Artist description John "Keoni" Trino playing acoustic guitar

Music Style Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar

Musical Influences Raymond Kane, George Kuo, George Kahumoku, Keola Beamer, Led Kaapana, Cyril Pahinui

Artist History John "Keoni" Trino was born in 1940 in Bakersfield California. He grew up in the farming community of Arvin in the San Joaquin Valley. At the age of eight, he had his first trip to the Hawaiian Islands, and it has been a continued love affair with the land and it's people. With a four-dollar guitar bought in a pawnshop by his mother, John started playing country western music and then moved to folk music in the 50's and 60's. College days at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, introduced him to Scotty Thain and John Hoxie, local boys from Kauai and Moloki and the Slack Key vamp that would haunt him for years. On his honeymoon at Naalehu Hawaii, he had the chance to "Jam" with some locals at the Sugar Mill. There was that "sound" again. Years would pass and the guitars would sit until John's return in the early 1980's to help the islands with AYSO, American Youth Soccer Organization. While there, teaching and instructing referees, he met Gary Okino, who's great love of all music and especially Slack Key, moved John to pick up his guitar and follow that sound. A tape by John Keawe, a piano, and months of trying to figure out the tuning…finally, he was able to play his first song, and the passion hit! Living so far away from the islands he loves and the soul of the music made the learning process very difficult. His first teacher was Ray Kane. Playing at his home in Nanakuli, with Ray's grand children at his feet, John learned "traditional" Slack Key, passed on in the old style. His mentoring continued with George Kuo, who helped him meet many of the Masters, and George Kahumoko’s Slack Key workshop on Maui, where the ohana {family} method of teaching brought the music and the spirit together. Master teachers Daniel Ho, Keola Beamer, Ozzie Kotani, Cyril Pahinui, Led Kaapana, shared their aloha and knowledge of this beautiful music. With the help of all these people, John has been invited to play in the Slack Key festivals and resorts in the islands, and continues to perform on the Mainland. John's first six-song first-edition CD was released in March 2000, and the full album CD was released in April 2001.

Instruments Grimes acoustic guitars

Albums "Ka Hanakaua"

Press Reviews Press Resident finds his Hawaii in slack key The Bakersfield Californian – Eye Street Section Filed: 10/19/1999 You don't know about people. You look at them and think doctor, lawyer, accountant, track coach, apartment manager. We package people like breakfast cereal. That way, it's easier to know where to put them on the shelf. It works. Until one day, they break out. What you thought was Grape Nuts now becomes a variety pack. That's John Trino. He helped start the soccer park near Rio Bravo almost 16 years ago. He's written instructional books for referees. He trained most of the American Youth Soccer Organization refs in Hawaii. He's a magician, too, a 30-year member of the Magic Castle. He was a tri-athlete, hard to see now because he is bear-like and bearded and given to wearing Hawaiian shirts. Then there's his real job as a produce broker. He hit a lick when he hooked up with the buyer for a-then-fledgling warehouse chain. Trino, 58, rode that turnip truck until 1992, when he says the chain's buyer left, and the new one threw him out. Trino says he then used up his own retirement stash of $600,000 paying off his debts. He could have walked out on those debts but decided not to as a matter of honor. This is when the trade winds started blowing. If you're lucky, like Trino, you have something to turn to when life makes a screeching ueeey. Trino had Catholicism, music (piano and guitar) and Hawaii. Trino's had a lifelong love affair with Hawaii. He went there first with his parents in the late '50s, and then in the '70s and '80s through soccer. He also spent his 1966 honeymoon on a sugar plantation there. One night he and new wife Roslyn visited two former college roommates who lived in Hawaii. They broke out the guitars. They played in the key of G, Trino sounding like he was playing a guitar he'd found in his grandmother's attic. What he didn't know was that they were playing a form of guitar music called slack key, where the strings are loosened and each is tuned separately. Slack key is slow, sweet and makes you think of being in a colorful jungle with a gentle rain. Trino was intrigued. He learned that slack key was not written down. There were almost no instructional books. Thousands of slack key tunings were passed down in families, a closely guarded Hawaiian secret, and haoles, or white folks, need not apply. Four years ago, Trino, in need of some sweetness in his life, decided to learn about the mysteries of slack key. He went to Hawaii to search for a teacher. He looked up George Kuo and Ray Kane, two of the greatest slack key players alive. Trino got good. Played at Hawaiian slack key festivals. Met Howard Johnson, who recorded slack key music for Dancing Cat Records, a label owned by George Winston. He nailed a recording date with Dancing Cat in December and is a sugar cane's length away from a record contract. Trino's album will be called "Rainmaker" — seems as if every time Trino went to Hawaii during his soccer days, it would rain. One day his Hawaiian friend Okino wrote him: "Would you mind, when you get off the plane, getting off backwards so the rain gods think you're leaving." Trino's thrilled with his new prospect, but it's not the money. It's the music. He commutes back and forth between the islands and his home in east Bakersfield. "I think it's important to find something in your life that gives you so much contentment, joy and peace," said his wife, Roslyn. "That's slack key. Then to be able to share it with other people is even better." We all need a little Hawaii in our lives. Trino has found his. To hear a sample of Trino playing slack key music: Dial Cal Line, 864-1234 and enter category 2815. Bakersfieldbands.com featured Artist - John Trino, April 2001 If the label "Hawaiian music" conjures up images of Don Ho playing the ukulele or a Brady Bunch three part adventure vacation, you have not heard Hawaiian Slack Key music. Sweet and calming, this music brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the listener. It is perfect for when you want to mellow out, de-stress, de-bug... Bakersfield is very fortunate to have it's own native son slack key player. John "Keoni" Trino, a local produce packer, has been visiting the islands and perfecting his technique over the last 50 years. The Hawaiians have embraced John and made him one of their own -- an impressive feat, as the Hawaiians have been very protective of their traditions, especially with mainlanders. John's first full length CD is available for sale exclusively at Barnes and Noble. Pick two up - one for yourself, and one for Mom for Mother's Day. She'll like you even more.

Location Bakersfield, CA - USA

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