As part of its commitment to continue the legacy of Hawai'i’s music, Starwood Hotels & Resorts offers “Flavors of Island Music,” a campaign that celebrates and perpetuates the diverse styles of island entertainment.

The Princeville Resort is proud to participate in Flavors of Island Music by featuring entertainment by some of the island's most talented artists.

Ken Emerson
Grammy award-winner Ken Emerson is highly respected by the professional music community and has many major performing and recording credits to his career.  Happily based on the island of Kauai, Emerson enjoys performing at Princeville Resort on Sunday evenings, as well as and other local venues, supplemented with international concert touring and festival touring.  Emerson is the foremost expert of the Hawaiian-style acoustic steel guitar and a master of slack key guitar. He began playing the ukulele at the age of 9, and followed shortly after with the guitar.  In 1968, Ken’s family moved from San Francisco to Hawaii, where he quickly absorbed island culture and music.  In the seventies, Emerson played with Hawaiian music legends Gabby Pahinui, Raymond Kane, Aunty Alice Namakelua, Atta Isaacs and Moe Keale.  Most recently, Emerson’s original compositions “Hamakua Hale” and “Paniolo Medley” were featured on the compilation CD “ Slack Key Guitar #2” which won the first ever Grammy award for “Best Hawaiian Music Album.” 
 
Michael Ruff
An exciting live performer, Michael Ruff is a consummate singer, songwriter and keyboardist who performs each Tuesday at Princeville Resort.  During the past decade, Ruff has served as the concert music director for Chaka Khan, David Sanborn and Rickie Lee Jones; as a band member with Lionel Ritchie, Brenda Russell, Karla Bonoff, Jose Feliciamo, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker and the Wynans, among others; and as a performer onstage with Al Jarreau, Kal David, Gerald Albright and Michael Paulo.  Ruff is also known as a hot songwriter for artists such as Bonnie Raitt (“Cry On My Shoulder”), Huey Lewis (“That’s Not Me”), Roberta Flak (“More Than You’ll Ever Know” and “Thought I Knew It All”), Vonda Shepard, Karla Bonoff, David Sanborn, Carl Anderson and Chaka Khan.  Michael resides on the island of Kauai, but still maintains a large following in New York and Los Angeles and consistently sells out concerts throughout Europe.
 
Pancho Graham
Pancho Graham grew up in Kailua and played bass in the youth symphony while listening to Gabby Pahinui and Bob Dylan. Now a resident of Kauai, he has played with groups as diverse as Napali and Taj Mahal and the Hula Blues Band. Pancho is truly a renaissance man, the master of many instruments. He loves to play Hawaiian music on Slack Key Guitar and also plays the ukelele, violin and sings.  Pancho performs weekly in a Hawaiian trio at the Princeville Hotel.

Visit our event calendar for a listing of entertainment and activities at the the Princeville Resort.