Leonard Kwan
Leonard Keʻala Kwan Sr., born in 1931 in Honolulu, Hawaii, was an American
slack-key guitarist who helped define the style before the Hawaiian Cultural
Renaissance of the 1970s. After learning guitar from family members, he issued
the 1957 single “Hawaiian Chimes” and the 1958 instrumental single “ʻOpihi
Moemoe”. In 1960, he released Slack Key, the first album consisting entirely of
slack-key instrumentals, followed by a solo recording known as the red album and
a joint album with Raymond Kāne known as the black and white album. He published
Slack Key Instruction Book in 1980, an...
