Live at SOHO: SLACKERS IN PARADISE: JIM KIMO WEST & KEN EMERSON

Ken Emerson and Jim “Kimo” West are both living legends in the world of Hawaiian slack key and acoustic steel guitar. Their diverse musical influences venture beyond the islands toward the land of blues, ragtime and even jazz. Both have played on Grammy-winning records. Hawaiian slack key guitar (ki ho’alu) is one of the great acoustic guitar traditions of the world, dating back to the 1840’s when guitars were first brought to Hawaii and relatively unknown outside the islands until recently. In “Slack Key” some of the strings are slacked from standard tuning, with the bass, melody, and improvisation played at the same time, and is often played to accompany traditional dance or song.