Ozzie Kotani

Ozzie Kotani ranks among Hawaii’s foremost interpreters of ki ho`alu, the slack-key guitar tradition, while also working as a teacher, arranger, and composer. Born in 1956 and raised in Honolulu’s Pauoa district, he first encountered music through the ukulele during elementary school. His focus shifted to ki ho`alu in high school after catching a radio broadcast by Keola Beamer. In 1975 he enrolled in the University of Hawaii Continuing Education Program for intensive study of the instrument and soon began private lessons with the esteemed player and instructor Sonny Chillingworth. Kotani himself joined the faculty of that same program in 1986. His debut recording, the all-instrumental Classical Slack, appeared in 1988 and combined original pieces with Hawaiian standards. Seven years later he released his second album, Kani Ki Ho Alu (“The Sound of Slack Key”), and simultaneously began preparing an instructional book-and-cassette package. Throughout the late 1990s he contributed tracks to several anthologies, among them Ki Ho Alu Christmas, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters, Vol. 2, and Hawaiian Slack Key Christmas.