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July 26, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hapa-Haole Music

Traditional Hawaiian music was based upon mele oli and mele hula as performed in the pre-Western-contact era. Mele oli means plain chanting, while mele hula signifies chanting accompanied by hula.

Subsequently, mele hula kuʻi – chant and dance style with western influences – developed in the late-19th and early 20th centuries from mele hula. These three forms served as the foundations of authentic Hawaiian music.

In 1879 in Hawaiʻi, Portuguese musicians (Madeira Islanders) played on “strange instruments, which are a kind of cross between a guitar and a banjo, but which produce very sweet music” (this Madeiran guitar, the machete, was destined to become the Hawaiian ʻukulele.) (Hawaiian Gazette – September 3, 1879)

In about 1889, Joseph Kekuku began sliding a piece of steel across the strings of a guitar, thus inventing steel guitar (kika kila); at about the same time, traditional Hawaiian music with English lyrics became popular.

All of this helped set the foundational sound for a new music in Hawaiʻi.

From about 1895 to 1915, Hawaiian music dance bands became in demand more and more. These were typically string quintets. Ragtime music influenced the music, and English words were commonly used in the lyrics.

This type of Hawaiian music, influenced by popular music and with lyrics being a combination of English and Hawaiian (or wholly English), is called hapa haole (literally: half white) music.

In 1903, Albert “Sonny” Cunha composed “My Waikīkī Mermaid,” arguably the first popular hapa haole song; two years later he wrote “Honolulu Tom Boy,” which became immensely popular. (The earliest known hapa haole song, “Eating of the Poi”, was published in Ka Buke o na Leo Mele Hawaii…o na Home Hawaii in Honolulu in 1888.)

Sonny Cunha was also known as a talented pianist who incorporated the piano into a Hawaiian orchestra for the first time. As a composer, pianist and orchestra leader, Cunha attracted many audiences – residents and visitors alike – with his new type of music; although pure Hawaiian songs still retained their popularity among kamaʻaina residents.

The new style and tempo of Cunha’s music came to exert an enormous influence on another musician, Johnny Nobel (later called the ‘Hawaiian Jazz King;’) in 1918 Noble joined Cunha’s band on drums and xylophones, and thus embraced the new style of music. Nobel also learned composition from Cunha and began to compose in the new style of Hawaiian music.

Noble’s first rise to fame came as the leader of a major hotel orchestra, at the Moana Hotel. He felt that jazz and Hawaiian music blended beautifully and immediately began to shape the sound of the orchestra. With no brass in the orchestra, the mellow sound they produced became the standard of the time.

As a composer and arranger, Noble really became a great composer of hapa haole tunes including, “My Little Grass Shack”, “King Kamehameha” and “Hula Blues.” He was responsible for ‘jazzing up’ and making popular the traditional “Hawaiian War Chant” song.

In 1935, Noble became the first Hawaiian composer inducted into The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

The hapa-haole sound was a “new wave” in the Hawaiian music scene. The new sound undeniably met the tastes and attitudes of the audience in Waikīkī in the first half of the twentieth century.

The lyrics usually expressed attractive images of Waikīkī – sand, surf, palm trees and hula girls. The new style of Hawaiian music responded to the transformation of the American pop music scene. From 1900 to 1915, it was based upon simple ragtime rhythms and sometimes upon waltz-like melodies.

The hapa-haole sound adopted jazz and blues from 1916 to the 1930s and then it incorporated the big-band sounds from the 1940s to the 1950s, rock ‘n roll in the 1950s and surf-style in the 1960s.

As time went by, the sound became less and less Hawaiian, despite its lyrics referring to Hawaiʻi.

At the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, hapa-haole songs were featured in the Hawaii exhibits. The Hawaiian songs accompanied by ukulele fascinated the audience and triggered a Hawaiian boom on the mainland.

