Slack Key Prodigy Joined by Hawaiian Activist/Musicians Jon and Jamaica Osorio
Twenty-two year old Danny Carvalho, one of Hawai‘i’s finest up-and-coming slack key guitarists, returns to Hawaii Public Radio’s intimate Atherton Performing Arts Studio on Saturday, August 10, at 7:30 p.m. The concert features numbers from his forthcoming CD, with special guests father-and-daughter musical talents Jon and Jamaica Osorio. Reservations may be made online at www.hawaiipublicradio.org or by calling the station (955-8821) during regular business hours. Tickets for this and other performances in the 2013 Atherton Summer Season are $30 general, $25 for HPR members, and $15 for students with ID. The Atherton Studio is located at Hawaii Public Radio, 738 Kaheka Street.
Danny Carvalho began playing guitar at the age of nine and quickly became a student of Hawaiian ki ho‘alu (slack key) master Ozzie Kotani, who taught him through the traditional method of “watch and learn.” While under Kotani’s tutelage, Carvalho also studied the stylings of other guitarists, including Ledward Ka‘apana, Gabby Pahinui, Roland Cazimero, and Carlos Santana. By age 12, he had written his first song and performed at several slack key festivals around the Islands. In 2004, he became the first slack key guitarist to be featured on the renowned National Public Radio showcase for young classical musicians From The Top; and in November 2006, appeared on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.
In 2006, Carvalho released his first CD, Slack Key Journey • On My Way. He followed it two years later with his second CD, Somewhere. Both albums were nominated for N? H?k? Hanohano awards. After the release of Somewhere, Carvalho began a period of musical and intellectual exploration. He enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i at M?noa in Hawaiian Studies, and began volunteer work with the Polynesian Voyaging Society. He continued to hone his craft by studying voice with Catherine Goto and Neva Rego, as well as other styles of music to further broaden his horizons. Recently, his music was included in the film The Descendants and featured for a second time on A Prairie Home Companion (New Year’s Eve 2011). His third album, Ke Au Hou, which translates to “a new life, a new beginning,” is due to be released in August 2013.
Jon Osorio’s musical career extends back to the 1970’s. His songs (written and recorded with Randy Borden as the duo “Jon and Randy”) “Hawaiian Eyes” and “Hawaiian Soul” are considered standards of the Native Hawaiian cultural and political renaissance. Osorio, who has since become a highly respected scholar of Hawaiian history, is currently the Director of the Kamakak?okalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at M?noa. His daughter, Jamaica Osorio, is an acclaimed spoken word artist, winning back-to-back international slam championships with her Hawai‘i crew, and performing at the White House for the first family and many other distinguished guests in 2009. Both Osorio’s appear on Carvalho’s new CD.
