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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
 Posted - 01/02/2005 : 3:24:41 PM
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I want to share a few thoughts about a topic that will probably not make me any friends, and might even cost me income, but upon which I think is important to reflect.
I’ve been spending some time thinking about the question, “Can a mainland haole really play Hawaiian slack key?” Sure most anyone can come up with a convincing sounding arrangement of a Hawaiian song in a slack key style. But I’m thinking about something different – playing Hawaiian slack key from a deep place inside. If you will, from a place where the “spirit” of slack key is internalized. (There’s a kind of parallel to speaking a foreign language – I can “speak” 4 languages, and some phrases in a few others – but I can only “think” in two of them. The other 2 I have to do a very quick translation in my own mind before using the foreign language. Those first two languages are really “mine” in a deep way – the others I just “visit.”) So here are some thoughts on the subject: I’ll start with the most general topic and narrow it down as I go along.
Hawaiian music is definitely different from the mainland western tradition. In that tradition, you learn a melody, words, get a “feel” for a style and you’re off and running. I’m told I play great Latin music in spite of the fact that I’ve only visited Latin America for a total of 3 weeks. I know I have a real “feel” for boleros, ranchera and a few other types of music. With Hawaiian music, however, at least traditional Hawaiian music, so very much of it is unsaid. References, kaona, personal relationships inside and outside the music make up such a huge difference. For a Kanaka, one of those place names, or flower names, brings up a storehouse of knowledge and associations – and that’s the heart of the music. Sure an outsider can avoid most serious mistakes if you do a little homework – For example – consider Kapiolani’s beautiful song, “Ka Ipo Lei Manu” which began as a plea to King Kalakaua to stay home and not go to California, and ended as a mele innoa when he died in California. Lots of different ways to convey the complex reality of that mele. Actually it’s more complex for hula dancers and kumu who must figure out how to dance the levels of meaning, but even just singing it or playing an instrumental version – you can emphasize the somewhat sensuous first part of the song, or create a more “courtly or stately” arrangement emphasizing the effect of the last couplet, or play it in double time and make it into a kind of meditation on fate, or combine it with a funeral dirge as did Kekuhi Kanahele for some real chicken skin. Probably other possibilities as well. But, I guess we’ve all heard terrible arrangements of this song – and often what makes them bad is that they don’t express the true “meaning” of the mele. I don’t think a mainland haole can get most of that level for most of the Hawaiian mele. Certainly can’t get the associations to place and persons. At best you can have them explained to you and you can “understand” them, but that is very different from “getting it inside.” . Players who accompany themselves while they sing have such an extra burden in this regard. Thankfully, I sing like roadkill, so I stay with instrumentals.
Instrumental Music – while all the experts clearly state that most slack key was accompaniment for singing, there is a definite sub tradition of solo instrumental playing. In recent times Leonard Kwan, Ozzie Kotani, Jeff Peterson, and Steve Sano play pretty much exclusively play instrumentals, Keola Beamer plays many instrumentals, and most other Masters occasionally play solo. You still have to know the meanings of the songs, but playing instrumental actually buys a lot of freedom of interpretation. Still, can a mainland haole actually play slack key from a place where it is part of his/her consciousness and not just a very skilled imitation of a style?
Part of it comes down to learning the “feel” – and slack key is definitely an island music. The rhythm of the seas permeates it. Can a mainland haole get that feel? Well, visits to the islands helps. And so does listening to hours and hours of CD’s – and not only slack key, but also other Hawaiian performers. But slack key is more than just “island” style – it includes paniolo elements, hula elements, backyards, porches, kitchens, etc. Again – all styles that are not in a mainland haole’s “blood.” Alas, most of us are probably doomed to “imitating the song” as opposed to it coming from some deeper place within.
I think a long term relationship with a bona fide master/teacher can go a long way towards helping, specifically one with regular, ongoing contact. In a relationship like this, you can learn more than just the notes. It might not even have to be a slack key teacher. Hanging out with the teacher gives an opportunity for what some spiritual traditions might call “a transmission or passing on of the spirit.” I spent almost a year with George Kahumoku and it was a wonderful experience. I certainly learned much along the feeling line. I think I might have learned a lot more if I started as a decent guitar player – but so much of our time was taken up by just learning to play. Yet it was the talk story and the lunches, and watching George perform – that made an incredible difference. Even at that, I honestly don’t feel like slack key comes from some deep place inside of me, as opposed to having learned how to play things with certain stylings. (I can’t address the efficacy of music camps, ‘cause I’ve never been, mostly due to financial reasons, but I suspect a week long intense “hit” gives you the feeling like you’re getting the stuff at a deeper level. Unfortunately, I don’t see how such a short time can make a major change in awareness. I’m open to being corrected.)
