hawaiian music

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what can people recommend as good examples of traditional hawaiian music? preferably things that could be found at jerry's in pittsburgh for cheap.

― john fail (cenotaph), Friday, 7 March 2003 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

You're local library should have some CD recordings of early indigenous recordings. Used vinyl shoppes should carry several Hawaii Calls albums (featuring Alfred Apaka) that cover the "loungie" 50's material. Finally, Fat Cat Records has several contemporary titles of slack-key masters.

― christoff (christoff), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Hm. I learned to like contemporary Hawaiian music, which you won't hear anywhere outside of Hawaii: watered-down reggae and dance music. The lyrics, though, are so unique to the island that you can't help but be charmed.

That said, traditional music. One of my favorite CDs in the world is Slidin' on the Frets: The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Phenomenon, which contains a few examples (all prewar) of actual Hawaiian groups. But the aim of the CD is to trace the influence of the Hawaiian guitar style (which itself is fairly recent, c. 1870s or 1880s) on various genres like blues, country, jazz, etc. It's brilliant.

As for Hawaiian music proper you can't do wrong with:

Various Artists, Vintage Hawaiian Music (these two volumes on Rounder are the place to start)
King Ben Nawahi, Hawaiian String Virtuoso: Steel Guitar Recordings of the 1920's
Sol Hoopii, Master of the Hawaiian Guitar (two volumes)

You should also look into Gabby Pahinui's 70s albums, which you probably won't find in a record store outside of Hawaii. I've never been a huge fan of those Windham Hill slack key collections, though.

Have you been to Hawaii? I was on the big island last June. It's so beautiful, you could cry.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I got that King Ben Nawahi last month---pretty good

― oops (Oops), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i haven't been to hawaii... but thank you for the recommendations. i'll try to hit up jerry's this weekend and see what they have. living in pittsburgh is so nice when you have jerry's.....

― john fail (cenotaph), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:05 (twenty-two years ago)

My favourite (and I'm a recent convert) so far is the Tau Moe Family. They were big on the international circuit in the 20s and 30s, and they did an album on Rounder in the late 80s that was an attempt to recreate their original sound. It's awesome.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Everybody loves IZ, I guess. Hawaiian radio is a trip. I was just on the big island last month. It's paradise.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yes, Iz. He's omnipresent on Hawaiian radio, in Hawaiian homes. He also seemingly has about 10,000 albums to his credit.

Favorite Hawaiian musical experience = karaoke night at the Kiluea Military Camp saloon. Where the proprietor sings every other song, and the place is stocked with vets on their second honeymoons, and locals cheer for Hawaiian hits I had never before heard in my life.

Teeny, where were you on the B.I.? I was staying in Volcanoes N.P., and spent more time in Hilo on the E. side of the Island (the rainy side) than on the Kona Coast. There was a little movie theater a few miles south of Kona that looked like hadn't been renovated since 1910. It was still in operation and they were showing The Cat's Meow.

Did you see the lava?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I second the recommendation of Sol Hoopii - a fabulous guitarist.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 7 March 2003 20:44 (twenty-two years ago)

third that, sol hoopii made some of the most dreamlike music ever

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 7 March 2003 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

(oh and thanks for your post, amateurist, i'm going to look for "slidin' on the frets")

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 7 March 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Amateurist summed up everything I know about Hawaiian music, and more. I fourth Sol Hoopii.

― Rockist Scientist, Saturday, 8 March 2003 00:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Incidentally Hawaiian music was the bestselling music in the US in the late 10s and remained strong-selling through the '30s. A lot of it was Hoopii-inspired ersatz Hawaiian music (including wacked-out incredible stuff like Roy Smeck, a whole chuck of Bing Crosby's catalog, and some more pedestrian stuff of course) but much of it was authentic Hawaiian musicians. Sadly it seems that very little of that is on CD.

I'd forgotten to mention two other good CDs: Hawaiian Steel Guitar Classics and the Kalama Quartet, Early Hawaiian Classics, both on Arhoolie.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Interesting how so many of these reissues focus on the Hawaiian guitar. Understandably, since it was the Hawaiian guitar style that captured the world's attention and had such a great influence the world over. But aside from Rounder's Vintage Hawaiian Music, Vol. 2: The Great Singers (1928-34) there's not too much evidence of what non-guitar-based Hawaiian popular music sounded like.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Amateurist, I was on the northeast part of the island, and only for a few days. I didn't get to see the lava, curses.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't know Roy Smeck was Hawaiian - he was great. I like him easily as much as Hoopii.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 20:32 (twenty-two years ago)

He isn't Hawaiian, but he was inspired by Hawaiian music and Sol Hoopii in particular.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 20:40 (twenty-two years ago)

OK - thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I can hear the (whisper it) influence.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 22:31 (twenty-two years ago)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc900/c905/c90519jxp0n.jpg

Rock-a-hula Baby!

― James Ball (James Ball), Thursday, 13 March 2003 10:15 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I don't know if you can still get these via the Beer Records website and I'm too lazy to check, but Rhythm of the Waves and Waikiki is Good Enough for Me are both incredible MP3 collections, each over TEN HOURS long.

― rumple, Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Pre-1990s Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar recommendations?

