“Where would contemporary Hawaiian music be without The Brothers Cazimero? Thirty years ago, the duo helped introduce a generation to the Hawaiian language and culture by melding them with their modern-day sound. Today, Robert and Roland Cazimero remain pillars of the local music industry.” 
—Honolulu Magazine

The Brothers Cazimero have become the benchmark when people speak of Hawaiian music—the standard by which all other Hawaiian entertainers are measured. Since the Brothers Cazimero came together during the Hawaiian Renaissance in the early 1970s, they have released more than 36 recordings and three DVDs. Their contribution to Hawaiian music and dance continues to show outsiders to the islands, as well as indigenous people, how important these arts are to the past, present, and future of Hawai'i. They have received 25 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards and, in 2008, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts. In 2006 they were inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.

Born and raised in Hawai'i and transplanted to the mainland to pursue careers, the Aloha Boys—Isaac Ho'opi, Ramon Camarillo, Irvin Queja, and Glen Hirabayashi—met at Halau O 'Aulani, a school of Hawaiian culture, where they played music for their children and nieces. The Aloha Boys perform acoustic, down-home, backyard-style Hawaiian music, which includes everything from traditional to contemporary songs and styles. While Ramon is now spending much of his time back in Hawai'i, the rest of this much-loved Washington-area band continues to perform, often joined by other friends and family members. The Aloha Boys have appeared frequently at NMAI programs and events, including the First Americans Festival celebrating the opening of the museum on the National Mall in 2004.

“He’s a red man, singing the black mans’ blues, living in a white man’s world!”
–From the song “Colours” by Murray Porter

Although George Leach (Sta’atl’imx) has worked as an actor and as a visual artist, his “first choice for self-expression is music.” His rich musical style was nurtured during his upbringing in the majestic mountain terrain of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. His self-produced debut album Just Where I’m At (Independent, 2000)—for which he composed, performed, and arranged all of the vocal, guitar, and bass tracks—is grounded in the blues. He has worked with Robbie Robertson, Powder Blues, Susan Aglukark, and Bo Diddley. A talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist, in 2000 Leach won Best Male Artist of the Year and Best Rock Album at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. His song “Making Love” is featured on the NMAI’s Sounds of Indian Summer CD. Leach will be joined by bassist Denis Rondeau and drummer Ron Lemke.

The Rez Bluez All-Starz is an Aboriginal blues collaboration of phenomenal proportions that has come together for this special blues concert at the NMAI. Veteran blues drummer Oren Doxtator (Oneida) has been performing for more 30 years, mostly with his brother-in-law Don Powless on bass. Together they form the rhythm section for the Pappy Johns Band, a soulful blues band and 2004 Best Blues Album winners at the 2004 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. Doxtator is from the Oneida Nation of the Thames in southern Ontario, and grew up in Buffalo, New York. He lives in Fort Erie, Ontario.

Shakti Hayes (Plains Cree) hails from Saskatchewan and has been singing and playing bass guitar since the twelfth grade. She drew inspiration from her father’s LPs of Otis Redding, Van Morrison, and Pink Floyd, as well as from singer-songwriters Lucinda Williams, Buffy Sainte-Marie (Piapot Cree), and Rob Thomas. In her debut solo album, Touchwood Hills (2006), Hayes weaves those influences with personal stories. She has toured and performed with more than a dozen groups, including Gerald Charlie and the Black Owl Blues Band, Wayne Lavallee, and Nitsiwakun.

Murray Porter (Mohawk, Turtle Clan) is a self-taught singer, songwriter, and pianist who has opened as a solo performer for B. B. King and Etta James. From the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada, Porter started playing music as a teenager in nightclubs throughout Ontario and western New York. He launched his solo career with his debut album, 1492, Who Found Who? (EMI, 1995). Since then, he has toured Canada, the U.S., Australia, Egypt, Israel, Germany, and Haiti, and performed with the Pappy Johns Band, traveling to the Chicago Blues Festival, Blues-sur-Seine outside Paris, and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. In October 2008, he was a guest performer with the Funk Brothers in Ontario. Two of his songs can be heard on the Indian Reservation Blues (DixieFrog Records, 2009). Residing in British Columbia, Porter performs regularly with the All-Star Blues Review and Blues Power.

Beaver Thomas (Plains Cree) is a guitarist from Cowessess First Nation whose mastery of many styles has made him a favorite with musicians from all across Canada. His father, a guitarist and fiddle player, shared his love of music with his son. After performing in the music scene in Vancouver, where he grew up, Beaver relocated to San Antonio, Texas, and has opened for Dwight Yoakam, the Bellamy Brothers, and Terri Clark. He has also performed with many Native musicians and at Native music festivals and events, including the 2008 North American Indigenous Games. While guitar is his main passion, Beaver also plays violin, bass, and drums.

The Rez Bluez All-Starz are also performing at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on Sunday, August 23.

Corey Harris, a native of Denver, first heard the blues while listening to his mother’s collection of Lightin’ Hopkins records. He got his first guitar at age 12 and by high school was playing in rock bands, while also singing in the church choir. After completing an anthropology degree at Bates College in Maine, Harris took the first of many trips to Africa, studying linguistics in Cameroon and soaking up the polyrhythms of African music. While teaching English and French in Napoleonville, Louisiana, he began playing club dates, coffee houses, and on street corners in New Orleans, and his growing reputation landed him a record deal with the Alligator label, which in turn led to opening for Natalie Merchant on a 1995 tour.

On subsequent recordings Harris began to explore music beyond the boundaries of the blues, incorporating more of his own material, with increasing measures of funk, R&B, reggae, ska, and hip-hop. He appeared in a segment of Martin Scorsese’s documentary, Feel Like Going Home, traveling from the Mississippi Delta to Mali on an exploration of the African roots of the blues. In awarding Harris a prestigious grant, the MacArthur Foundation summed up his still-young career, “With one foot in tradition and the other in contemporary experimentation, he blends musical styles often considered separate and distinct to create something entirely new for the 21st century.”