Cyril Pahinui (April 21, 1950 – November 17, 2018) was a slack-key guitarist and singer of

Hawaiian music The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Styles like slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part ...

Biography

He was born in Waimānalo at the foot of the Ko'olau mountains on the Hawai'ian island of

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

. He was the son of the Hawaiian guitarist (and

Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame The Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame is an organization dedicated to recognizing the cultural importance of the music of Hawaii and hula. Established in 1994, the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame promotes the appreciation and preservation of Hawaiian cultur ...

inductee)

Gabby Pahinui Philip Kunia Pahinui (; April 22, 1921 – October 13, 1980), known as Gabby Pahinui, was a slack-key guitarist and singer of Hawaiian music. Born into a struggling family, Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawai Jr. and later ''hānaied'' wi ...

. He has contributed to more than 35 Hawaiian musical releases and three Grammy Award-winning compilations of Hawaiian music. His 1994 album ''6 & 12 String Slack Key'' won the Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for Instrumental Album of the Year and contains "No Ke Ano Ahiahi", perhaps the greatest 12-string kī hō'alu (slack key) and vocal recording ever made. His 2007 album ''He'eia'' won the Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for Island Music Album of the Year. In 2013, Pahinui received a fellowship from the Native Arts & Culture Foundation to produce ''Let's Play Music! Slack Key with Cyril Pahinui & Friends'', a program of traditional Hawaiian music developed for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Hawaii. In 2014, he received a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award for perpetuating the craft of slack key music through performance and teaching. In 2017, he was awarded a

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's ...

by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Early career

Pahinui began to play the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

at the age of 7 and learned how to play guitar from watching his father play with other Hawaiian musicians such as Leland Isaacs Sr. and Sonny Chillingworth. He joined his father's band in the early 1970s, and performed on his father's early recordings for

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. Cyril and his older brother Bla started a rock band, after which, Cyril Pahinui joined Sam and the Samlins, and continued to sit in with his father at shows. In 1968, Pahinui made his first record with The Sunday Manoa, a loose association of like-minded young people intent on helping perpetuate the classic Hawaiian sound. At the age of 19, his musical career was interrupted when he was drafted to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, where he served as a sergeant and section chief in the 101st Airborne Division Artillery for two years. In 1975, Pahinui formed The Sandwich Isle Band, one of the first young bands to feature steel guitar and revive the jazz-inflected songs of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1979 he joined the Peter Moon Band, which also included his brother Martin. Throughout the 1980s, he continued to expand his musical horizons, especially in the C major tuning he inherited from Atta Isaacs.

Death

Pahinui had been hospitalized since February 2016 for pneumonia and a collapsed lung. He died on November 17, 2018, at The Queen's Medical Center in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

at the age of 68. He was survived by his wife Chelle, two daughters, two brothers, two sisters, and 19 grandchildren.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pahinui, Cyril 1950 births 2018 deaths People from Honolulu County, Hawaii Guitarists from Hawaii Slack-key guitarists Na Hoku Hanohano Award winners 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American male guitarists National Heritage Fellowship winners 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians