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There are three distinctly types of Hawaiian guitar: ukulele, slack key guitar, and steel guitar. The most famous and most notable Hawaiian guitarists did not only play guitar (ukulele, slack key, or steel guitar) par excellence. They also either revolutionized the way a type of guitar is played, or brought Hawaiian music to a wider audience through use of their instrument. They made Hawaiian music transcend from Hawaii to US mainland and beyond.

Hawaii has produced many renowned guitarists, but these are some of the most famous.

Tau Moe Family

Tau Moe was a Samoan who moved with his family to Hawaii when he was 11. He learned to play steel guitar from M.K. Moke, and later married another steel guitar player named Rose. The couple joined a traveling show, performing Hawaiian music to international audience. The couple had two children, Lani and Dorian. When they grew up, Lani and Dorian joined Tau Moe and Rose. The family was dubbed the” Aloha Four.” Tau and Rose lived as far as Germany, Japan, India, and Lebanon. It is even said that they performed for Adolf Hitler during Nazi Germany. Tau Moe and his family helped spread Hawaiian folk music and hapa haole music worldwide.

Gabby Pahinui

Born in Honolulu in 1921, Charles Philip “Gabby” Pahinui
was a key in bringing slack key guitar from the “back porch” of Hawaiian homes into a bigger audience. He is also dubbed the “folk hero of the Hawaiian music” for he was a force behind its resurgence.

A musical wiz, Gabby had no formal music education. He played in cafes, restaurants, and night clubs for more than 40 years, and spent 10 years producing albums and holding concerts.

Gabby’s early interest was American jazz. He would later meld jazz with traditional Hawaiian music and slack key guitar, a musical ingenuity he was particularly famous for.

Gabby recorded his first song in his early 40s. Entitled Hi’ilawe, the song became a hit.

The Sons of Hawaii

The Sons of Hawaii consisted of four famous Hawaiian guitar players. Founded by Gabby Pahinui and Eddie Kamae (ukulele), the group also included David Rogers (steel guitar) and Joe Marshall (bass). They released their first album in 1962. In 1960, The Sons of Hawaii was the highest paid Hawaiian group in the state.

Eddie Kamae

Also born in Honolulu, Eddie Kamae was a ukulele virtuoso. He was famous, foremost, for promoting “Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance.” Before founding The Sons of Hawaii with Gabby Pahinui, he played with Ukulele Rascals and Ray Kinney’s Orchestra. Eddie’s unique plucking methods revolutionized the way ukulele is played. This multi-awarded guitarist has also produced films promoting Hawaiian music and culture.

Don Ho

Who could forget Tiny Bubbles and Pearly Shell? Both were as famous as its singer and slack key guitarist, Don Ho. A former member of the United States Air Force, Don Ho had also made appearances in many television shows such as I Dream of Jeannie and The Brady Bunch, and later had his own television show, The Don Ho Show.

Sol Ho’opi

Sol Ho’opi was the most famous steel guitarist of the 20th century. He has also appeared in a number of movies including Waikiki Wedding and some Charlie Chan films.

For more information about Hawaiian music, visit http://www.playhawaiianmusic.com

Author Bio: For more information about Hawaiian music, visit http://www.playhawaiianmusic.com

Hawaiian music is a product of years of acculturation of different cultures and sounds, a wonderful melding of different Its history is as diverse as the history of its peoples.

Hawaiians did not merely absorb music and instrument brought to the island. They adapted music based on how it their own traditional songs and chants. As a result, the Hawaiians have given the world the slack key guitar, the steel guitar, and the ukulele among others.

Traditional Hawaiian folk music is primarily a celebration

of nature, their gods, and love of life. Religious in nature, Hawaiian music traditionally involved chant and hula. Chants were either accompanied with music and dance (mele hula) or without (mele oli).

Before the arrival of the Europeans and their guitars, traditional Hawaiian musical instruments included the ipu (gourd drum), ipu heke (double gourd drum), ili’ili (two flat stones clicked together), ohe hanu inu (wooden nose flute), large Conch shell that produces deep resonant sounds when blown, pu ohe (bamboo trumpet), and puili (slit sticks made from bamboo). Hawaii has little metals and minerasl (besides lava) so their ancient musical instruments were mostly made from shells, plants, and trees.

Documented Hawaiian music history did not start until the 18th century upon the arrival of the haoles (non-Hawaiian) in the island. Hawaiian culture expert Elizabeth Tatar divides Hawaiian music history from the arrival of the Europeans to the present into seven periods:

1820 to 1872

Mexican cowboys (vaqueros) came to Hawaiian with their guitars. King Kamehameha III brought them to teach Hawaiians how to control overpopulation of cattle in 1832. They taught the Hawaiians how to play the guitar. The Hawaiians changed the tuning of the guitar to adapt it to their traditional Hawaiian songs and chants. They loosened or slackened the strings of the guitar, thus giving the world the slack key guitar.

Though slack key guitar became popular, families kept their own string tuning styles a secret. For this reason, slack key guitar (called Ki ho ‘alu by Hawaiians) was a “back porch” musical instrument until Gabby Pahinui popularized it in the 20th century.

During this period, numerous styles of European music including Protestant hymns and falsetto singing.