So, at this point in time, here’s how I deal with it. I can play convincing slack key. This is attested to me by my teachers and by kupuna for whom I’ve played. I still continue to work with a master/teacher. I pass on what I’ve learned to others who come to me. I can teach the form, in various sub styles, competently. But for me, I think I’m standing at the doorway of a big room, and occasionally touching my foot inside the room. So, I don’t call my playing “Hawaiian slack key.” I call it some variation on “A slack key style,” or “A style strongly influenced by Hawaiian slack key.” And I guess I’m getting more comfortable being an “outsider who is occasionally invited to join the party,” not so much ‘cause I play genuine slack key, but because of the wonderful Aloha of the Hawaiians and their culture.
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slackkeymike
Lokahi
440 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2005 : 6:10:52 PM
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Part of me knows what you are trying to say...but another part of me says you are being prejudicial. Surely, the island folks know it best, but there are too many cases in music where an "outsider" comes in and does it whith a flare and a style that says, "I was born here". Slack Key, Hawaiin folk is of something deeper than geography and local sociology. Its somthing that connects kindred souls...no matter where they live. Lets encourage the growth of this poetic and beautiful style rather than religate it to a few thousand square miles in the South Pacific. Otherwise, it might pass from our presence.
Peace.
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Aloha, Mike |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2005 : 7:08:57 PM
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Raymond, this is a version of "can a white man play the blues?"--and the answer to both variations is "why not?" I would agree that *singing* is a significantly different issue, since linguistic and cultural competence are crucial there. But people from outside a culture do seem to be able to absorb the elements of an instrumental tradition. Turn the question around: Can a Hawaiian play swing? Or reggae? Or polkas? The evidence is that Hawaiians absorb outside music very well indeed--so why not the other way around.
A similar anxiety of authenticity haunts the North American gypsy-jazz scene, and some players respond by going to considerable lengths to attain a kind of technical purity of practice (hold your hand *this* way, strike the strings just so, etc.) that can actually get in the way of the music. I respect any attempt to get things right musically (sometimes holding your hand *this* way is the only way to get the desired sound), but I also detect a nervousness about cultural poaching that does not seem to be generated by anything done or said by the putative poachees. What I sense from both Hawaiian and Roma musicians is a welcome for anyone who loves the music enough to try to get it right--and, from the more demanding player-teachers, the same kind of demands that you will encounter in any teaching situation. ("Hold your hand *this* way or you'll never get the sound you want.")
As for myself, I play gypsy swing with a gadjo (and specifically American) accent, and I'm certain that any slack key that I manage will always retain a mainland accent--but that's a reflection on my technical limitations as a musician, not anything printed on my psyche.
Interesting fact: significant numbers of southern blacks were surprised to discover (after his death) that Jimmie Rodgers was white. The late Piedmont bluesman John Jackson would tell that one to his (overwhelmingly white) students. I think the point was that the music is color-blind. Listen to (bourgeois white Californian) Ry Cooder play Blind Blake and tell me otherwise.
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2005 : 9:03:02 PM
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Good question, Raymond. It's racist to say a caucasian can't play slack key. But is there more to it?
The question is "Is slack key a guitar style or a spiritually and historically connected music subculture?"
Communication is always a two-way street. If you're Hawaiian, then hearing the slacked guitar and uke is a different experience than that of a mainlander who first hears slack key from a Dancing Cat sampler CD from Barnes and Noble.
Like Raymond, I can reproduce slack key on my guitar. But is there more to it than just music? Music can be enough, though, if the listeners are ready to hear the music in the spirit in which it is given.
