I've been practicing Ray Kane's arrangement of "La Paloma" from Mark Hanson's "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" book. I was curious about the history of the tune (where it originated, when it was written, etc).
I ran across a site that goes into some detail about the history. It turns out that it's not a folk tune, but was composed in the mid-1800s. The tango-like rhythm (ONE and two AND THREE and FOUR) is based on a Cuban dance, the Habanera.
Those of you who have "La Paloma" in your repertoire may find the site interesting:
I thought Mark explained the background of La Paloma in his book. It was the first song I learned to play in slack key. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do......slack on!
The habanera is a great rhythm. One of the most famous habaneras was written by Chabrierre entitled, "Habanera" (lots of recordings, and often played in "pops" concerts -- it's initial theme is easily played in Taro Patch and I very often use it as a jumping off point for improvisation.
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Posted - 09/03/2004 : 11:46:09 PM
