Didgets
Site spotlights folk artists in Hawai'i
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Among the greatest cultural repositories of Hawai'i are its folk artists, those practicing skills that are indigenous or part of the multi-ethnic landscape of the Islands. Now a piece of this treasure trove lies as close as your computer.
The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts is distributing to school libraries copies of its new book and CD, "Our Arts, Our Lands — A Young Reader's Guide to Selected Folk Arts of Hawai'i." But an online version is also posted on the foundation's Web site (). You start there, then click on the Folk Arts Program link on the left-hand listing, and finally on the "Our Arts, Our Land" link.
Taiko drumming wizard Kenny Endo is included in this folk arts program site.
Each artist is presented with text in English and Hawaiian, and an audio file sampling their work or recording their thoughts. Of the 20 artists listed, several names will be familiar — slack-key guitarist Raymond Kane, taiko drumming wizard Kenny Endo (his page is shown) and Hawaiian singer-chanter Keali'i Reichel, who also narrates the audio portion of the site. But the site also pays homage to everything from Hawaiian fishnet knotting to lesser-known skills such as Korean pansori singing, Okinawan dance and Japanese mingei pottery.
It's another, welcome example of old technology finding a footing in the new.
