Makana

Makana, born Matthew Swalinkavich in 1978, is a slack-key guitarist, singer, and composer from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. He joined the Honolulu Boy Choir around age seven and studied ʻukulele at Roy Sakuma's school before turning to Hawaiian slack-key guitar (kī hōʻalu) at about age eleven. He apprenticed under slack-key players Bobby Moderow Jr., Raymond Kane, and Sonny Chillingworth, and is described as one of Chillingworth's last protégés. He turned professional around age nineteen and later became known for blending traditional slack-key with rock and other contemporary styles.

His recording career began with the self-titled album 'Makana' (1999), followed by releases including 'Koi Au' (2002), 'Kī Hōʻalu: Journey of Hawaiian Slack Key' (2003), 'Different Game', 'Venus, and the Sky Turns to Clay: The Instrumental World of Makana' (2009), and the Kickstarter-funded 'Ripe' (2013). His guitar work appears on the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning film 'The Descendants' (2011), and his playing has been featured on Grammy-nominated albums. In 2012 he received a Nā Hōkū Kī Hōʻalu (Slack Key) Legacy Award, presented through the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts / Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards.

Makana is also known for activism woven into his music. Invited to provide music at a 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit dinner in Honolulu attended by President Barack Obama and other world leaders, he used the set to perform his Occupy-movement song 'We Are the Many,' revealing a shirt reading 'Occupy with Aloha.' The video circulated widely and the song was cited as an anthem of the Occupy movement. He has continued to advocate on environmental and social causes and is frequently described as a cultural ambassador for Hawaiʻi.