The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, August 19, 2001
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
KEHENA, Hawai’i — Hamden, Conn., is a long way from the shores of Hawai’i, and Sarah Whitaker was feeling a bit isolated because there wasn’t another soul nearby who shared her passion for slack-key guitar.

From left, George Kahu-moku Jr., Ozzie Kotani and Keola Beamer are slack key masters.Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
In fact, the only other person she could find who played the uniquely Hawaiian music form was two states away in New Jersey.
That’s why Whitaker, 45, a medical computer graphic illustrator at Yale University, was elated to be at Keola Beamer’s first-ever Aloha Music Camp last week on the Big Island.
“There’re so many things going on, you wish you didn’t have to sleep,” she said. “For us, living so far away in Connecticut, it’s wonderful to be in a group of people where everybody knows what you are talking about.”
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