LIHU‘E — Paul Togioka will be leaving on a jet plane today. Togioka, an engineer with the county’s Public Works Department, will be making his second trip to the Grammy Awards for the announcement of the winners on Sunday. “Anolani,”
LIHU‘E — Paul Togioka will be leaving on a jet plane today.
Togioka, an engineer with the county’s Public Works Department, will be making his second trip to the Grammy Awards for the announcement of the winners on Sunday.
“Anolani,” an original Togioka composition, is part of “Hawaiian Slack Key Kings Masters Series Vol. 2” which is one of five nominations in the Best Hawaiian Music Album produced by Chris Lau and Milton Lau.
Togioka said the selection for the album was made by Milton Lau.
“I told Milton to surprise me,” Togioka said. “For some reason, he seems to like original compositions. In the first Hawaiian Slack Key Kings album, he chose a composition I did about where I grew up — ‘Kekaha Chimes.’”
That first Hawaiian Slack Key Kings Masters Series Vol. 1 was also nominated for a Grammy and gave Togioka his first trip to the prestigious awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
“This time, they asked us to perform at the Grammy Museum,” Togioka said. “I think that is such a good thing because it will do so much to promote Hawaiian music.”
All five album nominee artists will be performing on Thursday and Friday at the Grammy Museum.
Joining the Hawaiian Slack Key Kings, “‘Ikena” by Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho, “‘Aumakua” by Amy Hanaiali‘i, “Force of Nature” with Led Ka‘apana and Mike Ka‘awa, and “The Spirit of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar,” a compilation of artists including Ho, George Kahumoku Jr., Dennis Kamakahi, Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong, producers, make up the field of nominees.
Joining Togioka from the Hawaiian Slack Key Kings Masters Series Vol. 2 are artists Don Kaulia, LT Smooth, Milton Lau, Chris Lau, Kaapana, Kevin and Ikaika Brown.
“Almost all of the artists will be there so we’ll have just 20 minutes each to perform,” Togioka said. “That means we’ll probably be doing duets.”
But that does not bother the engineer who just started with the county six months ago.
“I’ve done studio work with Leilani Bond and Walter Keale where I used the banjo to create tracks,” Togioka said. Additionally, he has shared time with other musicians including Hal Kinnaman, whom Togioka said taught him a lot on how to play slack key.
Although he took ukulele lessons from Charlie Kaneyama and piano lessons from Ruth Cassel when he was young, Togioka said it was when he was at Colorado State University that he met Chris Waller of Virginia. They became friends and Waller taught Togioka how to play the banjo.
“From there it was a natural progression to slack key because the banjo tuning is close to the Open G tuning in slack key,” Togioka said. “I use that tuning a lot and my style of music leans toward country and traditional.”
He returned to the banjo during the 2008 Lights on Rice parade where he was featured atop the Hawaiian Telcom float plucking out “Jingle Bells” to an appreciative audience.
“The people really get off on the banjo music because it’s not something you hear everyday,” Togioka said, noting that he was helping out his friends at Hawaiian Telcom where he spent 18 years in the telephone industry.
Togioka said this whole experience would not be possible without the help of Milton Lau of Ka Hoku Productions and the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festivals. Togioka said he does the slack key festival tours in addition to playing for special events like weddings and parties.
“This is much better than playing at bars where you have to learn the Top 40,” Togioka said. “When you play for special events, they pretty much leave you in the back and you get to do what you’re comfortable with. I’m really old-style and traditional so that suits me.”
When Togioka and the other Hawaiian Slack Key Kings reach Los Angeles, Taylor Guitars has arranged to have three special guitars waiting for them to use in their Grammy performances.
“Taylor Guitars has been really good in taking care of having a guitar for me to use during the promotional trip,” Togioka said. “When they found out we were going to do performances, they said they’ll take care of having the guitars there and having it shipped back once we’re done.”
Togioka said he owes a lot of his success to his wife Debra because with all the performances, he’s almost never home and she’s been very understanding and supportive.
“Anolani,” Togioka’s composition in this year’s Grammy nominee album, is named after the street where his sister and his brother-in-law lives.
“When Hurricane Iniki blew in, it destroyed my dad’s home where I was living. We moved in with my sister and while we were living there, that song was born,” Togioka said.
In addition to the two Hawaiian Slack Key Kings volumes, the Paul Togioka Web site discography lists 10 albums produced by the slack key artist, several of which have won awards.
Togioka returns home Monday night following the Grammys.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
