G Major M. K. Moke, a steel guitarist with Johnny Noble's Hawaiians at the Moana Hotel, composed and recorded the classic Moana Chimes around 1928. In this new, feisty update, Sonny opens with soulful slides. After three verses he plays a verse of Pa'ahana , which has some interesting C to E7 to A7 chord changes in the bridge. Sonny goes on to play two more verses of Moana Chimes , one more verse of Pa'ahana , and a closing verse of Moana Chimes. In this Monarchy Era classic composed as a welcome home gift for King Kalakaua, Queen Kapi'olani compares her husband to an 'i'iwi bird in the uplands.
Sonny plays it here in the old, ballad style.
This original is divided into three sections. In the second section, Sonny uses harmonic chimes produced by lightly slapping the fretboard twelve frets above the fretted or open melody notes to create a charming melody reminiscent of the childhood favorite London Bridge . In the last section he adds beautiful Spanish style picking. Often attributed to Keola Nalimu, Hilo Hanakahi describes the famous Big Island harbor town and its surrounding area. G Major tuned down to F Anyone who has looked up at night in Hawai'i has probably been struck speechless at least once by the sight of enormous billowy clouds, illuminated by the moon, majestically making their way across the heavens.