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Makana: Virtuoso Guitarist, Activist, & Hawaiian Treasure

 

Photo credit: Makana's Facebook page.
Photo credit: Makana’s Facebook page.

Just try listening to Makana Cameron’s music without being mesmerized. The Hawaii native is a slack guitarist master – his intricate, rich rhythms have a profound emotive quality which speak the language of the soul, while his socially conscious lyrics speak to the mind and, often, call for action.

But don’t take our word for it.

Makana has performed with popular artists such as Jack Johnson and legends such as Jimmy Buffet. But his biggest show came in 2009, when President Obama invited him to play at the White House.  The video for the song he performed, “We Are the Many,” is an old school protest song about the importance of solidarity in the face of oppression and has received almost 350,000 views on YouTube.

A busker, teacher, and activist Makana, staying true to the maverick nature of his music, has produced, recorded, and distributed six albums on his own. In short: without record company support.

For his next album, however, Makana took to the popular crowd-funding site Kickstarter. Why? Because Makana wanted to employ the services of top-flight production talent, including Ron Nevison (The Who, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones) and Grammy-winning keyboardist, composer, and arranger Jeff Bova (Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton).

Thing is, Makana has already raised more than $66,000 – well over the $50,000 he needs to make his seventh record. Still, you may want to consider dropping by the page and donating, as Makana has offered some pretty amazing gifts, and, perhaps more importantly, this promise: “I will deliver to you some amazing music that the world needs to hear right now.”

Visit Makana’s Kickstarter page here.