Led Kaapana and Friends: Waltz of the Wind

To that end, Winston’s Dancing Cat label has released a healthy catalogue of slack key recordings, including the new one by slack key hero Led Kaapana & Friends, Waltz of the Wind (Dancing Cat 08022; 46:31). On this project, Kaapana goes, logically, to Nashville, meeting up with noted players like dobro master Jerry Douglas, Ricky Scaggs, Bob Brozman, Alison Krauss, and Winston himself. The sum effect is a beautiful musical casserole, spiced with flavors from Hawaii and Tennessee and then some.

There remains the question of whether Hawaiian music, coming as it does from a United State, is “world music.” In that it developed as a peripheral, island culture, mixing Polynesian and itinerant cowboy roots, this music is as worldly as anything.

Originally Published January 1, 1999