Patrick Kahakauwila Kamaholelani Landeza

Much of Patrick’s life has been about turning obstacles into advantages. If you have to cook for a large family, why not use that skill to open a catering business? If you can’t find age-appropriate books to help your child understand his ethnic identity, why not write one and make him the main character? If there’s not enough aloha in the world, why not spread aloha everywhere?

In 2004, Patrick released his first instructional DVD, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Made Easy (Lamb Productions). He has also taught at workshops around the country, such as the prestigious Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina, the Healdsburg Guitar Festival, and the FAR-WEST folk alliance. In addition, his lessons were published in Acoustic Guitar Magazine, for which he served as a guest clinician.

When he was 34, he became the youngest recipient of the prestigious Kapalakiko Aloha Spirit award. His 2010 release, Ku`u Honua Mele, received the 2010 Hawaii Music Award in the slack key category, and was nominated for Nā Hōkū Hanohano award (Hawaiian music’s equivalent to the Grammy), being the first release by a mainland artist to make it on the final ballot. His 2012 release, Kama`alua, was also nominated for Nā Hōkū Hanohano award. In January 2012 Landeza performed at Carnegie Hall in Listen for Life’s Power of Eight concert, and the Listen for Life organization awarded him with their Musician of the Heart award in 2014. In 2015 Patrick was awarded and recognized by the Hawai’i Chamber of Commerce in Northern California, with a special recognition from San Francisco’s mayor, Ed Lee.

Of Patrick’s many awards, there are two that are the most meaningful to him.  The first was 2013’s Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for his album Slack Key Huaka’i – not because the award is the most prestigious, but because it signified a sea-change in how the Hawaiian music industry regards mainland Hawaiian musicians. Never before had a mainland-based musician won the award and, as he accepted it, Patrick stated that “Just because I was born and raised in Berkeley, California, it never made me any less Hawaiian.”  

The Hawai’i Academy of Recording Arts further honored Patrick in 2019 by presenting him with the Nā Hōkū Hanohano “Kiho’alu Legacy Award.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Patrick continues to spread aloha with concerts throughout the country and, now, Japan. The year 2020 will see the release of his CD, “Far Away,” produced by Lihau and Kellen Paik. Patrick is in his 18th year as an educator, now teaching at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, California. He and his wife Jennifer have five children. Patrick continues to run his catering business, and has a line of clothing that, quite fittingly, promotes Aloha Everywhere.

Kūpaoa