By 1916, there were hundreds of Hapa Haole (half “foreign”) tunes written. That same year, reportedly more Hawaiian records were sold on the mainland than any other type of music. And they came in all the popular styles of the day: in ragtime, blues, jazz, foxtrot and waltz tempos, as “shimmy” dances and–even–in traditional hula tempos, but jazzed up a bit.

In 1935, a radio program began, broadcasting live from the Banyan Court of the Moana Hotel on the beach at Waikīkī, and radios nationwide tuned in to hear “Hawaii Calls.” Not only did nearly every island entertainer cut his or her teeth on the program, many went on to become well known.

A number of non-Hawaiian continental musicians exploited the marketable commodity. Songs like “Yacka Hula Hicky Dula” and “Oh How She Could Yacki Hacki Wicki Wacki Woo” reflected the Hawaiian vogue, but did not represent the hapa-haole sounds in the true sense.

In Waikīkī, composers and musicians carefully blended Hawaiian music with jazz and blues, and attached the music to the Waikīkī landscape.

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Hapa Haole Music Festival (PAI_Foundation)
Hapa Haole Music Festival (PAI_Foundation)
Hapa Haole Music Festival (PAI_Foundation)
Hapa Haole Music Festival (PAI_Foundation)
Alfred Apaka and his Hawaii Village Sernaders. Tapa room late 1950's >>> Property of The Honolulu Advertiser
Alfred Apaka and his Hawaii Village Sernaders. Tapa room late 1950’s >>> Property of The Honolulu Advertiser
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1916 Yaaka Hula

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Hapa Haole, Hawaiian Music, Hawaii, Ukulele

July 1, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

New Musical Tradition

“Music serves to enliven many an hour of sadness, or what would be sadness otherwise. It is an expression of the emotions of the heart, a disperser of gloomy clouds.” (Juliette Montague Cooke; Punahou)

Hawaiians devised various methods of recording information for the purpose of passing it on from one generation to the next. The chant (mele or oli) was one such method. Elaborate chants were composed to record important information, e.g. births, deaths, triumphs, losses, good times and bad.

In most ancient cultures, composing of poetry was confined to the privileged classes. What makes Hawai‘i unique is that poetry was composed by people of all walks of life, from the royal court chanters down to the common man.

“As the Hawaiian songs were unwritten, and adapted to chanting rather than metrical music, a line was measured by the breath; their hopuna, answering to our line, was as many words as could be easily cantilated at one breath.” (Bingham)

The Pioneer Company of missionaries (April, 1820) introduced new musical traditions to Hawai‘i – the Western choral tradition, hymns, gospel music, and Western composition traditions. It was one of strophic hymns and psalm tunes from the late-18th century in America.

The strophic form is one where different lyrics are put to the same melody in each verse. Later on, with the arrival of new missionaries, another hymn tradition was introduced was the gospel tune with verse-chorus alternation. (Smola)

The missionaries also introduced new instrumentation with their songs. Humehume (George Prince, son of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i) was given a bass viol or ‘Church Bass’ (like a large cello) and a flute that he have learned to play well. He returned to the Islands with the Pioneer Company. Later, church organs, pianos, melodeons, and other instruments were introduced to the Islands.

Bingham and others composed Hawaiian hymns from previous melodies, sometimes borrowing an entire tune, using Protestant hymn styles. In spite of the use of English throughout Hawaii, the Hawaiian language continues to be used in Bible reading and in the singing of hîmeni (hymns) in many Christian churches. Himeni still preserve the beauty of the Hawaiian language. (Smithsonian)

The first hymnal in the Hawaiian language was ‘Nā Hīmeni Hawaii; He Me Ori Ia Iehova, Ka Akua Mau,’ published in 1823. It contained 60 pages and 47 hymns. It was prepared by Rev. Hiram Bingham and Rev. William Ellis, a London Missionary Society missionary who was visiting.

On June 8, 1820, Rev. Hiram Bingham set up the first singing school at Kawaiaha‘o Church. He taught native Hawaiians Western music and hymnody. These ‘singing schools’ emphasized congregational singing with everyone actively participating, not just passively listening to a designated choir.

