Pacific Poi Boys
The Pacific Poi Boys are … Doug Cox & Anela Kahiamoe
Doug Cox is the consummate musician bringing his riveting style of finger and slide guitar to bear on a wide range of blues and roots tunes.
Anela Kahiamoe, the Comox Valley’s transplanted Hawaiian, is also a well rounded guitarist and singer. He has an uncanny ability to engage the audience with his stories and captivating personality.
Dave Gallant Sooke Folk Music Society
The Pacific Poi Boys, one of them a native Hawaiian who cut his teeth playing guitar for some the legends of his beloved Hawaiian music, the other, a Juno-nominated Canadian who has been blessed to collaborate with musicians from India to Scotland, from the UK Blues Scene to the US singer songwriter scene.
They met and discovered their mutual love for roots music when Anela married a Canadian and moved to Vancouver Island.
Since then, they begun to enjoy and explore each others varied musical interests leading to a new sound for both of them; part blues, part Hawaiian, part 70's pop, part esoteric acoustic music, multi-instrumental and accessible with the odd vocal thrown in for good measure... this then is Doug Cox and Anela Kahiamoe: The Pacific Poi Boys.
Doug Cox
Not so long ago and not so far away, near the mountains in a place the Canadians call Alberta, a young man fell in love with the blues. Bottleneck slide blues, to be precise, maybe the most soulful and haunting music to ever come out of black life in the Deep South.
As fate would have it, one night that young bluesman saw Jerry Douglas play the Dobro and on that night, indeed, everything changed. The next morning, he went out and bought a Dobro and twenty years later it is still on his lap!
From Blues to New Acoustic Music to World Music and Americana, Doug has made music with the likes of people from the late iconic British Blues master Long John Baldry to India's musical royalty Vishwa Mohan Bhatt & Salil Bhatt, from America's great songwriters like Chuck Brodsky to Austrian Dub band Dubblestandart to guitar master Amos Garrett as well as dozens of other musical collaborators.
Anela Kahiamoe
(pronounced Kah-hee-ah-mo-eh)
Born in 1958 in Honolulu, Anela has earned a living as a full-time musician since the age of 17 playing guitars of all kinds, Ukulele and Lap Steel guitar. Among his teachers he spent time studying with was the great Jerry Byrd.
Anela’s first success came with the group called “Island band”. They became very popular through their initial recording in 1976 and toured throughout Canada and opened for performers such as Elvin Bishop and Fleetwood Mac.
In the early 80's Anela performed regularly with the “Island Style Band” on the Aikane catamarans where he started working with the legendary Loyal Garner. She had recognized Anela's youthful talent and invited him to become a part of her band.
In 1989, studio recordings became a major part of Anela's career. Anela also played parts as a musician on Magnum PI.,Jake and the Fat Man and Fist of Steel.
The Hoku-Award winning band Nightwing invited him to join and with this versatile band he performed weekly at John Dominis Restaurant. In 2003 Anela also joined Tino and the Rhythm Klub, a seven piece top forty band doing four nights at the Espirit in the Waikiki Sheraton Hotel.
In 2004 Anela moved to Canada as a landed immigrant. Still an islander, but on a somewhat different island with a somewhat different culture, Anela is looking forward to this new musical adventure!