1873 to 1900

This was a period of acculturation and creation of Hawaiian modern style. In 1879, Portugues immigrant workers arrived in Hawaii. One immigrant, Joao Fernandes played native Portuguese folk songs using a braguinha. The Hawaiians who witnessed Fernandes playing called the instrument ukulele, which means “jumping flea,” to describe the speed of Fernandes fingers and how they danced on the fingerboard.

Around the 1880s, steel guitar was invented. According to legend, the slack key guitar was invented in the 1880s by a Hawaiian schoolboy named Joseph Kehuku when he slid a piece of metal along the strings of his guitar. Called kila kila in Hawaiian, the origins of steel guitar is still hotly debated.

King David Kalakuau, a patron of arts, promoted Hawaiian music and culture, and encouraged the use of steel guitar and ukulele.

Queen Lili’uokalani, King Kalakaua’s sister wrote a number of songs, including the popular Aloha ‘Oe.

1900 to 1915

This was a period of integration of Hawaiian music into broader field of American music. Hapa haole songs (English-written songs using superficial elements of Hawaiian music) were created during this period. Recording industry began.

Hawaiian artists toured the mainland. In 1912, a Broadway show entitled Birds of Paradise featured Hawaiian music. This was followed in 1915 by the Panama Pacific Exhibition showcased in San Francisco.

1915 to 1930

Hawaiian music found another influence: Tahitian and Samoan music. Meanwhile, mainstream American audience developed a growing fondness for Hawaiian music. It even influenced blues, country, and jazz musicians.

In 1927, Tau Moe and Rose Moe toured with the traveling show, Madame Riviera’s Hawaiians. For 50 years, Tau and Rose with their children (the family was known as the “Aloha Four” lived in foreign places including Japan and Germany promoting Hawaiian folk music and hapa haole music. Doing so, they spread Hawaiian music to many places around the world.

1930 to 1960

1930 to 1960 is considered the “Golden Age of Hawaiian Music.” This period also saw the adaptation of Hawaiian music to orchestras and big bands, and Hawaiian performers like Sol Hoopi became mainstream stars.

1960 to 1970

The 1960s showed a decline in interest in Hawaiian music as the Hawaii and the world got interested in rock and roll.

1970 onwards: modern Hawaiian period

This is a Renaissance period for Hawaiian music. There is also a renewed interest in it from both native and non-Hawaiians. Rock, pop, hiphop, reggae, and soul music have been produced in the Islands. Musicians like Don Ho and Gabby Pahinui have produced songs and albums that became wildly known. Several new music genres have emerged such as the Jawaiian, created when Hawaiians adapted reggae into their own local music.

Author Bio: For more information about Hawaiian music, visit http://www.playhawaiianmusic.com

Ukelele ( spelled ukelele in the UK, abbreviated to uke; pronounced yoo-kuh-ley-lee [American English] or oo-koo-ley-ley [original Hawaiian]) is a small, guitar-like lute with four to ten strings. Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is the Hawaiian interpretation of the Portuguese braguinha.

Hawaii’s most famous musical instrument produces big tone and sweet sound. Ukuleles usually come in 4 sizes: Soprano (or what Hawaiians refer to as Standard size), Concert, Tenor , and Baritone. The Solid Body Cutaway is a more recent innovation.

Ukuleles are typically made of wood, although there are some models made of plastic or a composite of plastic and wood. Expensive models are made from hardwood (e.g.mahogany, kulawood, spruce, and sequoia), the most expensive of which are made from koa tree.

A typical ukulele has a figure 8 shape like that of a small acoustic guitar. There are also other interesting shape variations such as oval (called pineapple ukulele), boat paddle, and square (usually made from an old wooden cigar box).

History

Ukulele was brought to the Hawaiians by Portuguese immigrants. To celebrate their arrival on August 23, 1879, Joao Fernandes played Portuguese folk songs on the wharf using a braguinha borrowed from a friend. Hawaiians who witnessed him on the dock where so impressed not only with his music, but also with the speed of his fingers: it seemed like they danced across the fingerboard. Hence, they called the instrument “ukulele,” meaning “jumping flea.”

(Queen Lili’uokalani, the last monarch of Hawaii, gave a different version to the origins of “ukulele”. She thought ukulele meant “the gift that came here,” from uku meaning “the gift” and lele meaning “to come.”)

There were 419 immigrants aboard the ship Ravenscrag, but three people would be the first to establish ukulele shops. They were Manuel Nunes, Augustine Dias, and Joao Fernandes.

Within 10 years after the arrival of the Portuguese, the ukulele became Hawaii’s most popular instrument. It is said that Joao Fernandes was a key behind this, as he spent a lot of time playing around Honolulu with his instrument.

Ukelele: A royal endorsement

It was also from Fernandes that King Kalakaua first heard

the music from the ukulele, but he learned to play it from Augusto Diaz. He encouraged that it was played during royal gatherings. A patron of arts, King Kalakaua’s enthusiasm over ukulele made it more acceptable to people of Hawaii. It was played by Hawaiian from all walks of life— from taro farmers to fishermen to royalties. Other royalties who learned how to play included Queen Emma, Queen Lili’uokalani, Prince Leleihoku, and Princess Likelike.

In 1915, ukulele’s popularity moved to the mainland beginning in San Francisco during the Panama Pacific International Exposition. As a result, ukulele sales increased. In addition to its sweet sound,

From US the mainland, ukulele moved to the UK and to the rest of the world. The ukulele even became an icon of the Jazz Age.

Author Bio: For more information about Hawaiian music, visit http://www.playhawaiianmusic.com