Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar of Ledward Kaapana." Playing this song alongside the master is an honor I cherish.

With Ledward about to hit the road to continue his tour, we set up in the backyard here in Walnut Creek. I was enchanted by the reeds swaying in the breeze, and used them to frame the main shot. We had been shooting for over an hour, trying to capture a different song and always hitting some kind of snag. I was putting my guitar down to take a break when Ledward started up his intro. He knew I would be hooked when I heard this song start, and he was right. We shot additional sessions that day, but when I looked through all the clips this one was the winner for the sheer musical fun that comes through.

In this video Ledward is playing a rather rare variation on the steel string guitar, a Tacoma Papoose. These short scale instruments have become sought after since the Tacoma Guitar company no longer produces them. This particular Papoose is a rare P6K, actually a P6KK because it has a koa top as well as back and sides. This instrument was selected from the factory by Patrick Landeza, SF Bay Area slack key guru.

Because of the short scale, this guitar is tuned to a higher pitch than standard, usually 5 half steps (A to A) or 3 half steps (G to G) above a standard tuning guitar. This Papoose is seeing a bit of bridge lift, so I keep it strung with lights and tuned up 3 half steps, but then slack the standard tuning to a taropatch style arrangement. It turns out to be a Bflat tuning when we're done, spelled F Bflat F Bflat D F from low to high.

I'm playing my Composite Acoustics OX Raw, it's tuned to Drop C down one whole step to a Bflat tuning. This tuning is spelled Bflat F C F A C from low to high. The low tuning works well as support to the high voice of the Papoose, we're both in Bflat but covering different ends of the spectrum.

I'm experimenting with miking the guitars by attaching small lavalier type mics to the guitar tops. Each guitar is then captured by a different audio recorder. It's a bit convoluted but I'm happy with the results for this kind of outdoor session. As usual the three cameras are the Lumix GH2 for the two shot and a Sanyo Xacti HD2000 for each closeup. All editing was done in Edius Neo.