| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/08/2012 : 01:09:02 AM
First a discussion on the term folk music. Wikipedia has a rather good article on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music
As one can see, the term is not definite. Personally I prefer 'contrasted with commercial and classical styles' as understanding of folk music. In my own culture (nordic european), folk music today is very much understood as traditional folk music - maybe centered on 19th century, although contemporary folk music is very much a subject and with a very active community.
How is it in Hawaii? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/29/2012 : 10:22:47 PM
Thanks Doug
I'm a big fan of Ozzie and I'm sure it's well worth. |
| PearlCityBoy |
Posted - 02/29/2012 : 06:54:26 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Ambrosius
quote:
Queen Lili`uokalani remains very highly respected as a composer and lyricist, and you'll hear her songs on quite a few slack key recordings.
Glad to hear that. For me, based on my cultural background, I have always a 'familiar yet strange' impression of her pieces I find attractive.
Ambrosius, if you're interested in Queen Lili'uokalani's music and slack key, then Ozzie Kotani's "To Honor a Queen" is a "must have" CD: http://www.mele.com/music/artist/ozzie+kotani/to+honor+a+queen%3A+the+music+of+lili%60uokalani/ . It took Ozzie several years to complete this project, and I think it is an important piece of work with which many are not familiar. The liner notes are also very interesting to read.
Aloha,
Doug |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/27/2012 : 01:50:54 AM
quote:
Queen Lili`uokalani remains very highly respected as a composer and lyricist, and you'll hear her songs on quite a few slack key recordings.
Glad to hear that. For me, based on my cultural background, I have always a 'familiar yet strange' impression of her pieces I find attractive. |
| Russell Letson |
Posted - 02/26/2012 : 11:28:41 AM
It looks like the Hana Ola History collection is available only as a download, which is fine as far as sound quality goes (those 78s don't need high-res files), but I didn't see anything about the CD liner notes, which are really first rate. Fortunately, a version is available on the Dancing Cat site:
http://www.dancingcat.com/recordings/HistoryCord.php
Queen Lili`uokalani remains very highly respected as a composer and lyricist, and you'll hear her songs on quite a few slack key recordings.
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| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/26/2012 : 11:03:28 AM
Well Russel, both your short and long version are very informative. I've spent most of the Sunday searching based on your post, and I (think I) see the line from Alice Namakelua http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=indIwSadW-w to Ray Kane and Leonard Kwan. I understand Kane was born in 1925 and Kwan in 1931.
I've found this CD http://www.cordinternational.com/history-slack-key.htm and I have the one available on a stream service I think I've red somewhere referred to as the 'black and white' record. It is by Kwan and Kane from around 1960. It's rolling as I type.
One thing, - How are the queen Liliʻuokalani's music regarded today?
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| thumbstruck |
Posted - 02/26/2012 : 07:39:21 AM
Taropatch tuning is "documented" by the 1880s because that was the tuning Joseph Kekuku 1st used for steel. Many tuned to "A" taropatch (also tuning the ukulele up a whole step) for a brighter sound for recording. |
| Russell Letson |
Posted - 02/25/2012 : 4:11:43 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Ambrosius
I guess what I meant with the entire thread was how was the slack key guitar before Kaapana, Kane, Kotani and the lot? How was it say ... 1920?
Short answer: we don't know for sure, since the recorded, um, record starts with Gabby's (already modern-sounding) sides in the mid-1940s. At least, until someone unearths lost 78s or the pre-1946 radio transcription disks that Peter Medieros says might exist.
Longer answer: But Auntie Alice Namakelua was a staunch preserver of the style she learned in her Big Island girlhood at the turn of the 20th century (from her brother, she said, who learned from cowboys), and she left both recorded examples and a small army of students (including Keola and George Kuo) to whom she passed the elements of her style.
And after Gabby's early records there came a spate of recordings, the surviving/discovered examples of which (fifteen tracks) can be found on the Hana Ola anthology CD assembled by George Winston, History of Slack Key Guitar. And some players who were working into the Cultural Renaissance and Dancing Cat eras preserved elements of older styles--Auntie Alice included Ray Kane among the modernizers, but Uncle Ray saw his playing as old-style. (Though the influence of Gabby is all over his work.) Certainly "Punahele," with its wahine-tuning figures, is an old-style composition.
So we can perhaps tentatively reconstruct elements of pre-Gabby slack key by starting with Auntie Alice's playing and filling in the gaps by interpolation and by comparing-and-contrasting the feel of Gabby's early records with those of some of the tracks on the History CD. There are also clues in the introductory sections of Peter Medieros' Hawaiian Slack Key: A Lifetime of Study, where he explains some of the musical basics of traditional slack key.
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| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/25/2012 : 1:36:36 PM
quote:
...and when I play any kine music, any kine people jus' get sick!
Got you now  Both brain and fingers slow. It's the frost you know. |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/25/2012 : 1:16:33 PM
I guess what I meant with the entire thread was how was the slack key guitar before Kaapana, Kane, Kotani and the lot? How was it say ... 1920? |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/25/2012 : 1:10:14 PM
quote:
And in return, I am happy to learn of the existence of the Norwegian performer known as "Kine" - thank you for that exchange of musical information!
Nice pic though, don't you think?
Well now, - I didn't know. Thought it might be fun to post my first google match I've heard the word used with 'kine' bass. Thanks for the info. |
| Retro |
Posted - 02/25/2012 : 12:30:19 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Ambrosius
Kine music is one of the word I don't understand.
Ambrosius, I am so glad you found this forum and are asking the questions you are asking! You may soon be the only person in your area to understand some of these things.
In this case, the use of the word "kine" is a reference in Hawaiian-Island pidgin (a creole language developed as communication between people coming together from various linguistic backgrounds) - in English, in this particular case, my statement can translate to "any kind of music" - it was self-deprecating humor, whereby I was mildly insulting my own music-playing skills and abilities, suggesting that anyone listening to me play would be nauseated.
And in return, I am happy to learn of the existence of the Norwegian performer known as "Kine" - thank you for that exchange of musical information! |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/25/2012 : 12:00:51 PM
quote:
...and when I play any kine music, any kine people jus' get sick!
Well that might well be. Kine music is one of the word I don't understand. I've rediscovered Google, so asking google I got the answer.
http://www.kinemusic.com/ Just me and thumstruck on this forum will understand the language, since she is Norwegian, though. |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/10/2012 : 01:09:09 AM
Ask google, - a very informative article and subsection under 'Music of Hawaii' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hawaii#Folk_music
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| Retro |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 06:34:06 AM
quote:
Originally posted by thumbstruck
When I play torader (2-row buttonbox), old Norwegians get homesick for the old country. When I play slack key, folks from Hawai'i get homesick.
...and when I play any kine music, any kine people jus' get sick!
(My generality for the day, thankew...) |
| Ambrosius |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 06:31:56 AM
quote:
Ambrosius, before you could attempt to make a generality such as "All Hawaiian music is folk music,"
Well, I didn't. Cite me gladly, but cite me correctly. First of all, it was a question, not a statement. Secondly I didn't write "All Hawaiian music", I did write "all Hawaiian slack key and steel guitar music".
The entire thread is based on curiosity, an eagerness to learn, explore, understand ... so by all means, I am not in position to make neither statements nor assumptions of any kind about Hawaiian music.
quote:
It is best to skip generalities.
Agrees. |
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