By 1826, there were 80 singing schools on Hawai‘i Island alone . By the mid-1830s, church choirs began to become part of the regular worship. This choral tradition partially grew out of the hō‘ike, or examination, when the students being examined would sing part of their lessons.

Hawai‘i Aloha

“For more than 100-years, love of the land and its natural beauty has been the poetry Hawaiian composers have used to speak of love. Hawaiian songs also speak to people’s passion for their homeland and their beliefs.” (Hawaiian Music Museum)

Next time you and others automatically stand, hold hands and sing this song together, you can thank an American Protestant missionary, Lorenzo Lyons, for writing Hawai‘i Aloha – and his expression of love for his home.

Na Lani Eha

In 1995, when the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame selected its first ten treasured composers, musicians and vocalists to be inducted, ‘Na Lani Eha’, (The Royal Four), were honored as the Patrons of Hawaiian music.

‘Na Lani Eha’ comprises four royal siblings who, in their lifetimes, demonstrated extraordinary talent as musicians and composers. They were, of course, our last king, Kalākaua, his sister, Hawai‘i’s last queen, Lili‘uokalani, their brother, the prince, Leleiōhoku, and their sister, the princess, Likelike, mother of princess Ka‘iulani.

In August 2000, ‘Ka Hīmeni Ana’, the RM Towill Corporation’s annual contest at Hawai‘i Theatre for musicians playing acoustic instruments and singing in the Hawaiian language, was dedicated to missionary Juliette Montague Cooke, the Chiefs’ Children’s teacher and mother.

John Montague Derby, Sr., who accepted this honor for the Cooke family, said. “(it is) with gratitude for the multitude of beautiful Hawaiian songs that we enjoy today which were composed by her many students.”

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more on New Musical Tradition 

Planning ahead … the Hawaiian Mission Bicentennial – Reflection and Rejuvenation – 1820 – 2020 – is approaching (it starts in about a year)

If you would like to get on a separate e-mail distribution on Hawaiian Mission Bicentennial activates, please use the following link:

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Hawaii Aloha Capitol

Filed Under: General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings Tagged With: Lorenzo Lyons, Himeni, Hawaiian Music, Bingham, Hawaiian Mission Bicentennial, New Musical Tradition, Hawaii, Na Lani Eha, Hiram Bingham, Music, Chief's Children's School, Hawaii Aloha

April 8, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Alii, the Missionaries and Hawaii

Click HERE for more on the Ali‘i and the missionaries.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

The Mission Prudential Committee in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. …”

“Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

The Laws and Regulations of the ABCFM stated, “No missionary or assistant missionary shall engage in any business or transaction whatever for the sake of private gain …”

“… nor shall anyone engage in transactions or employments yielding pecuniary profit, without first obtaining the consent of his brethren in the mission; and the profits, in all cases, shall be placed at the disposal of the mission.”

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

Collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the introduction of Christianity; the creation of the Hawaiian written language and widespread literacy; the promulgation of the concept of constitutional government; making Western medicine available; and the evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing.)

Introduction of Christianity

Within five years of the initial arrival of the missionaries, a dozen chiefs had sought Christian baptism and church membership, including the king’s regent Kaʻahumanu. The Hawaiian people followed their native leaders, accepting the missionaries as their new priestly class. (Schulz)

Keōpūolani is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the Islands, receiving baptism from Rev. William Ellis in Lāhainā on September 16, 1823. Keōpūolani was spoken of “with admiration on account of her amiable temper and mild behavior”. (William Richards) She was ill and died shortly after her baptism.

On December 24, 1825, Kaʻahumanu, six other Chiefs and one makaʻāinana (commoner) were baptized and received Holy Communion at Kawaiahaʻo Church. This was the beginning of expanded admission into the Church.

Kamakau noted of her baptism, “Kaʻahumanu was the first fruit of the Kawaiahaʻo church … for she was the first to accept the word of God, and she was the one who led her chiefly relations as the first disciples of God’s church.”

