Slack-key guitar, Ki ho'alu, has been practiced for a long time, though it's only recently being heard outside the Islands. Mexican vaqueros brought guitars when they came to Hawaii in the 1830s to instruct the brand-new beef industry in horsemanship and cattle ranching. The Hawaiian cowboys, newly christened paniolos , loved the guitar. But the Mexicans were there only to teach a crash course. When they went home, they left the instruments, but no instructions.
Music is rather like physics.
The act of observing the event seems to change the outcome. If you observe or participate in some small way, you brings a bit of yourself into the picture. I simply cannot help but interject a tiny little piece of my DNA into the ether of the music. Guitarist Beamer is one of the leading lights of modern slack key guitar. He and his brother Kapono helped modernize the ringing, resonant sound with several seminal albums in the 70s.