At first he thought he just wouldn't say anything, but then his family reminded him that people would wonder about his silence and that his fans deserve an explanation. So after much searching and consideration, Keola Beamer is, as he puts it, not supporting his own nomination for a Grammy.

It's not a protest, but more of an acknowledgement of what is and what isn't. The bottom line is that his latest album, "Ka Hikina O Ka Hau (The Coming of the Snow)," is not a Hawaiian music album and thus should not be considered in that Grammy category, he feels.

"Hawaiian music always had my love. But now it kind of needs my honesty," Beamer said.

Though the album has a Hawaiian title, the music is essentially classical — pieces by composers like Satie, Ravel, Stravinsky and Mendelssohn; selections like "Gymnopedie," "Milonga" and "Venetian Boat Song."

"It was an experiment. What I did was I took these pieces, they were hard pieces to do, and I found a great arranger and I found a (slack key) tuning that I thought would carry the message of the pieces," Beamer explained.

"The tunings are like a tonal palette, a coloration, so by finding the right sort of tonal colors, I thought that I could infuse a new sort of mana into these beautiful old pieces. So that was my creative task."

The album is slack key honoring the traditions of classical music, Beamer said. "But to call it Hawaiian music is not really pono, in my humble opinion."

The album was done for George Winston's record company, Dancing Cat, a record label Beamer has had a relationship with for years. Many record labels submit their entire catalog of albums for Grammy consideration each year. Beamer knew the album would be submitted, but found out while on tour in Japan that it was one of six finalists in the Hawaiian music category, an award created only four years ago.

The winner will be announced on Feb. 10.

Beamer won't be there. Instead, he will keep to an earlier commitment to hold a workshop with at-risk youth on Moloka'i.

"These are kids who are kind of at a point in their lives where they're having some difficulties and are at risk for taking a wrong turn. Maybe I can help 'steer the canoe' in the right direction a little bit. It'll make me feel like I'm doing something good with my life."

He hopes talking about his discomfort at the nomination of this particular album in the Hawaiian music category steers the Grammy canoe in another direction as well.

"It's kind of an interesting irony for me because I was, and have been, a proponent of the Grammys for Hawaiian music," he said. "But obviously the procedure is somewhat flawed and that's a disappointment to me."

Years ago, when the category was merely being considered, Beamer had a heartfelt talk over dinner with the Northwest representative of the Grammy organization.

"They were seeking advice as to what would be the proper way to introduce the idea of the Hawaiian music Grammys and discussion about it. And I was really very much in favor of it. I think I still am."

He says he is heartened by the growth of slack key as a musical force.

When he was a young musician, he wondered if slack key was even going to survive. No one was teaching the technique. Now, it is thriving.

The three Grammy awards for Hawaiian music given thus far have all been for slack key compilation albums.

"Eventually it would be nice if they had a category for instrumental music and one category for Hawaiian lyrics. But in the meantime, maybe this is part of the growing pains."

Of course, while wrestling with what to do, Beamer turned to his mother, Hawaiian composer and scholar Nona Beamer, who knows a thing or two about speaking up while remaining gracious. He invoked also the memory of his great-grandmother, composer Helen Desha Beamer, and asked his mother what she might advise.

"I said, 'Mom, what would great-grandmother say about this?' And my mom said, 'You know, Keola, she would say the same thing I'm saying. We would just want you to be honest. Share your heart and tell the truth.' "

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.