This is talent! Tickets are almost sold out. Read about these incredible artists below. Get your ticket soon so you can hear them and see them live! We wish we had unlimited space, but we don't. But, then again, that ensures that our ticket holders will all have great seats!
(Ticket information in August 19th blog post below.)
Danny Carvalho and Nani Edgar have performed individually and with others over
the years, but they recently joined forces to create the exciting new group Kailua
Moon!
A prolific singer-songwriter and accomplished slack key guitarist, Danny has
packed more musical experiences into his 25 years than many musicians twice his
age. He began his formal training at age 10 with noted slack key player Ozzie
Kotani. At age 14, Carvalho became the first slack key guitar player to be featured
on National Public Radio’s nationally syndicated program From the Top. At age
16, he made the first of two appearances on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home
Companion, and released his first album, Slack Key Journey - On My Way. He
released his second album, Somewhere, when he was 18 – and was nominated for
a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award (Hawaii’s GRAMMY® Award) for Slack Key Album
of the Year. Carvalho’s music was also featured in the Academy Award-winning
film, The Descendants.
Carvalho also studied with one of the most celebrated figures in modern-day
Hawaiian music: the iconic, multi-GRAMMY® and Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award
winner Dennis Kamakahi, a member of the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame who
composed over 500 songs (many of which have become classics). Carvalho
continued to perfect his skills playing slack key guitar under Kamakahi’s tutelage,
and Kamakahi and others encouraged him to add his voice to his music. He
listened, and eventually studied under acclaimed vocal coach Neva Rego.
Over the years Carvalho further expanded his horizons, composing and producing
his own songs. His third album, 2013ʻs Ke Au Hou (“a new era”), is a reflection of
his growth as a singer-songwriter, but also as lead artist, band leader, arranger (the
album included some very intricate and collaborative arrangements), and producer.
Along with that growth has come the desire to spread his wings beyond the
traditional Hawaiian music he has loved for so long, and Ke Au Hou saw the
beginning of his expansion into blending traditional Hawaiian with contemporary
Hawaiian while creating some new arrangements, and from there into other genres
– including the closely-related folk genre, as well as some acoustic pop.
Carvalho’s new chapter saw him become a versatile performer with strong
musicianship and vocal and writing skills who delves deeply into a variety of
musical styles and genres while not losing sight of his beloved Hawaiian slack key
roots – an artist who appeals to a wide variety audiences, both young and old.
Singer-songwriter and hula dancer Puanani “Nani” Edgar began her training at age
6 in Ventura, CA with her mother Sylvia Edgar, who was determined to share her
Hawaiian heritage and culture with her daughter. Sylvia began teaching Nani hula
at her school, Hula Hālau O Puananiha’aheo. As for her singing, Nani says that
although she’s been singing all her life, her mother wouldn’t put her on stage to
harmonize with her until she was 16.
Nani has performed internationally with GRAMMY® Award winning artist Daniel
Ho, touring with him in Japan and Australia where she danced hula, sang harmony
and back-up vocals, and played ‘ukulele. She has also gone beyond the Hawaiian
music genre, successfully winning a 2014 “Sing Your Frozen Heart Out”
competition held by Kohls’, where musicians submitted videos of themselves
singing the popular “Let It Go” from Disney’s “Frozen”. Nani’s video stood out
among the 4,000 other entries with her playing the ‘ukulele and performing an
Amy Winehouse-inspired version of the song. Her video was used in a Kohls’
commercial that aired during the American Music Awards Ceremony on ABC.
Nani’s original songs are influenced by artists such as Miranda Lambert, Tom
Petty, Billy Joel, and Gavin DeGraw, whom she looks up to because she sees the
messages in their songs as a key element in their success. “What I love about
writing is that I can express things that I can't normally express in conversations. I
can write what I am really trying to say. Some people can debate in public. I write
songs. It's my comfort zone.”
Event details and ticket information are in the prior blog post (below). We are VERY limited on tickets after just one week of ticket sales. We'll keep you posted and have Kailua Moon CD's on sale at our store.
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