George Kahumoku is an excellent example of a cultural ambassador adding more to the music. He can be gruff and impatient because he's always so busy, but when he sits down to perform with his guitar, he goes through a transformation because he's preparing to share something sacred with the audience, something that comes from deep in his family roots and his connections to the past. It's something he takes very seriously and the audience picks up on it, especially through his storytelling. And there's Hawaiian-ness in everything he does on stage.
I spent a few days at his workshop and the experience allowed me to get closer to the "source" of the music. But since we can't go back in time and be born full-blood Hawaiian and be raised in the culture that begat slack key, we're still outsiders, albeit respectful and eager to learn.
Even non-musical native Hawaiians know that you can't just "join" the Hawaiian musical tradition by buying a guitar and taking lessons. It's similar to many ancient cultures that frown on playing or chanting a song unless you can point to the elder who taught it to you and explain your relationship to that person. It's only because of technology and the performers generously sharing the music that we have the opportunity to learn at all.
Like Russell quoted above, "Can a white man play the blues?" But another question is "Sure, a white man can play the blues, but who would you rather learn from, Eric Clapton or B.B. King? And why?" Clapton is a great guitarist, but B.B. is "the source."
I think mainlanders can play slack key, but we do it in tribute to the Hawaiian culture and for our own enjoyment. We're not part of the "source."
That said, people like Raymond, Fran Guidry, Dusty Foster, Darin Leong, Sarah Whitaker and many others (I can't remember all you talented guys!) in this forum play with great feeling, definitely in the spirit of slack key.
Sorry for the long winded diatribe...
Jesse Tinsley
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slkho
`Olu`olu
740 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 06:01:32 AM
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Ray,
I'm sure you put a lot of thought into this subject before you wrote it, because your right, it would not be recieved well, at least not by me. But I do know the place where your coming from when you wrote it so in that spirit, I won't condem you for it. (besides, I can't find the key to the trigger lock at the moment ha.)
I agree alot with what Russell, and Jesse wrote. The spirit, meaning, and feeling is not exclusive to just people in Hawaii who grew up in the local slack key culture, I don't necessarily agree that they even have an edge in that regard either. There's even alot of artists in Hawaii who simply just suck at playing ki ho'alu too.
Technically, we are all on a level playing field, the mechanics of playing slack key. I've had so many long talks with Ledward, his sister Lehua, and others. They all say same the same thing, play from the heart. And that is what anyone can do well. Musically we all start at the same place.
When I close my eyes and hear a Dusty, Keith, and other non Hawaiians play slack, I certainly don't think its Led, or Cyrill playing. I hear the beautiful sound that first captured and inspired me to play Ki ho'alu.
I agree with you, a 2 hour lesson, all day session, or one week camp may not get you that "deep place inside" your wishing to attain, but playing from the heart, and playing a lot more will.
You know, the only artist who plays practically 24/7 is Dennis Kamakahi. Everyday, every hour (practically), he has a guitar nearby and just plays, and plays, and plays. Other masters when not performing, stay away from their guitars. Is their "deep place" any less?
Ray, just play, don't question it. Don't make something complicated from something so simple. If your hearts in the right place, which I know it is, you'll be fine.
pau,
-slkho
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Ianui
Lokahi
USA
298 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 07:03:46 AM
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Ray
I don't think there is anything racial about this. What us mainlanders don't have is exposure. We didn't have dads or uncles or cousins to listen to when we were growing up, and we don't have frequent gatherings where we learn to jam together.
We don't have the same spirituality which is also an important part of this music. Its kind of like martial arts where there is some mental and spiritual connection necessary to be good at it.
Will we ever be as good as those that had this exposure, probably not. We are a small brotherhood seperated by time and distance Hawaiians never had to deal with. However, we are 1st generation mainlanders in any number, that can provide the environment to get it started.
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Edited by - Ianui on 01/03/2005 07:14:00 AM |
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slackkeymike
Lokahi
440 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 07:23:42 AM
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Ianui,
Could not agree more. It takes time from someting to take root. Ray K. has been planting seeds for decades (as well as others too) and soon there is going to be a great harvest. The original author of this post (Ray) did not mean it racially, but like someone said, it is a lot like "can a white man play the blues". When enough people focus on this, you are going to find artists as good as any you will find in the islands. No doubt, though, the islanders would probably not accept this artist as readily as a Ray Kane or Keola Beamer...and that is not a racial thing either, but the result of a deep sense of where this music comes from...its source. But someday that acceptance will come...just like white folks singing rap, and black folks being in rock bands and so on.
