Award-winning recording artist Cyril Pahinui is shown playing in Hilo in this undated photo. The longtime musician was known for his technical virtuosity, rhythmic adaptations and instrumental harmonics. He also passed along his knowledge to many other entertainers, and often taught slack key guitar to students at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Photo courtesy of Cyril Pahinui family

The Maui News

Grammy and Na Hoku Hanohano award-winning recording artist Cyril Pahinui died at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, according to a spokesperson for the family. He was 68.

Pahinui has been at Queen’s since he was admitted for a collapsed lung on Feb. 16, 2016. He has also had to deal with pneumonia and other medical ailments while at Queen’s.

Cyril Pahinui was born on April 21, 1950, to Gabby and Emily Pahinui. The family’s Waimanalo home became a gathering place for local entertainers and artists who came to play alongside Gabby Pahinui, a renowned musician. Cyril Pahinui learned slack key guitar at age 7 and performed on stage for the first time at age 12, according to his website.

“Most of the techniques were considered to be secret and were not shared outside the family or music community,” Cyril Pahinui said on his website. “We really had to work hard to learn. My dad would slack all of his strings and hide his guitar in the closet at night because he knew we would sneak in to try and figure out his tunings once he was asleep.”

When Cyril Pahinui was 15, his father invited him to join his group, The Gabby Band, a level of recognition from his father that Cyril Pahinui compared to winning a Grammy. Every morning, Gabby Pahinui would task his son with tuning the instruments.

“Because my dad had a perfect ear, he could be somewhat impatient, so I had to train myself to be more precise,” Cyril Pahinui wrote. “Now, I am so grateful for his strict discipline. My training taught me to tune and play by ear, and that is what I still do, even today.”

In 1968, Cyril Pahinui made his first album with Sunday Manoa before serving in Vietnam for two years. Upon his return home, he rejoined his father, brothers and several other noteworthy musicians in the Gabby Pahinui Hawaiian Band. He eventually formed his own group, The Sandwich Isle Band, in 1975.

He and his brothers Martin and James “Bla” also collaborated on an album, “Pahinui Brothers,” which was recorded on Maui in 1992.

Over the years, Cyril Pahinui recorded on more than 50 albums with many of Hawaii’s best-known musicians including Peter Moon, Palani Vaughan, Aunty Genoa Keawe, Melveen Leed, Dennis Kamakahi and Jeff Peterson. Three of these recordings have received Grammy Awards and two others have gotten Grammy nominations. Cyril Pahinui also won 19 Na Hoku Hanohano awards and, in 2014, he received the prestigious Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.

He also got the chance to perform at Carnegie Hall during the historic Hawaiian music concerts in the late 1990s.

“My father always told us, ‘One day my sons’ time will come,’ ” Cyril Pahinui recalled. “When I walked onstage at Carnegie Hall for the first time, I said, ‘Dad, we made it.’ ”

The longtime musician was known for his technical virtuosity, rhythmic adaptations and instrumental harmonics. He also passed along his knowledge to many other entertainers, and often taught slack key guitar to students at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. In his later years, he performed weekly at the Kani Ka Pila Grille in Waikiki.

“I do the best I can to be natural and honest, to let the music say it all,” Cyril Pahinui wrote. “I am still shocked and amazed that my playing sometimes makes people cry — not just women, but men too. When someone tells me this, I usually say, ‘I’m sorry that I made you cry, brother, but that’s how it is, straight from the heart.’ ”

Cyril Pahinui is survived by his wife, Chelle; daughters Amber Pahinui-Stevens and Andrea Pahinui, as well as children Carrie McBurney Wright, Elizabeth MacDonald and Anne Shand; brothers James “Bla” and Phillip; and sisters Madolyn and Margaret. He also has 19 grandchildren.

His passing comes more than a year after younger brother Martin Pahinui died on May 28, 2017, after a long battle with cancer.

Services have not been scheduled yet.