Hawaiian fever

[Mike Neer]

Seems like there's a little bit of Hawaiian fever going around lately! That's a good thing.

I have a strong connection with the music emotionally, but I have always felt a little uncomfortable playing it. Let me explain: I love playing (or attempting to play) Hawaiian style, but feel uncomfortable playing the traditional music and feel even more uncomfortable being campy about it. I don't knock anyone for doing this, but it's just not my style. It's just me--I don't even really like to wear Hawaiian shirts!

I started messing around with some things I'd hear in my head as I was running, such as the "Sol Hoopii meets Coltrane" version of Giant Steps, and I really liked it because I felt like I could play in the style somewhat and still be myself. I have vowed to finish a complete recording of those ideas before the year is finished.

Anyway, keep on discovering the music and maybe if enough of us ask, Bill Wynne will be nice enough to make his Ho'olohe Hou programs available again.

[Rick Aiello]

It's a good time to get this fever ... Sure better than the other one going 'round ...

http://www.hsga.org/register-honolulu2013.htm

I might be able to talk da' boss into a round trip ticket ... Wonder if Robin Masters' guest house and Ferrari are available (I see Thomas M. is a cop in NY now).

He owes me for that pickup I put in his JB Frypan ...

[Jerome Hawkes]

Ha - that's why I quit playing "da blues" as a teenager - I looked around and thought- who am I kidding here? A middle class white kid in college playing a $800 Les Paul - never had a hard day in my life singing tunes I didn't understand the power of.
You know, that age of awaking thing.
I dove heavily into old time string band / early bluegrass and country because I felt this was "my" music - part of my Scottish/Appalachian heritage - but really - the scholarly heavies in that genre are often highly educated urban intellectuals & borderline leftists... So what do I know.
Course I'm older now and don't care - if it moves me, I'll dive in.

[Mike Anderson]

Went through the same thing with Latin music - BOOM, "I am a cultural thief". And that was the end of that.

The Western Swing/vintage country thing makes perfect sense to me as a guy who grew up in Alberta (howdy!), and I started visiting Hawaii as a little kid since my mom's sister lived there. Her two boys grew up there, surfed and took slack key lessons from the Beamer brothers. Result: my lifelong fascination with Hawaiian culture.

The funny thing of course is that the Latin musos I hung out with were totally inclusive and proud that gringos wanted to learn their music, and I see the same openness from Hawaiian steelers. So it's down to your own feelings at the end of the day I think. But looking back I sure remember the first shock of that feeling of inauthenticity.

[Jerome Hawkes]

Yea, I knew it had gotten out of hand when someone pointed out that I was drinking 40oz Schlitz Bull "artillery shells" all the time. They were gawd-awful, but no self respecting blues man would be caught dead drinking Heineken or Rolling Rock.....unless you had stolen them outa someone's fridge.

Funny story about that - I was home from college and went out to eat with my parents. We stopped by the gas station afterwards and as they filled up, I went inside and got me a 40 for later... I though my ma was gonna have a heart attack when she saw me walk out with that brown bag. I got an a:: chewing all the way home - said I looked like a damn bum off the streets walking out with that.. All that money to send me to college, blah, blah..
I knew then I had been exposed.

[Mike Anderson]

Heh, I love where this thread is going...youthful memories. I used to play harp into a Shure Green Bullet and sing (after a fashion) with some great players at house parties back in the day. Then we'd head out to a truck stop for some very late-night burgers and Cokes, and some unplugged jamming in the parking lot.

We're probably lucky no trucker ever beat the crap out of us for the pretentious suburban wonks we really were.

[Mike Neer]

I'm only in it for the music, the culture not so much.

[David Matzenik]

Mike, I can only assume I understand what you mean by “traditional,” considering that almost all Hawaiian songs have a known composer. Also when you say “uncomfortable,” I make assumptions too. I think I empathize. In my youth I put quite a lot of time into Flamenco guitar only to come to similar feelings. It did give me a very good grounding in two finger picking which I still use, even in Hawaiian guitar. When I watch great steel players I cannot see any rhyme or reason in their picking. One moment it’s the thumb then it’s any finger. But I digress.

Playing jazz, or for that matter, 18th Century Franco-German Orchestral pieces, we are only interpreting the music; which has to be as valid a way of creating music as any. Otherwise all those symphony orchestras are just like Elvis impersonators except in their case it is Mozart or some other cat.

Your discomfort with Hawaiian music is unclear. I can imagine a person might not feel “authentic” enough with some ethnic genres. That is understandable, but in the case of Hawaiian steel music, it is such a mix of influences that I feel it from an island-folk-vaudeville-swing-pop background. It feels innately tangible to me.

I think one can become too precious about art forms. Ultimately, it is all show-biz.

[Mike Neer]

When I say "uncomfortable," what I mean is disingenuous. I have a hard time bringing myself to type the word "aloha" even. I have become friends with many Hawaiian players and I respect them greatly. These boundaries are my own and are not the result of anyone else's discouragement; in fact, it's always been just the opposite.

I'm really not an entertainer or a showman, I'm just a guy who loves to play music. The fact that I don't really have a cultural connection with the music is something I do weigh heavily. I respect it too much to fake it and I don't want to insult anyone.

I love the music dearly, I do. But I love all kinds of music--you can say I'm a slut in that regard. I've never been a purist about anything musical and in my world these things have a way of cross-pollinating. So, obviously, this is some form of disclaimer: if I take a traditional tune and make a mess out of it, I won't catch the same hell as if I'd been a traditional player doing the same!

