George has played his music for the Queen of England, the Baron of Tonga and the Premier of China. He has played in nearly every state and every continent.  

When Hawaiian slack key guitarist and singer George Kahumoku Jr. comes to town, expect something different. He never plays a song the same way twice, never tells a story quite like the last time. He's a one-off person in real life and it's the same when he's on stage -- every performance is different, every performance another journey through the world he inhabits and every performance is the essence of aloha.
Jamie O'Brien - www.popmatters.com -July 2003

Aunty D had this to say about George's performance in Southern California last summer:

Thanks to this newsgroup (hugs to Auntie Maria), we learned about George Kahumoku's unexpected visit to Southern California, and we decided to interrupt our vacation in the cool, smog-free local mountains and make the two-hour drive to Borders, Cerritos and into the LA basin's smog and oppressive summer heat.

Borders, Cerritos is a great book store with a central, accessible location, but as a location for concerts .... On a scale 1 to 10, as a venue, it barely clings to a lowly one ranking – and that's on a good day. Unfortunately, the stage is located OUTDOORS in the parking lot, located mere feet away from one of the busiest and noisiest freeways in Southern California ("The 91").

(Cerritos is a suburb on the border of LA and Orange County, which is a mini-mecca of Hawai`i folks, and thus, attracts a large, appreciative crowd to Hawai`i-related events)

This past Sunday was not a good day. It wasn't just hot. It was scorchingly hot. And ho~ ka smoggy! An all-around icky day.

We got there a half hour early, ample time, we thought, to hunt down Stephen King's book, "The Green Mile" (GREAT movie, BTW, and book is even better), and get seats under an umbrella. We couldn't believe it. Every folding chair on that hot pavement was taken. Standing room only. Even more packed than when Keola Beamer and the Ma~kaha Sons played there. Anyone in their right mind should have been at home in air-conditioned comfort or inside the bookstore itself. This was one hard-core group of George fans.

We stood.

Windham Hill/Dancing Cat Records and Borders were gracious hosts. They even had food inside. And we were greeted at the door with lei...plastic kine that you would never be caught dead in in Hawai`i, but we knew the thought and spirit were there and we graciously accepted and wore them with mahalo.

Right away, we sensed George's frustration with having to sing above "all dat traffic" and were dismayed for him. Any musician would have been all nuha (put off). A lesser musician would have been defeated at the outset, wanting to cry, pack up and jes' go home alreadeh.

But not George. Not George, the professional that he is. He decided to make it his Everest.

After he mopped his brow, he immediately proceeded to make lemonade out of lemons. He made light of the grim situation and had us imagining that the freeway din was the sound of Hawaiian surf pounding on the shore. If that was too much of a stretch, he instructed his audience to imagine it as the sound of a Hawaiian waterfall.   Imagine that!

It worked, and George began to scale his Everest with the greatest of ease, by simply singing his heart out, skillfully playing his guitar with finesse and seeming ease as only George can, and had his audience fully engaged in his music.  What traffic? He played his favorites, he played the hula dancer's favorites (graceful Kau`I from San Diego with the entrancing eyes has never looked more beautiful, and Kaleo and Kau`i's daughter were wonderful), and he graciously played his audience's favorites, including Henehenoe Kou `Aka, Lahainaluna, Kaimana Hila, E Ku`u Morning Dew, and with magnificence, The Queen's Prayer with a most memorable riff (you just have to hear it for yourself, no words to describe it, except: "Wiiiiiipe Out").

He shared his other life as a teacher at Lahainaluna of truant kids. You just know he is making an incredibly positive difference in helping to straighten out those life paths. After all, in minutes, we became his students; he was teaching us that seemingly huge obstacles (heat, smog, traffic) can be diminished with the right attitude -- and imagination.

George had us singing along with him. He taught us whole songs. New songs, too. He quizzed us on na~ mea Hawai`i -- what's the flower of O`ahu, of Kaua`i, of Hawai`i? He had us holding our sides, laughing -- he is a veritable Hawaiian Jim Carrey. He did a great singing imitation of Gabby and Cyril Pahinui, and his imitation of Leonard Kwan was a hoot and a scream.

