| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Mike Anderson |
Posted - 07/27/2011 : 09:41:25 AM
Wondering if anyone knows who built Eddie Kamae's 2-hole baritone, and if anyone is making them today? Please see this pic so you know what I mean:
EDIT: I am getting answers over at ukuleleunderground - seems it's Eddie's own design! |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Mike Anderson |
Posted - 09/30/2011 : 07:19:53 AM
...and as a Brazilian music lover and former professional player of Brazilian percussion, I know of Carlinhos P.D.O. and his work, and I believe he has run a school (California?) now for several years.
"Pandeiro" is the Brazilian tambourine, and "de ouro" means "of gold". "Carlinhos" is the affectionate diminutive, "little Carlos". You don't get that kinda nickname in Brazil without being really special. If you watch soccer you'll know Brazilians are all about nicknames - if you went through life without getting one it would be truly weird. :) |
| Fran Guidry |
Posted - 09/30/2011 : 03:09:38 AM
One of the NEA Heritage Fellowship winners, Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro, http://nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=2011_02&type=bio lived in Hawai`i for a number of years and told us that he was one of Lopaka's percussion teachers.
Fran |
| Retro |
Posted - 09/29/2011 : 11:12:34 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Mike Anderson
Will have to look up the younger Colon and the other connections here. I am naturally in awe of Jake Shimabukuro's talent, but not really my cup of tea - but I'll bet that was still a very cool band.
It's unfortunate that all the Pure Heart and Colon material is out-of-print, but I think Jon Yamasato is making efforts to get rights to the PH stuff. I had all of the albums at one point, but ended up plugging them into Muzak's "Hawaiian" channel, where they still spin to this day, afaik. |
| Mike Anderson |
Posted - 09/29/2011 : 09:30:06 AM
basilking, that is a cool and interesting connection; I know Martin Denny's music of course (as all right-thinking humans should), and as a mostly-percussionist kinda guy I have always been blown away by his inventiveness and sense of fun. Will have to look up the younger Colon and the other connections here. I am naturally in awe of Jake Shimabukuro's talent, but not really my cup of tea - but I'll bet that was still a very cool band. :) |
| basilking |
Posted - 09/28/2011 : 09:23:35 AM
Thx, Retro. Haven't spoken to Lopaka for a long while, glad to hear he's doing well. |
| Retro |
Posted - 09/25/2011 : 6:02:03 PM
quote:
Originally posted by basilking
His son Lopaka [had a band named after himself, then another called "Pure Heart"]...
Other way around. Pure Heart was Jon Yamasato, Jake Shimabukuro & Lopaka Colon; the band "Colon" came after Pure Heart broke up, and released one album.
Last I saw Lopaka was when he was playing percussion with Henry Kapono on the "Wild Hawaiian" tour. He's very talented. |
| basilking |
Posted - 09/25/2011 : 3:55:21 PM
Further digression, Mike: Augie Colón [percussionist/bird-calls for Martin Denny's band in the '60s] was my mother-in-law's cousin. His son Lopaka [had a band named after himself, then another called "Pure Heart"] had an interesting young guy in the band who played "lead/plugged-in" ukulele with wah-wah/stomp-boxes/etc; we used to see 'em a decade back.
Back to ukes... that young man was Jake Shimabukuro, now more widely known [sans foot-pedals] as "Ukulele Jake". As you note, all these diverse musical elements flow in & around each other.
Back yet further to-topic, it was Grimes that I was trying to think of when 1st mentioned Keola's double-puka guitar[s]. |
| wdf |
Posted - 08/28/2011 : 05:07:31 AM
They also had a "super" tenor - between a tenor and baritone. It's a fun place to visit.
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| Mike Anderson |
Posted - 08/27/2011 : 05:56:28 AM
Mahalo wdf, actually if you read back in the thread I have found them, and there's even a baritone: http://www.meleukulele.com/shopexd.asp?id=379&bc=no. |
| wdf |
Posted - 08/27/2011 : 05:08:38 AM
Mele, on Maui make great (and more affordably priced) double puka models.