I surely don't want anyone to think I'm putting anyone down or saying it's wrong for them to play music that they were not "born" into; I do not mean that in any way, shape or form. Let's just put it this way: I've got issues!

[Bill McCloskey]

Highly ethnic-centric music brings out these feelings of authenticity. You see the same in Irish Music where very specific ways of playing are encouraged.

But Mike, I think you are over thinking it a bit. Think of the tunes Sol Hoopi was playing - as far away from traditional Hawaiian playing, I would imagine, as anything.

Pick up a little here, a little there, mix it all together and create something new.

[Former Member]

[Don Kona Woods]

This gave me some Hawaiian Fever - Mahi Beamer and Jerry Byrd performing Kawohikukapulani

This is followed by Jerry playing the same song as a solo. The steel has a beautiful tone. The photo was shot at famous Winchester Overpass Motel during convention when Jerry was guest artist.

If that does not give you the Hawaiian Fever, maybe this will?

Andy Iona, Jules Ah See and Jerry Byrd SAND

[Kevin Brown]

Totally understand Mikes comments, as a pre teenager I struggled with blues lyrics that reflected a life that was way ahead of me, hence my early start into writing my own songs. I have buddies who do the full blues 'make over' two tone shoes n stuff, I have always felt out of sorts with that. I even struggle a bit with hawaiian shirts, no disrespect to anyone here. Hoopii , Rogers Hew Len, whatever, they all adopted and adapted styles from other cultures and wore whatever suited the climate. As in the following clip !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7A_80r4TuU

[Andy Sandoval]

I know a few Hawaiian tunes on C6 6 string lap but I've been tryin to learn the same tunes on E9 pedal steel and it's been a good learnin experience for me.

[Tony Lombardo]

Mr. Neer's comments really resonated with me. I've been doing gigs on tenor banjo and guitar for at least 25 years, and almost all of those gigs have been with Mike, a Jewish musician from Chicago. He and another Jewish guy, a violinist in our local symphony, wanted to put together a little klezmer trio, and Mike wanted me to play acoustic guitar in that act. We did several small jobs together, and then we were hired to play before the screening of a film about the holocaust. I wasn't comfortable doing so, but both men told me it would be fine. We played, and then I watched the movie. I wept through the entire film. As we were leaving, two women in their 80s came up to me and said, "That group is not for you." I knew they were right. That music should be played by people who could truly understand its history, its themes, and the people it reflects. I quit that group that night. I still play most of my gigs with Mike, but we do "It Had To Be You" and "Misty," not klezmer music. As much as I love that music and as much as I love playing with Mike, I think my decision was the right one.

Tony L.

[Mike Neer]

Tony, I played with a Klezmer/Simcha band for a long time, and I was designated by them as an honorary Jew. I really enjoyed the music and got to play with some of the finest players in the country.

[Former Member]

[Norman Markowitz]

Ah Sand... I didn't know there were words!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXEP5DFDMM4

Gary Aiko owns the vocal version of "Sand"

[Mike Anderson]

I asked a kama'aina friend what a kanaka would think of e.g. a haole playing ipu or pahu in one of their compositions, because as a percussionist I am pretty fascinated with all things percussive, and got a definitive "no way!". So there's a very different attitude from the Latin percussionists I've known.

Might put that down to the difference between an immigrant who is proud to share their culture, and an aboriginal person on their own land who wants to preserve their culture and not see it bastardized. That said, I can't see a kanaka being upset at haoles for playing hapa-haole songs! They are as important a part of mainland history and culture as anything IMO.

[Rick Collins]

I don't even really like to wear Hawaiian shirts!

I too, do not like to wear those fully cut, flowery, silky, Hawaiian shirts that hang low outside of the pants. I feel like a hobo with one on.
I have one dark blue and white (non-silky) palm tree pattern I wear bloused in my pants.

Hope this isn't an argument starter, but a lot of the Hawaiian players play some of the slow Hawaiian tunes much too slowly __ even to the point that the music seems to "drag".

IMHO, Hawaiian music on a steel guitar will not sound great unless there is rich tone, with bar placement and vibrato done precisely.

[Mike Anderson]

No need to start an argument Rick, but I'd be happier if you'd prefaced that statement with "In my opinion..."

Personally I am blown away - I mean, absolutely gobsmacked - by the really slow tempi on for example the 1970s Hawaii Calls tunes in the Barney Isaacs solos collection. It speaks of a very different musical aesthetic from what is practiced today, or for that matter mainland haole musical culture in the 1970s. It's all a matter of taste - for my part I am really happy to have the opportunity to be forced to listen differently, to slow down my own thinking, my hectic overwrought brain, and just let the music flow.

I hope the second part of your post isn't implying Hawaiian players lack rich tone, etc. Are there specific players you are referring to, or is this just a general statement?...


Always loved Hawaiian shirts myself tho.

[James Kerr]

I'm going to do this.

James.

[Mike Anderson]

James, my editorial pen has to say "please clarify".

Just one more thought for Rick: when you say "Hawaiian steel players have to do <x> with Hawaiian music", it looks weird - just an observation.

It's kinda like saying "German organ players really play Bach organ pieces too slowly," or "African-American bluesmen play the blues too slowly" - know what I mean?

[Roger Shackelton]

If You Want To Hear A Slow Hawaiian Tune That May Bring Tears To Your Eyes, You should Hear Bobby Ingano's Instrumental Version Of "Kaula Illi"


Roger

PS: It Helps To Know The English Translation Of The Lyrics.

[James Kerr]

James, my editorial pen has to say "please clarify".

I mean I'm going to get back to where I started out and play a Hawiian song.

James.