Live: Jim “Kimo” West and Ken Emerson @ SOhO
**Events may have been canceled or postponed. Please contact the venue to confirm the event.
Date & Time
Wed, May 24 7:30 PM - 12:00 AM
Address (map)
1221 State Street #205
Venue (website)
SOhO Restaurant & Music Club
Hawaiian slack-key guitarists
Jim Kimo West is recognized as one of the world’s top “slack key” guitarists and brings his own unique musical perspective to this great acoustic guitar tradition. He is a 2021 Grammy® Award winner for his CD, “More Guitar Stories” and a 2019 Grammy® nominee for “Moku Maluhia-Peaceful Island”. He is also a winner of the 2008 Hawaii Music Awards, a three-time Na Hoku Hanohano (the Hawaiian “Grammy”) nominee, and a two-time winner of the LA Treasures Award for his contributions toward the perpetuation of ki ho’alu.
In 1985, after a long summer on the road with musical satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic, Jim West made his first trip to Hana, Maui, and fell in love with the cultural and physical landscape of Hawai’i, sometimes spending a couple of months a year there. It was there that he also discovered “ki ho ‘alu” or as it is more commonly called, “slack key” guitar, an old Hawaiian style of playing where the strings are loosened or “slacked” to different tunings, allowing the bass, chords, and melody to be played simultaneously.
Kenton Robert Lopaka Emerson is a San Francisco bay area born/ Hawaiian island-bred guitarist who covers many musical genres. He has played his special blend of Blues/Jazz Hawaiian guitar for 40 years and running.