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Hawaiian slack key guitar player performs

The sounds of aloha will waft through the air in Sonoma with a Hawaiian slack key guitar concert featuring Bay Area musician Patrick Landeza, with special guests from Hawaii, LT Smooth and Bill Griffin.

  The show, which will celebrate the release of his latest CD, “Kama`alua,” will take place on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Sonoma Valley Moose Lodge, 20580 Broadway, Sonoma. Doors open at noon with the music kicking off at 1 p.m.

  An award-winning musician, composer and producer, Landeza is considered a leading exponent of the Hawaiian slack key guitar style. Born and raised on “the island Berkeley,” to Hawaiian-born parents, he became the youngest recipient of the prestigious Kapalakiko Aloha Spirit award, when he was 34.

  His 2010 release, “Ku`u Honua Mele,” received the 2010 Hawaii Music Award in the slack key category, and was nominated for a Hoku Hanohano award (Hawaiian music’s equivalent to the Grammy), being the first release by a mainland artist to make it on the final ballot of Na Hokus. In January 2012, he performed at Carnegie Hall in Listen for Life's “Power of Eight” concert, which promoted peace through music.

  “Kama`alua” is a departure from Landeza’s previous releases in scope and sophistication, but it also departs from what has come to be expected in Hawaiian music. While indisputably Hawaiian, “Kama`alua” is a unique integration of Hawaii and California. Ultimately, the ability to meld these two influences originates from Landeza’s acceptance of his own identity as a California-born Hawaiian.

  The most forthcoming example of this blend is the CD’s final track, “How Would You Feel,” which Landeza composed as a retort to those who, throughout his life, have challenged his identity as a Hawaiian. Opening the album is the instrumental composition “Ho`omaika`i,” which presents a brief glance of how his slack key stylings have developed over the years.  The track representing the album’s title, “Kama`alua,” is an example of a mele `ohana, or song written about Landeza’s lineage.

  Before the music begins, Landeza will be cooking up a traditional Hawaiian feast with the help of the dancers from Hula Mai, the Sonoma-based dance group founded by Betty Ann Bruno, which practices at Vintage House senior center.

  “We are thrilled this young rising star of Hawaiian music has chosen Sonoma to introduce his latest album,” Bruno said. “We’ll be helping Patrick (Landeza) at the Moose Lodge on the 26th, the word in Hawaiian is ‘kokua.’ He’s doing a real island kind of event – he’ll cook an Hawaiian luau lunch and we’ll help him serve it up. After lunch, he’ll play his wonderful slack key guitar and we’ll dance.”

  Tickets are $20 at the door. Plates of Hawaiian food will be available

for $10.

For additional information, contact Pili Davis at 510-703-7763 or email landezapresents@gmail.com. You can learn more at www.patricklandeza.com.