He shared poignant stories, including the one about his grandmother, who had always wanted George to record her favorite Hawaiian hymns. By the time he did, however, grandmother was hovering in that netherworld between life and death. Incommunicado. But he went to visit her anyway to have her listen to the songs he had recorded on his HYMNS OF HAWAI`I CD, Grandma's feet started to move under the sheet -- to the beat of his music! Then, her eyes fluttered open, and although no sound came out, she began mouthing the words.

Wow. That just did me in. Wai maka (tears) time. So sweet.

George had completely enchanted us. After the concert, I looked about me and had a chance to visit with many Hawai`i-rooted folks. It was then that I realized that George had conquered Everest. I saw that he had transformed an utterly hostile environment into a backyard party of friends with delighted, sparkling faces, including those of:

My husband, who would one day love to be a student at George's ki~ho~`alu (slack key) workshop on Maui. A retired couple, originally from Lahaina, who had driven down SIX hours from cool Mammoth Mountain to see George. A couple from my home village of Pa~hoa. A young lady, who had picked up her aunt, also originally from Maui, and her cousin from another city, so they might enjoy George. A bunch of faces of regular Hawaiian music concert frequenters, who have become dear friends of ours over the years of "meeting this way".

The most poignant face was that of a woman in black, who after losing her island-born husband had subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown. She was there seeking solace in the music of her husband's homeland. George's music provided that solace.

An audience is not just a sea of impersonal faces. There's a whole life behind each face. A story. A reason for being there. A reason for sitting out there on that pavement in that wretched heat and smog. A reason for subjecting oneself to obnoxious traffic sounds and imagining them as gentle Hawaiian surf...or a waterfall.

A seasoned professional like George knows. `Ike (Foresight). He overcame the limitations of the venue. He reached out. He touched hearts of those whose destiny is to live away from their beloved Hawai`i, but who return often with the music of Hawai`i and their imaginations. He brought Hawai`i to them with his music. Music of the heart. George's heart.

Simple.

On a scale 1 to 10, George Kahumoku earned a 10+ at Borders, Cerritos. A consummate professional. We can't wait to see him back again with THE female steel guitarist, Owana Salazar.......and we (and we are not alone) hope, hope, hope Haunani Bernardino (she is Da Bomb). Soon.

E kipa mai hou. Mahalo a` nui e George.

Me ke Aloha,  -Aunty D

Here are some comments from other reviewers:

George's performance more than any other musician I've heard, revolves as much around his story-telling as it does his music.
Jamie O'Brien - www.rambles.net -March 2002


Fifty years ago, 6-week-old George Kahumoku Jr. was set down on the bow of a little rowboat by his fisherman father, teetered and fell into the Ala Wai Canal. The fact that he lived tells you that:
    (A) Kahumoku is very, very lucky, and/or
    (B) he simply had too much living ahead of him to quit that soon...
Vicki Viotti - The Honolulu Advertiser


This artist has a very unique way of tugging on your ears. And, like the title "Drenched By Music," this album does just that. George Kahumoku, Jr. is a master with the acoustic guitar. His music is played from his heart and soul through the very tips of his fingers, and flows with vivid tropical images. His music is soothing to the ear, and Kahumoku is totally relaxing throughout the 10 cut album.
Kayla Christian - www.amzmusiczine.com


George Kahumoku Jr.'s Drenched by Music is one of the company's most listenable new releases. Kahumoku pulls a cascade of rich, full sounds from his 12-string guitar and, joined by Aunty Diana Aki and acoustic steel guitarist Bill Brozman, makes you feel as if you've come over for a backyard luau.
Dewey Schurman - www.islands.com


George Kahumoku Jr., a native of the southern Kona slope of Hawaii's Big Island ... thinks of his music as nature songs: of love, hope, desire, and lament. His lyrics were simple and embodied the way of life in Hawaii. He played a beautiful twelve stringed guitar, producing a chiming/ringing sound that reminded me of harps. The audience was very receptive and even sang along with one of his tunes on command.
Jimmy Nations - Citysearch.com

...The vocals and slack-key wizardry of George Kahumoku ... is as cleansing as a Sunday drive through God’s country.
Wayne Harada - The Honolulu Advertiser
 

Jessie sees George for the first time at a 2003 Valentines Day Concert and writes, "His stories, knee deep in pidgin, were always funny, and always emphasized what makes his Hawaiian heritage special."
Jessie Tinsley - Taropatch.net