Makana, doing a gig at the Monarch Room, is one of the featured artists at Sunday's Ki Ho'alu Festival. We asked three questions, he answered:

Q. What is your earliest recollection and experience with slack key, and what about its sound/style hit a nerve?

A. My first awareness of slack-key guitar came from Mike Buck's "Portraits of Paradise" TV show, which featured Ray Kane and Bobby Moderow. I was 10, and the sound and feeling appealed to me for the pure Hawaiian feeling evoked, and the sound ... what an incredible, unique sound. After seeing that show, my 'ohana went to the ki ho'alu festival to meet them, and Bobby became my first kumu.

Q. Since the form is generations old and indigenous to the Islands, are you amazed at its widespread appeal and growth?

A. I'm amazed slack key hasn't become a household name yet! It's on par with bossa nova, flamenco, bluegrass, and the blues ... and with Hawaiian music's history as the first world music craze (early 1900s) and our contributions to other genres with the steel guitar, slack key is bound to reach far beyond our shores. While the sound of slack key is cultural, its technique and approach to playing is universal, and in time players worldwide will adapt our methods to fit their own music.

Q. What is the ultimate ki ho'alu song — and why?

A. When I play "Napo'o Ka La," a piece I composed at the water's edge of Kaimana Beach for the setting sun, the only way to describe the experience is: I become the instrument, with sound pouring through my body ... it is the sunset personified, with the architecture of light patterns ricocheting off cloud surfaces in the action of my fingers at light speed playing bass, rhythm and melody, simultaneously. Ki ho'alu is how Hawaiians capture the beauty of nature in sound.