Greg Sardinha (from left), Tsun-Hui Hung and Jeff Peterson combine the unique sounds of steel guitar, Chinese erhu and Hawaiian slack-key guitar and will perform in the next Live @ the MACC virtual concert series at 7:30 pm Saturday. Photo courtesy of Jeff Peterson
The unusual fusion of Hawaiian slack-key guitar and steel guitar with Chinese erhu led the "cross-sea" trio composed of Jeff Peterson, Greg Sardinha and Hong Junhui to win the 2018 Hoku Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year.
Now, three performers playing their respective instruments will be brilliantly talented at 7:30 on Saturday night as part of the Live @ the MACC virtual concert series, presenting a unique cross-cultural collaboration.
The trio’s award-winning album blends the haunting sound of the erhu with slack keys and steel guitar, featuring new Hawaiian standard arrangements such as "Waika", "Keawaiki" and "Pua Lililehua".
"It's an unusual sound, but it combines well with Hawaiian instruments," Peterson explained. "We want to use erhu to give traditional Hawaiian songs new brilliance, it is very similar to human voice."
Mr. Hong is internationally recognized as one of the most innovative Chinese traditional two-string violinists. He graduated from the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan and received a master's degree and a doctorate degree in music composition from Ohio University. PhD in Cognitive Ethnomusicology, Ohio State University. She has won many awards, including the first prize in the famous Taiwan National Erhu Competition.
Maui-born guitarist Jeff Peterson performs on the Great Wall of China. He will perform a solo Live @ the MACC performance on the MACC show on April 17th, and his new work reflects many places he has been to.
Hung, who lives in Hawaii, also recorded another project with the steel guitarist Sardinha, and recorded the duet album "Constant as the Moon" with Wade Cambern of the Hawaiian-style band.
The trio has toured across the mainland and Taiwan, and performed on Oahu.
"We got a good response," Peterson said. "It's interesting."
For the MACC show, they will focus on the songs in "Across the Sea" and introduce some new materials, "since the album came out," he said.
Peterson will also perform at another Live @ the MACC virtual concert on April 17th at 7:30pm. That solo performance will include many new works.
"It will reflect where I have been," said the Maui-born guitarist. "There is a Spanish influence, and there is a work inspired by a trip to Istanbul and a trip to India and Africa. Keola Beamer and Moanalani and I went to the State Department of Zimbabwe on a tour. We had an amazing experience. I wrote a title there. An article for "Aloha Meets Ubuntu".
"Ubuntu is the concept of humanity and unity, which is part of their culture. I want to play that song, I prepare my guitar so that it sounds like Kalimba, they call it mbira in Zimbabwe. For people from Istanbul For his work, I tuned the guitar to resemble agarwood."
As a frequent guest of Na Hoku, Peterson's latest record "Ka Nani O Ki Ho'alu, The Beauty of Slack Key" won the Hawaii Slack Key Album and the Annual Instrumental Composition Award in 2020.
He looks forward to releasing a new album soon.
"These are all original music I wrote in the past year," he said. "I hope it will launch in April. Staying at home during the pandemic is a great way to be creative. I'm crazy and wrote more than 100 songs. I do these weekly streams on Stages.com every Wednesday. For media programs, I try to make a new program every week. I will choose the subject of Maui Highlands, and I will research songs about it and create new works. I have traveled to every island and have done different things in the history of Hawaii Times and people."
In 2020, he was also busy writing books and self-published two ukulele teaching guides on Amazon-"20 Practice Routines of Fingerstyle Ukulele" and "Ukulele Graded Classical Repertoire".
"I found a way to play famous guitar works that I have always loved, such as works by Bach, Vivaldi, and Beethoven, and I made an adaptation for Ukulele," he said.
For low-G Ukulele, he arranged more than 60 classic songs including Bach's "The Joy of Jesus" and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
Peterson will also collaborate with the famous classical guitarist Ben Verdery and Oahu-born musician Ian O'Sullivan to play an adaptation of Peter Moon's "Guava Jam" in Ukulele, which is Verdery's "Peace, Love & Guitars" "The opening musician of the video concert, provided by the New York City Classical Guitar Association.
Filmed in Hawaii and New York, it will be broadcast on April 23 at 2 pm Hawaii time and 8 pm Eastern time. Tickets for Eventbrite.
"This is really a genius," Peterson said. "Compared with what Ben did, I barely touched the surface of the collaboration. This is amazing. Ian will be on the North Shore, I will be in Kailua, and we will see where Ben will be filming. I believe this will be a very interesting Creative place. I'm very excited."
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