Peter Moon (musician) - Career

Career

Peter Moon was born on the island of Oʻahu to Wook and Shay-Yung Moon. From the late 1950s through the 1960s, he gained musical inspiration, insight, and knowledge; playing as a Maile Serenader with Gabby "Pops" Pahinui in the 1960s. Later, in the 1970s, he also served as Gabby's manager. Soon after, Moon became a founding member of The Sunday Manoa, along with Palani Vaughn, Alfred "Baby" Kalima, and Cyril Pahinui (one of Gabby's sons). After Vaughan and Cyril left the group, Moon released another album (Hawaiian Time) with Alfred and another of Gabby's sons named Bla. After this however, Moon remained the only member and recruited the very young Robert and Roland Cazimero. In 1969, their first album, Guava Jam was released and became seen as the spark of the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance. Two more albums were released, but personal conflicts within the group led to their eventual breakup.

After the breakup of The Sunday Manoa, the Cazimeros continued, with success as the Brothers Cazimero. Moon, however, did not return to regular performing until 1979, when his new group, The Peter Moon Band, released Tropical Storm, which garnered four Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. In 1983 Moon released Cane Fire, which earned six Na Hoku Hanohano awards; Moon earning an unprecedented seventh with a Sunday Manoa anthology album. The band was extremely popular, with an unmatched stylistic range that ran from Hawaiian to reggae to samba, jazz, and swing. Throughout the 1980s, The Peter Moon Band remained a staple of the Hawaiian music scene winning a third Na Hoku Hanohano award for album of the year with Black Orchid in 1988. The "PMB" also met great success from tours in Japan. There were many changes in the band's membership, which included at various times Bobby Hall, Steven Hall, Martin Pahinui, Cyril Pahinui, Randy Lorenzo, Merv Ching, Milt Holland, Mark Yim, Dwight Kanae, Ocean Kaowili, David Choy, and Steve Wofford.

In the mid 1990s, Moon started producing instrumental albums which led to his first ʻukulele instructional video, The Magic of the Ukulele. Moon was active in other facets of the music business in Hawaiʻi. He started his own record label and distributing company, and he produced and promoted two annual festivals. In 1970 he and Ron Rosha co-founded of the Kanikapila (Hawaiian for "let's play music") festival, a celebration of Hawaiian music and dance, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. They started the festival because many college-aged young people did not know many of the greats in Hawaiian music such as Gabby Pahinui. Kanikapila remained an annual event for 25 years, then was revived briefly in 2002 as Kalakoa Jam. Later, he produced the Blue Hawaiian Moonlight concerts at the Waikiki Shell, featuring prominent names in Hawaiian music.