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| Mike Anderson |
Posted - 08/26/2011 : 07:59:00 AM
Thank you salmonella, but unfortunately well out of my range. If I had that kind of money to spend on an instrument I'd go with a Mike DaSilva vintage reproduction (and hope to some day). The Po Mahina are beautiful though! I was also advised (at ukuleleunderground) to try Steve Grimes as he will apparently build 'ukuleles on request, but they're also too rich for my blood. |
| salmonella |
Posted - 08/26/2011 : 06:10:27 AM
here is the link. It says available as a baritone also.
http://konaweb.com/mahina/uku_beamer.html |
| salmonella |
Posted - 08/26/2011 : 06:01:32 AM
have you checked into Dennis Lake at Po Mahina?
I think he makes a two puka Uke. I know he makes a guitar of that style.
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| Mike Anderson |
Posted - 08/25/2011 : 1:30:52 PM
Well, that's the way my conversations always work in the real world - lots of digressions and branchings, always trying to wrap it all back to the original topic - but it doesn't always happen! :)
I know something about Puerto Rican music, I love plena where you hear a lot of cuatro, and bomba (as a guy who has mostly played percussion, how could I not?), and that is a totally new and amazing bit of information, thanks!
And I think you must be right about all those influences from the Azores coming together in Hawaii. There is some (not much) information online about Nunes and the other early builders, and Mike DaSilva has blessed the world with his amazing reproductions so we can see and hear what the early 'ukuleles were like (BTW, he is moving to Honolulu beginning of October). I'm sure the instrument went through an evolutionary process. King Kalakaua may have been influential on the design evolution for all I know. Here's a snip from John King's blog:
"Kalakaua was known to haunt the guitar shop of Dias—it was at 11 King Street, ‘ewa of ‘Iolani Palace—and because Dias had no English and the king had no Portuguese, Dias’ teenaged daughter, Christina, would facilitate conversations between the two. So, it’s not surprising that the only surviving ukuleles with a truly royal Hawaiian provenance were both made by the artful Madeiran (Ka‘iulani’s Dias uke is in a private collection in Honolulu; another Dias, given as a gift by Kalakaua, has wound up in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum). Late in her long life, Christina Dias Gilliland remarked that Kalakaua even allowed her father to brand his instruments with the royal seal. Sadly, no such instruments are known to have survived."
As for me, every time I think about that coming book I get excited. And that baritone of Eddie Kamae's still blows me away. :) |
| basilking |
Posted - 08/25/2011 : 1:09:33 PM
Mike, no expert here. that said, all info I've ever seen suggests that "Machete De Braga", "Machete", "Braguinha", & "Cavaquinho" ALL refer to Portuguese/Azorean instruments that likely influenced the 1st ukulele builders. The "Tiple" also seems related. I got a Martin tiple in Honolulu long ago, knew scant about it but was by inspection pretty much "a 10-string ukulele-type-instr". Steel strings, middle two courses tripled, blah blah, but that's my 30-years-ago impression. That tiple was hard to wrap my head around due to the octave-DOWN middle courses, it's been replaced by a '20s Martin taropatch/8-str that somehow I CAN wrap my head or ears around. Thanks for the heads-up on the forthcoming book - we'll all learn plenty I'd suspect.
One last note - there weren't many, but ~1899-`1900 there was a Puerto Rican diaspora to Hawai`i. PR was devastated by a hurricane that winter, a number of workers were brought in by Castle/Cook, Dole, etc. They brought music and literature with them, including the Cuatro, a typically 4-stringed uke-like instrument. I've seen 5 and 10-stringed Cuatros as well. The name derives from the original tuning in 4ths. I tuned my 10-str Cuatro to 5/6 of a 12-string. I'm no expert in this arena but my Puerto Rican - Hawai`ian mother-in-law literally "wrote the book" on this history. Sorry for diversion from Eddie's-uke-discussion.
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