Biography
Residing on Kaua'i, multi-instrumentalist Cindy Combs ranks among the rare women who have fully mastered Hawaii's slack key guitar tradition. Once a pupil of the influential guitarist Keola Beamer, she keeps developing her approach by merging conventional Hawaiian repertoire with cool jazz elements. In spring 2002, her nine-piece ensemble Ha'awi Hemolele 'O Keakawaiola joined a hula dancer to open for Taj Mahal at a widely noted benefit staged for the Kaua'i community radio outlet KKCR. Weekly Friday engagements at Hanapepe Café in Hanapepe Town have continued uninterrupted since 1997, while Saturday performances at the Kaua'i Coconut Beach Hotel began more recently. Music has remained central to Combs' existence; her mother performed on piano and organ, and her father played violin. Although San Diego is listed on her birth certificate, early childhood involved constant movement with her parents and sister, including a brief period in the Canary Islands before the family settled in Honolulu when she turned ten. Her father, a Pearl Harbor survivor, had already lived on O'ahu. As a youngster she took up the ukulele and absorbed the work of American singer-songwriters Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. After attending a concert by slack key specialist Beamer, she approached him backstage and persuaded him to instruct her in the style. Her recording debut occurred on the Olomana album Like a Seabird in the Wind, credited to Jerry Santos and Robert Beaumont. Two solo projects followed—Land of the Endless Summer in 1998 and Slack Key Lady in 2000—while additional appearances came on releases by Michael Barretto and the Ka'au Crater Boys. RCA released Sunny Rain in 2007.
Albums