Peace
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Aloha, Mike |
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Darin
Lokahi
USA
294 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 09:04:34 AM
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Perhaps growing up in Hawaii, surrounded by the culture, you may have a leg up in the tradition. However, I still fail to see a bright line distinction between "mainland" players and "local" players. When I line up the guys I'm very familiar with, both as people and players, I can't draw a line between them, and I grew up with Hawaiian music and slack. My biggest example is Andy. The boy can play. He knows a ton of music, his rhythm is solid, his "feel" is solid. Raymond, you play slack, and that doesn't take anything away from anyone else who plays slack.
Jesse, I don't entirely understand what you mean by not being "part of the source." I probably just have a broader definition of what that means. I know local people transplanted to the mainland who can play, mailanders transplanted to Hawaii who can play, local people living in Hawaii who can play and mainlanders living on the mainland who can play. If I put the music of a bunch of these people on the stereo, I don't think anyone could say "he's from Hawaii" or "He's a mainlander." I agree with several of the above posts. It's not whether you're from Hawaii, or even whether you have Hawaiian blood. The main variable is exposure and experience. |
Darin
http://www.hawaiiguitar.com/ |
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Pops
Lokahi
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 09:18:40 AM
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Raymond,
You’ve certainly asked a thought-provoking question as evidenced by the quality of responses you’ve received thus far. And relax, because sooner or later in virtually every tradition-based genre this question ultimately comes up, so here’s my two-cents worth.
I’ve played tradition-based musics for about 40 years now. Some traditions were part of my heritage and others were not. I was lucky enough to meet with many of the masters who were universally simply crazy about the fact that I sought them out and showed a sincere interest in their art. And without exception, every traditional master I’ve met was, and has been, more than eager to share his/her art with me. And, this is important, they encourage(d) me in my efforts. They accepted me, and to me, that’s enough.
A few months back I had the great pleasure to visit with Kevin and Sheldon Brown and their cousin, Hal while on Maui. We shared tunes for an afternoon. It was a perfect day for a guy from Cleveland, Ohio. They accepted me, encouraged me to solo (even with my carpel tunnel) and to participate in the kanikapila in every way. We became friends and I know that when I go back I’ll be welcomed with open arms. What more could I ask for? Life’s too short to feel restricted by where you’re from or who your parents are. If you love the art go for it. It doesn’t care where you came from. What’s important is that you answered the call.
Best wishes to you.
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 09:32:45 AM
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Everyone makes good points. We happen to live in a period of great upheaval, generally about the last 300 years, when technology has disturbed human divisions of race and geography. During that time, Africans were forced to come to America, Europeans visited Polynesia and jet travel reached every corner of the globe. It's inevitable that societies and cultures change and that change is not always welcome. Music, foods, religion and languages get assimilated into the global culture and become just a shadow of what they were in earlier times.
But mainlanders playing slack key is a fact of life in our post-modern global world, just like white guys playing the blues. Inevitably, each artform is changed by the next new artist to adopt it.
Barry Flanagan is an example of an outsider adopting slack key, but inevitably changing it. One of my favorites singer/players is Maunalua's Bobby Moderow, a non-Hawaiian who dedicated himself to the music and plays as well as anyone.
I think you can generalize, though, that the best slack key, blues and other folk music come from a deep emotional place, and a good musician can learn that, especially if they have studied they have studied the underlying culture as Raymond suggests. That deep feeling also come with age.
There are African-Americans who will never accept a white bluesman and there are Hawaiians who won't accept a white slack key artist, but we have to understand and forgive that attitude, because it comes from valid feelings of cultural loss, not from racism.
Jesse Tinsley |
Edited by - hapakid on 01/03/2005 09:37:39 AM |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 11:23:20 AM
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All of these responses have given me much to think about, and I think I would like to clarify a few points of my views. I want to thank folks for spending some time with ideas that I believe are important.
To think that anyone who is borm Hawaiian can play better slack key thean a non-Hawaiian just by accident of birth is, in fact, racist, and that's not where I was coming from. Nor does it mean that a non-Hawaiian can't play superb slack key -- Ozzie, Bobby M, Jeff Peterson, etc. Sure they can -- with a lot of diligence, practice, learning, and probably studying with a Master or two to "get it right." This is especially true of instrumental music.
