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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 09/28/2006 : 04:24:14 AM
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I was wondering what anyone thinks are the "classics" that should be part of any slack key player's repertoire. For instance, I am a displaced West Virginia girl, and down home, you are not considered much of a guitar picker if you can't play Wildwood Flower. That being said, I think Hi`ilawe is to slack key as Wildwood Flower is to country music.
Other mele I think are important are:
Hawai'i Aloha
Kanaka Waiwai
Aloha `Oe
Wahine Ilikea
Koke`e
Green Rose Hula
Makee Ailana
Kaulana Na Pua
Please let me know what you think.
Mahalo.
Wanda
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Sarah
`Olu`olu
571 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 04:37:59 AM
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Punahele
'Opihi Moemoe
I'll be this list could get really long! Many slack key players have a huge repertoire. |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 06:33:14 AM
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well . .
Other than personal opinions that will vary, I kind have noticed a divide between popular songs categorized as Hawaiian that people want to/expect to hear in slack key -- and the songs that demonstrate to other slack key musicians that you understand the art form and are proficient at it.
For example, Hi'ilawe can be very easy to play because of the song structure and very recognizable turnaround (with variations). Gabby Pahinui made it famous and could play it in several different tunings, inventing new pa'ani and voicings as he went. If you play fingerstyle guitar in an altered tuning (another partial description of slack key) it can be very difficult and would detract from the voice if you played the same intricate structure while singing. Many of the songs you listed are popular because of the mele (peotry) associated with the melody. If you play live, in front of an audience, you have to combine both skills of playing guitar and singing soulfully. Usually the musicianship of the guitar is relegated to a backup role supporting the voice.
That being said, several "classics" of slack key are known and recognized for their melodic complexity, inventiveness, difficulty, and beauty. Most (not all) of these put a premium on your skills with the guitar. The two Sarah listed fall in this category. To which I would add;
Whee Ha Swing
Radio Hula
I started a related forum thread awhile back here:
http://www.taropatch.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3536&SearchTerms=25,songs
What would really interest me though, is what some of our resident "Kumu" like Kevin Brown, Uncle Mahi, and Peter Medeiros would list. . .
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E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 08:33:28 AM
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Mike, as usual, makes a very good point (as well as 2 sterling candidates for the list) and explains it very well.
And, your last comment is of interest, too, Mike. That I am gonna try to answer it a tiny bit for Kevin shows a lot of hubris, I suppose, but I'll recount one thing he said and did.
A few years after we first met Kevin, Sarah and I were invited to the opening of Mele `Ukulele in Wailuku. In the back room was a party, and Kevin and the *very* young Ikaika were playing for the visitors. Kevin introduced a solo by Ikaika as a piece that, he said, a player *had* to know in order to be recognized as a true slack key player: Maui Chimes. Ikaika played it lapstyle (NOT slide, but the guitar was on his lap facing up), and perfectly, too.
Ah, memories...
...Reid |
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ohanabrown
Lokahi
281 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 2:30:37 PM
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Reid, you have a great memorie, Wow that was like, "back in the day's". The reason I said that was, Maui Chimes and Moana Chimes are favorite tunes for steel guitar players as well as, Sands. You won't see to many slacker's play maui chimes in slack key, it's a steel guitar solo. I know of a few other slack key players that also play Maui Chimes.
Mika ele ( michael ) I cannot answer for peter or uncle mahi, but for me, the key word you used was.."Classic" songs for slack key players. There is so many but, 2 of them really outstand the rest, and that is because, back in the day's, way, way back when gabby, leonard and uncle raymond recorded, kccn was the hawaiian radio station everyone in the islands would listen too. ( there must've been other's but these 2 had more air time.) Hi'ilawe and 'Opihi Moe Moe were the two song's you would hear all the time, and so growing up I thought those 2 song's were the only ones in slack key, when my granmother would mention gabbys name and leonards name. I still didn't know at that time it was called slack key ( i must've been in 2nd or 3rd grade.) but when ever those song's was aired on the radio, I would stop sit and listen to it ( Hi'ilawe or 'Opihi Moe Moe.) absorb the music in my mind and heart and that is beacuse, growing up with my granparent's who raised me before moving with my dad, I listen to hawaiian music 24-7. And those 2 song's were the one's that was played a lot on the radio. ( today 2000 when i hear those 2 song's i still get that same feeling, and when i play it, I think of my grandmother, and the days she raised me.)
So back to the question? what classic slack key songs you should learn, there are "MANY" but 2 will always be a "Classic" for sure, and that is.... Hi'ilawe and 'Opihi Moe Moe..... Peter? , Uncle Mahi? any classic favorite's?
Me Ke Aloha
Kevin |
Kevin K. Brown |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 2:48:33 PM
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Kevin,
As always your thoughts and insights capture the aloha in ki hoa'lu.
Mahalo nui loa. |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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skinny1
Aloha
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 5:45:49 PM
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Funny u bring this up because I am trying to build a repitiore as well. You may want to add these. File these under "exceptionally pretty" songs.
Ka Wailele o Nu`uanu - this isn't too well known but its gorgeous!
Pu`uanahulu |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 9:49:20 PM
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I think I know where this question comes from, but I have a different take on the subject. (Not the first time I've written something like that.)
Playing the "classics" won't make you a slack key player any more or less than playing anything else. Play the songs that turn you on. If some song grabs you so much that you can't get the tune out of your head, figure it out and play it. IMHO slack key techniques aren't rocket science, slack key "mind" - now that's a different thing. And no matter what else, it's gotta come from the heart. So play the songs that make your heart skip a beat. It's also easier to bring the emotions out in a piece if you're in love with it.
Now, to show you how this advice can be a real pain in the neck, I just got back from a San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, concert which ended with a mind blowing Brahm's 4th. Symphony. I've worked out the openning theme of the second movement for solo slack key, but now I'm starting to get real stuck.:)
BTW, I have a standard line when someone comes to me and asks if I can play a specific song. Actually I use the line whether or not I can play it. And it takes a smile to pull it off. It goes like this, "Oh, yeah, that's a really great (beautiful, special, etc.) song. I can see why you like that. I wish I knew how to play it." Then I either play it (and usually get a better tip) or just keep smiling, shrug my shoulders, and add, "Maybe you'll like this one..." and go on with my set.
It is really late. |
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