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

tell me about english hawaiian music of the 1930s? it seems al shaw was english??? and felix mendelssohn also, and that hawaiian themed music was popular here in england (to an extent) during the 30s?

― charltonluhi (gareth), Friday, 8 April 2005 21:51 (twenty years ago)

are there any reissues of british 30s/40s dance bands that crossover into this territory. im fasincated by the idea of this english hawaiian wartime stuff

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 9 April 2005 21:28 (twenty years ago)

and the waikikis were belgian?

im not sure if im more interested in hawaiian music, or foreign 'hawaiian' music now...

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 9 April 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

theres a 6cd box set of Andy Iona, which im quite tempted by. i only have a few of his tracks (love his version of My Tane), anyone got this?

are there any good books about hawaiian music? and, also, about the popularity of hawaiian music in england before world war 2?

― charltonlido (gareth), Monday, 18 April 2005 08:57 (twenty years ago)

and that hawaiian themed music was popular here in england (to an extent) during the 30s?

I don't know too much about this, but I think Hawaiian music must have been something of an international craze, like the tango. That Hawaiian vintage slack key guitar comp. mentioned above includes a German Hawaiian music band. More remarkably, there is an Egyptian track (featuring the singer Asmahan) from the 40s that has Hawaiian style steel guitar on it.

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Monday, 18 April 2005 10:41 (twenty years ago)

i like what joni mitchell said about it (she wrote "big yellow taxi" in hawaii when looking down from the circa twentieth floor of her hotel on a new parking which was just being built):

she preferred hawaiian music before byt. afterwards lots of it sounded like byt.

she always had a huge ego...

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 18 April 2005 10:57 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

which do you think are the best versions of the following songs:

my tane
moon over manakoora
on a coconut island
little heaven of the seven seas

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 7 May 2005 18:48 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

can anyone recommed any good books on hawaiian music, 1920-1948ish type period

― terry lennox. (gareth), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...

sol hoopii died earlier this month

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060304/OBITS01/603040335/1187/NEWS

― charltonlido (gareth), Sunday, 26 March 2006 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

oh, you're adorable.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 26 March 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

hey gareth, there's some british guy selling his entire lyrichord collection on ebay. it would be way too expensive for me to get, but there is a lot of cool stuff on there!!

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 26 March 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

i'm just about to head over to ebay, as i'm looking for some books on travelling shows and vaudeville

― charltonluhi (gareth), Sunday, 26 March 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

nine years pass...

not very well-versed in hawaiian music, but i've been loving this mix - http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/115390180842/it-was-i-who-rode-in-to-that-shore-via-the-vast

― tylerw, Friday, 3 April 2015 15:12 (ten years ago)

http://4truthweb.com/tikidelights/images/bustyhgirl.jpg

First vinyl I ever bought. Really dreamy slide guitar and strings. Corny and warm and smooth.

three years pass...

RIP Cyril Pahinui

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 19 November 2018 03:47 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5mBz7yp9d4

After a weekend of music, lessons, and lu’au, Cyril and a small group of friends set off to hike to the waterfall. This was not going to be just a hike up and back. It included guitars, video cameras, and a tape recorder, wrapped in industrial black plastic bags.
On arriving at the waterfall, Cyril immediately perched on the large boulder at the base and repeatedly sang to his muse. From where he sat, Cyril could feel the spray and mist from the main part of Hi‘ilawe Falls as it dropped the 1,300 feet after its initial drop of 150 feet.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 19 November 2018 03:50 (seven years ago)

Sux Martin Pahinui just died last year too. RIP.

― Yerac, Monday, 19 November 2018 12:47 (seven years ago)

one year passes...

In 2005, RS_LaRue (RSLaRue) wrote:

I don't know too much about this, but I think Hawaiian music must have been something of an international craze, like the tango. That Hawaiian vintage slack key guitar comp. mentioned above includes a German Hawaiian music band. More remarkably, there is an Egyptian track (featuring the singer Asmahan) from the 40s that has Hawaiian style steel guitar on it.

So this quote is super old, but I actually came upon this comment through Google while trying to research the use of lap guitar in Syrian-born, Egyptian-based singer Asmahan's "Euphoric Nights in Vienna". My spouse's 95-year old grandmother loves this performance and it's constantly played around the house. The super sort steel guitar solo came as a surprise one day when I was paying close attention and I want to know more about it. I'll put a youtube link below. For sake of longevity, you can contact me on the Discogs page for this release. I'm interested in the use of Hawaiian-influenced steel guitar in mid-20th century Arabic music, if any others exist beyond this example. The song is written as an Arab fantasy (so to speak) of the "west", which in this case is Vienna, Austria. The performance comes from the movie Gharam wa intiqam (1944), but looks like it was also issued on 78 at some point.

المطربة اسمهان* = Asmahan ‎– ليلة الانس = Night In Vienna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85NKWF1mFYA&feature=youtu.be&t=320

― Neal Cassady, Friday, 17 April 2020 17:43 (five years ago)

Sorry, let me try that youtube link again.

https://youtu.be/85NKWF1mFYA?t=320

― Neal Cassady, Friday, 17 April 2020 17:44 (five years ago)

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