However, I spent almost a year of 2 - 3 hours a week with George Kahumoku and that did teach me a few things beyond technique and repetoire -- and I sensed the same from Ozzie in individual time, and Keola and Led in group sessions. Their playing comes from a deep level of consciousness which was created/brougt to be in long term and intense immersion in the culture. You can't separate that from their technique. So maybe I should have focused more upon Hawaiian culture and values rather than just being "Hawaiian."
I think there may also be a distinction between "traditional" Hawaiian music and Hawaiian music composed more along western models. Soft Green Seas is one of my favorite all time songs. Not a lot of hidden meaning there. Waimanalo Blues -- maybe a different kind of feeling, but still pretty accessible. Most anyone who has developed a slack key "feeling" should be able to do a pretty decent job on songs like these, and they are numerous. I think, however, I was thinking more about "traditional" Hawaiian music -- and I don't think a person without deep immersion into the culture can get it, and get it right. And, the renaisance in ollelo, cutlre and traditional mele expressions is leading to wonderful new songs being created in this same context. This music IS different than most western music, and that's where my western culture needs to understand how a different culture works. We use a shorthand and call it something like kaona. But I'm coming to realize that kaona doesn't just mean symbolism. These images come from and lead to a very rich and complex web of associations and emotions -- and getting into that is essential to getting this music right. From my admittendly little experience of Hawaiian culture, I think that point is true. Yes a white man can play the blues with deep feeling and understanding, partly because the blues draws upon fairly common western tradtions to express human emotion. Can someone not really deep into Hawaiian culture do justice to traditional Hawaiian music -- maybe by exception.
I don't mean to rain on anybody's parade, or to imply they are not sincere and that their music sucks -- or that anyone should not try to play slack key just because they are mainlanders or haole. Heck, just about every day I spend an hour or two at it, maybe more.
I am, however, stating that the deeper I get into slack key, and Hawaiian music in general, the more I realize how much I missed in my first couple of years of enthusiasm. Maybe years from now I'll look back and say that isn't so important, maybe I'll be saying that it's even more important than I think right now.
As to slack key developing over time -- boy anyone who has read my comments over the past few years knows that I'm totally committed to the idea and practice of every musical form needing to change and grow over time to stay alive, as well as the fact that I strongly support each player coming into his or her own style and not just playing like someone else.
Who knows how my own thinking will change over years -- but for now, I'm more cofortable calling my work something like "Hawaiian slack key influenced" or some such qualification. |
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cmdrpiffle
`Olu`olu
USA
553 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 11:44:42 AM
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Raymond,
It has stopped raining. Time to back away from the computer and go outside for a while!
That is tongue in cheek and with great respect and humor.
You of course bring up an old conundrum, very well expressed by Russell with his 'can a white man play the blues' statement.
I think yes, anyone anywhere can play Hawaiian slack key. That the masters have gone before us, and actually lived a lifestyle because they had to, can simply add to the roots of the style. It doesn't however become the requirement in order to play it.
I believe that to qualify a style with anything other than the musical traits inherent to the style, is well, limiting. Music is often the language of people who do not speak the same tongue. When you are able to 'copy' a style of a people or place you've never been, then you are speaking their language. Albiet, in a small way sometimes, but you suddenly have a common ground. One expressed in music if not language.
The real beauty of your question is obvious to me. Do perhaps some people deserve to call themselves familiar or able to play a certain style.......? Absolutely. Matters not where they learned it or where or even who they are.
As new generations far removed from the Hawaiian islands continue to make the pilgrimage to the islands....to interact with, take from, and continually refine the nuances that make kihoalu what it is....they take back ever more of the subtleties they've learned, and pass it on. As the music and masters branch out themselves, many are finding these folks in places far from Hawaii.
I know I had my awakening to the style in a pretty cool manner. I was at the Aloha music Camp a couple of years back. It was mid-week, but I was missing something. I had a lot going on and was feeling I should have skipped the trip in the first place. I was trudging across the lawn to go to some workshop when I heard it. For the first time I'm sure. Slack key. I just sat down and listened. I didn't even make eye contact because I was afraid he'd stop playing.
