"While I'm grateful for the acknowledgment of my work, and certainly have respect for the Grammys themselves, I have decided not to participate in any of the Grammy events," Lahaina resident Keola Beamer said Friday.

Beamer described how he had experimented with the "tonal palette" of ki ho'alu, or slack-key guitar, to record classical works by composers Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Felix Mendelssohn, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and others in his Grammy-nominated "Ka Hikina O Ka Hau – The Coming of the Snow" (Dancing Cat Records).

But "in my humble opinion, my album is not really a Hawaiian record and shouldn't be in the category," said Beamer, who has recorded more than 19 albums in the ki ho'alu style.

Other nominees for the Best Hawaiian Music Grammy are "Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar," produced by George Kahumoku Jr., Daniel Ho, Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong (Daniel Ho Creations); Raiatea Helm's "Hawaiian Blossom" (Raiatea Helm Records); Cyril Pahinui's "He'eia" (Dancing Cat); and Tia Carrere's "Hawaiiana" (Daniel Ho Creations).

Helm and Carrere are vocalists, with the other CDs mostly slack-key albums. Ki ho'alu instrumental albums have swept the awards in the first three years of the Hawaiian Grammy category, and Beamer said he felt worthier artists, especially vocalists, should have been nominated instead of him.

He said his absence from the recording industry's epitome might bring "more attention to the category as a whole. Maybe we need a couple of categories of the Hawaiian music genre. ... One might be instrumental music, one might be vocal music. I would love to hear a winner with Hawaiian lyrics on it."

Two-time Grammy artist Kahumoku, of Kahakuloa, agreed there should be "as many Hawaiian categories as possible." But he pointed out that only 200 Hawai'i artists belong to the Recording Academy that presents the Grammy awards, while 1,400 are members of the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts that sponsors Na Hoku Hanohano awards, the isle counterpart of the Grammys.

"The thing is, other guys who belong to the Hokus need to stand up and join the Grammys," he said. "All of the people in Hawai'i should participate ... so we can have more categories."

Ben London, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy, said there were 50 submissions in the Best Hawaiian Music category. He theorized that if the category were split in two for vocal and instrumental entries, perhaps 25 would compete for five nominations in each classification, compared to "potentially hundreds for five nominees" in other popular categories. He called the single Hawaiian category a matter of fairness for now.

Regarding Beamer's decision to skip the awards, London said, "Every year, with five artists per category and 108 categories, not everybody decides they want to come to the show for a variety of reasons. Still, it's a great honor to be nominated, and I wish all the nominees the best of luck."

Beamer said he realized his move was controversial but stressed he did "not mean to criticize any of the other nominees. They deserve to pat themselves on the back. I don't want to rain on anyone else's parade. The nominees are all friends. I have a great deal of respect for them."

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