Back to Kohala
When Kohala's lead guitarist, Charles Michael Brotman, left Honolulu and moved to The Big Island in the early '90s, he met guitarists Charlie Recaido and Kevin Teves, who performed together as a duo.  Kevin and Charlie played a finger picking style acoustic guitar and sang. Charles would listen to them play and thought that the interlocking parts of their finger picking sounded beautiful - like one big guitar - and he thought of adding his classical guitar on top of that as the melody line instead of voice. The 3 of them tried it and KOHALA was formed in 1998. They liked the pure clean sound of just the 3 guitars and decided not to add any other instruments. They released their debut album "KOHALA" (Palm Records 1998) followed by "ISLAND TREASURES" (Palm Records 1998), then "FLYING" (Palm Records 2000), LULLABY (Palm Records 2001), and now "BACK TO KOHALA" (Palm Records August 2002). Brotman plays the melody line in his classical guitar style of playing (nylon strings)and Recaido and Teves back him up with acoustic steel string guitars. Originally from Mercer Island, Washington, Charles Michael Brotman received BA and MA degrees in music. After teaching classical guitar at the University of Hawaii Music Department for 9 years, Brotman released his first 2 CDs: MANGO COOLER (Global Pacific 1990) and PACIFIC RENDEZVOUS (Brainchild 1993). Both CDs charted in the top 10 on US contemporary jazz radio. Brotman now works out of his Lava Tracks Recording Studio in the beautiful Kohala region on the Big Island and spends his time as a composer and producer when he is not performing with KOHALA. His compositions are heard worldwide on radio, film, and television. He is a multi Nahanohano Hoku Award finalist. Recaido, born and raised in Hawaii, was a guitarist with the group Summer, which toured with Kalapana. Summer was a headliner at "Toppe Ada Shoppe", the hotspot in Honolulu in the 70s that spawned the contemporary renaissance of music in Hawaii. Recaido still performs occasionally with Summer and Kalapana at reunion concerts. Recaido now lives in Waimea in the Kohala region of the Big Island and works as an independent engineer & producer when he is not performing or recording with KOHALA. Recaido comes from a family of musicians; his father was a swing band leader and performer in Honolulu in the 40s and 50s. Kevin Teves grew up on Oahu, and like Recaido, frequently performed at the "Toppe Ada Shoppe" in Honolulu. He performed and recorded with the group "Akona", played in the band "Solbrea" with Brother Noland, and also played and recorded with Recaido in a band called "Pahoehoe". Teves lives in the coffee growing belt of Hawaii near Kona on The Big Island. Kohala’s CDs have charted in the top 10 on the Japanese music charts. "For simply beautiful guitar instrumentals look no farther than...KOAHALA", Dewey Schurman Island Magazine "KOHALA...Call this exquisite!" John Berger, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin "KOHALA..! .the beauty and charms that constitute Hawaii." Wayne Harada, Honolulu Advertiser