Gabby Pahinui

Gabby Pahinui (April 22, 1921 – October 13, 1980) was an American Hawaiian slack-key guitarist (kī hōʻalu) and singer. Born Charles Kapono Kahahawai Jr. in Lahaina, Maui, he was hānai (informally adopted) into the Pahinui family and raised in the Kakaʻako district of Honolulu. Largely self-taught, he made his first recording, "Hiʻilawe," for Bell Records in 1946 — cited as among the earliest recordings of a Hawaiian song featuring slack-key guitar — helping bring the traditional style to a wider audience.

Pahinui co-founded the Sons of Hawaii with Eddie Kamae, recording albums including a 1961 self-titled debut, Music of Old Hawaiʻi (1964), and The Folk Music of Hawaiʻi (1971). In the 1970s he formed the Gabby Pahinui Hawaiian Band, whose recordings featured collaborators such as Leland "Atta" Isaacs, Sonny Chillingworth, Peter Moon, and Ry Cooder. Several of his sons — including Cyril, James "Bla," and Martin Pahinui — performed with him and became prominent musicians in their own right.

His playing helped sustain the slack-key tradition, expanding it from vocal accompaniment toward a solo art form, and he is regarded as a leading figure of the 1970s Hawaiian Renaissance. His 1947 recording "Hula Medley" was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2011. Named a Living Treasure of Hawaiʻi in 1979, Pahinui died in Honolulu in 1980 and was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2002.