It was Dusty Foster sitting under a big friggin mango tree, just playing.
It wasn't about where Dusty was from, or what instrument he played, it was about how it made ME feel. I was feeling kihoalu dammit, and it was the best feeling!
There are those who will always 'lay claim' in a way to certain styles. Locals only brah and all that. That in my opinion would be so limiting. To themselves and everyone else. I have a deep respect for the folks who are propogating this music. The past and the living masters of the style, and the everyday neophyte guitarist who is trying to learn it. I don't claim to be this that or the other...but I can play slack key, Hawaiian slack key. (just ask me, I'm a legend in my own mind!) I wouldn't play 'stylings' or in the 'manner of'......I'd be playing slack key!
I think when you play this music for people who may not have heard it before.......you sure as hell better let 'em know it's Hawaiian slack key! You don't have to be as 'good' at it as so and so.....or as an accomplished guitarist as someone else....you just have to play it.
In the end, it all comes around, and it's all good.
Mike |
my Poodle is smarter than your honor student |
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Bill Campbell
Akahai
USA
90 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 12:07:07 PM
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When you say 'slack key', if you mean songs like Ledward's 'Spanish Eyes', 'Honeysuckle Rose', 'Mockingbird Hill' and others; John Keawe's 'Puff, The Magic Dragon', 'If', 'Red Sails In The Sunset', Gabby's 'Vaya Con Dios', Sonny's 'Endlessly', Dennis Kamakahi's 'Around The World In 80 Days', etc, etc., all of which have been recorded and released, then yes, I guess mainland slack key guitarists can play slack key guitar.
The water gets muddied when these island artists include such songs on their CDs, but the principal characteristic of 'slack key' is still there, even though the song isn't really a 'Hawaiian' song, per se.
I would think that the island artists who have faithfully taught slack key to the many mainlanders who have fallen in love with the music, including me, would be very perplexed at the thought that they were just wasting their time teaching the music to folks who 'can never be able to play it properly'. |
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chunky monkey
Ha`aha`a
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 12:45:05 PM
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| I've never met a Hawaiian, either in the islands or here, and that includes several of the masters, who wasn't thrilled that I cared enough about the music to study, practice and learn. |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 2:04:27 PM
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Lots of grist for the mill on this topic. Even though we have different views on the many aspects of this topic, it's all in the interest of understanding our affection for the music, so don't take it personally.
Some have mentioned that if you don't see the guitarist, you wouldn't know if it was an island boy or mainlander playing. That is true to a point. But why do we pay good money to see Led Kaapana play when we could catch one of our TP.net 'ohana playing in a California coffeeshop for free? Because Led is part of the "source" ancestry of the art and that adds to the music.
Bill mentioned island versions of pop songs like "Puff the Magic Dragon." Whose version defines that song, John Keawe or Peter, Paul and Mary? John K.'s version is played in reference to the original version.
A hundred years from now, when all the native Hawaiian players of slack key are gone, people might need the Dancing Cat website to tell them that slack key came from Hawaii.
Slack key, to most of us, is about the po'e and the 'aina (people and land) of Hawaii, not just tunings and turnarounds.
Jesse Tinsley
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Edited by - hapakid on 01/03/2005 2:07:01 PM |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 2:05:04 PM
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Bill,
Please reread my posts - at no point did I say mainlanders, or others, "Can never be able to play it properly." I also qualified my thoughts to apply to "traditional" Hawaiian music, which is a little more complex than Puff and a little more cultural embedded than Red Sails.
However, I think people not very familiar with Hawaiian culture, and I put myself in that group, well, I think we're dealing with more profound realities than we're aware of when we get into the realm of traditional Hawaiian music, and I think our discussions need to reflect that.
And I want to be clear that, at this point in my life at least, I consider myself an "outsider" -- and I don't have a problem with that, nor do I feel I should be considered anything else -- and my playing, much as my use of Spanish, is something which is "grafted on" by lots of instruction and practice, but doesn't really come from that depth part of me -- and that does make it different in the quality of experience from someone for whom it does. And I don't think, at least in terms of traditional mele, that I can get to that other consciousness without prolonged immersion to the culture and the aina. I'm open to the fact that it may be different for others. |
Edited by - RJS on 01/03/2005 2:23:39 PM |
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