Creation of the Hawaiian Written Language

When Captain Cook first made contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, Hawaiian was a spoken language but not a written language. Historical accounts were passed down orally, through oli (chants) and mele (songs.)

Then, on July 14, 1826, the missionaries established a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w) in their “Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language.” The alphabet continues in use today.

Widespread Literacy

The missionaries established schools associated with their missions across the Islands. This marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of Chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

Interestingly, as the early missionaries learned the Hawaiian language, they then taught their lessons in the mission schools in Hawaiian, rather than English. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built over 1,100-schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 53,000-students. (Laimana)

In 1839, King Kamehameha III called for the formation of the Chiefs’ Children’s School (Royal School.) The main goal of this school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking Chiefs’ children and secure their positions for Hawaiʻi’s Kingdom. The King asked missionaries Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Montague Cooke to teach the 16-royal children and run the school.

In this school, the Hawai‘i sovereigns who reigned over the Hawaiian people from 1855 were educated, including: Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV;) Emma Naʻea Rooke (Queen Emma;) Lot Kapuāiwa (King Kamehameha V;) William Lunalilo (King Lunalilo;) Bernice Pauahi (Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, founder of Kamehameha Schools;) David Kalākaua (King Kalākaua) and Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (Queen Liliʻuokalani.)

The King also saw the importance of education for all; “Statute for the Regulation of Schools” was passed by the King and chiefs on October 15, 1840.

Its preamble stated, “The basis on which the Kingdom rests is wisdom and knowledge. Peace and prosperity cannot prevail in the land, unless the people are taught in letters and in that which constitutes prosperity. If the children are not taught, ignorance must be perpetual, and children of the chiefs cannot prosper, nor any other children”.

Constitutional Government

Kamehameha III asked Richards (who had previously been asked to serve as Queen Keōpūolani’s religious teacher) to become an advisor to the King as instructor in law, political economy and the administration of affairs generally.

Richards gave classes to King Kamehameha III and his Chiefs on the Western ideas of rule of law and economics. His decision to assist the King ultimately resulted in his resignation from the mission, when the ABCFM board refused to allow him to belong to the mission while assisting the King.

“The Hawaiian people believed in William Richards (Rikeke), the foreigner who taught the king to change the government of the Hawaiian people to a constitutional monarchy and end that of a supreme ruler, and his views were adopted.” (Kamakau)

Of his own free will, King Kamehameha III granted the Constitution of 1840, as a benefit to his country and people, that established his Government upon a declared plan. (Rex v. Booth – Hanifin)

That constitution introduced the innovation of representatives chosen by the people (rather than, as previously, solely selected by the Aliʻi.) This gave the common people a share in the government’s actual political power for the first time.

Western Medicine

Later (when Richards was sent on a diplomatic mission to the US and Europe to recognize the rights of a sovereign Hawaiʻi,) King Kamehameha III asked missionary Judd to resign from the mission and serve as his advisor and translator.

Judd, a doctor by training, had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician. While in that role, Judd set up part of the basement in the 1821 Mission House as a Western medicine pharmacy and doctor’s office, beginning in 1832.

Dr Judd did not dismiss Native Hawaiian medical practices. He thought Native Hawaiian practice should be improved. Over the years, Dr Judd modified his practice to include Native Hawaiian ingredients in his treatments.

Judd wrote the first medical book in the Hawaiian language and later formed the first medical school in the Islands. Ten students were accepted when it opened in 1870, all native Hawaiians (the school had a Hawaiians-only admissions policy.)

Distinctive Musical Tradition

Another lasting legacy left by the missionaries in the Islands related to music. Some songs were translations of Western songs into Hawaiian; some were original verse and melody.

Oli and mele were already a part of the Hawaiian tradition; it was delivered in an almost monotone way, without instrumentation, or with percussion (drums) or flutes.

