The best musicians are usually the most versatile, such as Jim “Kimo” West. Van Nuys resident West is the guitarist for “Weird Al” Yankovic, whose latest effort, the chart-topping “Mandatory Fun” (RCA ...

Hawaiian slack key guitar is a finger picking style that stands with the world’s great guitar traditions like flamenco and blues. Its resonant sound often associated with Hawaii is alive, evolving and ...

One of the greatest acoustic guitar traditions in the world is a fingerstyle guitar unique to Hawaii. Slack key guitar or “ki ho’alu,” which translates to “loosen the tuning key,” starts with standard ...

When I think of Hawaiian music, I first think of the ukulele, but slack-key guitar is just as uniquely Hawaiian. Ledward “Led” Kaapana is a ukulele virtuoso, but to my ear, he shines brightest when ...

Guitarist Jim Kimo West (aka Jim West) is probably best known as the guitarist in musical satirist “Weird Al" Yankovic's band. Anyone familiar with Yankovic's music knows that is an eclectic gig, but ...

Local band Slack Key ‘Ohana recently won Best World Music Song at the San Diego Music Awards held at Humphreys by the Bay on April 30. The winning song “Nahenahe Ka Leo o Ka Wahine U’i”, written and ...