“As the Hawaiian songs were unwritten, and adapted to chanting rather than metrical music, a line was measured by the breath; their hopuna, answering to our line, was as many words as could be easily cantilated at one breath.” (Bingham)

The missionaries introduced Western choral tradition, harmony, hymns, gospel music, and Western composition. In the early period, instrumentation included the “Church Bass,” a cello-like instrument and a flute. Later on, church organs, pianos, melodeons, and other instruments were introduced to Hawai`i.

One of the unique verses (sung to an old melody) was Hoʻonani Hole – Hoʻonani I Ka Makua Mau. Bingham wrote/translated it to Hawaiian and people sang it to a melody that dates back to the 1600s – today, it is known as the Hawaiian Doxology.

Another popular Hawaiian song was written by another missionary, Lorenzo Lyons. Lyons composed many poems and hymns; Lyons’ best known and beloved work is the hymn “Hawaiʻi Aloha,” sung to the tune of “I Left It All With Jesus.” The song was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

“Widely regarded as Hawaiʻi’s second anthem, this hymn is sung in both churches and public gatherings. It is performed at important government and social functions to bring people together in unity, and at the closing of Hawaiʻi Legislative sessions.” (Hawaiian Music Museum)

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives (Hawaiian Mission Houses) promotes an understanding of the social history of 19th-century Hawai‘i and the relationship between the Aliʻi and the missionaries, and their critical, collaborative role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

Over the years, the growing partnership and collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in the introduction of Christianity, a written Hawaiian language, literacy, constitutional government, Western medicine and an evolving music tradition.

Click HERE for more on the Ali‘i and the missionaries.

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Mission_Houses,_Honolulu,_ca._1837._Drawn_by_Wheeler_and_engraved_by-Kalama
Mission_Houses,_Honolulu,_ca._1837._Drawn_by_Wheeler_and_engraved_by-Kalama

Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Economy, General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Christianity, Hawaii, Chiefs, Music, Literacy, Missionaries, Hawaiian Constitution, Education, Hawaiian Language, Hawaiian Music, Alii, Medicine

August 12, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kīkā Kila

There are three conflicting claims attributing the invention of the steel guitar to three different people: James Hoa, Gabriel Davion and Joseph Kekuku. Of this trio, Kekuku has been the most commonly mentioned as inventor of the steel guitar – and the evidence is impressive. (Kanahele)

Likewise, there are three stories as to how Kekuku started the steel guitar phenomenon: (1) walking along a road, a rusty bolt accidentally vibrated one of the strings, (2) rather than a road, he was walking along the railroad tracks, he picked up a bolt and slid it across the strings and (3) he was playing his hair comb wrapped in tissue paper like a harmonica, with his guitar in his lap, he dropped the comb on the strings causing them to vibrate.

The latter was on the Kamehameha Schools website, where he was student at the time … come to your own conclusion – most credit Kekuku as being the originator.

Kekuku was then inspired to substitute the back of his knife for his comb. Later, in the school shop, Kekuku developed the smooth, steel playing bar used today, and raised the guitar frets so that the bar would glide easily across the strings. He also switched from gut to wire strings for more sustained notes, and designed individual finger picks for the opposing hand. (Hawaiian Music Museum)

Joseph Kekukuʻupena-kanaʻiaupunio Kamehameha Āpuakēhau (Keeper of the nets that surround the kingdom of Kamehameha) (Joseph Kekuku) is credited for inventing the Kīkā Kila, the steel guitar.

In 1993, Joseph Kekuku was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame with full honors as the inventor of the Hawaiian steel guitar. In 1995, he was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.

Kekuku was born (in 1874 or 1875) in Lāʻie at Koʻolauloa on the windward side of Oʻahu, one of a large family of Joseph Kekukupena Āpuakēhau and Miliama Kaopua. At 15, he and his cousin, Sam Nainoa, left for boarding school at Kamehameha Schools in Kalihi.

In 1889, while attending the Kamehameha School for Boys, Kekuku accidentally discovered the sound of the steel guitar. He then performed in school concerts.

That sound has been described as, “”The most beautiful and soothing of all music is brought to us from the South Seas islands of the Pacific and to many the instrumental and vocal music of Hawaiians is by far the sweetest.” (Dover Historical Society)

Kamehameha notes Kekuku was in the class of 1894; in 1904, the left for the American continent performing in vaudeville theaters from coast to coast. His group was ‘Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet’ and were sponsored by a management group called ‘The Affiliated.’

In 1909, Seattle was the host city of a world’s fair – the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P.) The A-Y-P Exposition featured Joseph Kekuku who apparently intrigued enough fair attendees that he was swamped with requests to give lessons and as a result Kekuku reportedly stuck around town for a while to provide locals with steeling lessons.

In time, Kekuku relocated to Los Angeles where he helped the Hawaiian craze expand, performing and taking on students, one of whom – Myrtle Stumpf – went on to produce the first-ever tutorial course, a 68-page classic booklet titled: the Original Hawaiian Method for Steel Guitar. (Blecha)

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 provided another showcase and fueled the Hawaiian Music craze across the country. The Hawaiian Pavilion was built; there were Hawaiian shows several times a day.

Joseph Kekuku was a guest artist. The impact of this expo was phenomenal. It was followed by an instant boom in Hawaiian recordings (which outsold all other pop music recordings), Hollywood movies with Hawaiian themes, formation of new Hawaiian musical groups, and demand for instruction on steel guitar. (Bocchino)

“Mr Kekuku has appeared in the one hundred and twenty-five largest cities of America. Over one million people have heard him play. It is not uncommon for Mr Kekuku to play five encore numbers for each regular selection presented. His audiences seem never to tire of the beautiful music.” (Promotional Brochure)

“Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet, bringing with them a breath of the Paradise Isles will be the main feature of the closing day (at Chautauqua, Lompoc Opera House.) The honey-sweetness and soft witchery of the languorous music of the Hawaiians curl around the heart of the listener like the invisible tendrils of a dream.”

“The key to this irresistible whispering hum-like effect in stringed music is in the hands of Joseph Kekuku of Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet, premier Hawaiian players and singers of the original Toots Paka, Alisky and Bird of Paradise Companies.”

“Mr, Kekuku is the originator of the celebrated steel method of guitar playing, the most bewitching note yet sounded in instrumental music. The members of Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet are: Joseph Kekuku, steel method guitar; Henry Aaka, basso, harpguitar; Alfred Weila, baritone, ukulele; Gaby Kalau, tenor, guitar, taropatch.” (Lompoc Journal, May 19, 1916)

Kekuku later joined the Bird of Paradise show that toured Europe from 1919 to 1927 (he was probably the first to play steel guitar on that continent.)

“Like the New York Times columnist who admired the ‘scenic beauty’ of The Bird of Paradise, most critics appreciated the production’s impressive staging. The inclusion of native Hawaiian musicians proved equally critical to the show’s success, and their music became a key selling point.”

“Enthusiastic reviewers of the musicians and the music of The Bird of Paradise commended ‘the native musicians who make the haunting musical interpolations of their own land’ and drew attention to the distinctive ‘threnody of the ukulele and the haunting, yearning cry of steel pressed against the strings of the guitar.” (Garrett)

He returned to the United States at the age of 53 and first settled in Chicago; around 1930, he left Chicago and visited Dover, New Jersey (he later moved to Dover – he was often referred to as “The Hawaiian.”) (Bocchino)

On January 16, 1932 at the age of 58 Joseph Kekuku died in Morristown of a brain hemorrhage; he is buried in the Orchard Street Cemetery, Dover, New Jersey.

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Joseph Kekuku
Joseph Kekuku
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Myrtle Stumpf-Joseph Kekuku
Myrtle Stumpf-Joseph Kekuku
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Joseph Kekuku-Gravestone Dover NJ

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Hawaii, Music, Hawaiian Music, Steel Guitar, Joseph Kekuku

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Copyright © 2012-2024 Peter T Young, Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

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