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Grass Skirt
Aloha
United Kingdom
1 Posts |
 Posted - 03/27/2007 : 12:07:24 AM
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Has everyone seen the old clips from 30s movies posted on Youtube by Dave Stewart featuring brief performances by Sol Hoopii ? you can see more on Dave's website www.beerrecords.com ,including a discography of Sol .
There are 2 newly released CDs available too ...one on our own Grass Skirt label (earliest Sol sides from 1925) and also Origin Jazz Library just put out his acoustic steel recordings for the Brunswick label
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 03/27/2007 : 07:17:42 AM
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Great info about Sol Ho'opi'i. I especially liked the "Little Giant" clip where you can hear him clearly. Bizarre to watch all the drunk partiers doing the Charleston while he plays. How Hawaiian music has changed.
Jesse Tinsley |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 03/27/2007 : 11:04:33 AM
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I just about cringed when I saw the dancing. Never would I even use the word "hula". How bad I feel that in order to try to make a living, you had to "sell out" your heritage. That's why even here in Ohio where we have one of the largest Amish populations, I rarely venture into Amish country, because now a lot of them are capitalizing on it to try to make money. I do not want to feel like I'm at the zoo looking at monkeys in cages. I see people in their big SUVs driving down the country road, pointing out the window for their kids when they see an Amish buggy drive by. I know that most people who do this are just trying to make a living, but it still makes me sad. Until I met Keali`i Reichel and Mapuana De Silva, I probably wount not have understood the sacredness of the hula.
However, I am glad that in this day and age, Sol Ho`opi`i is remembered for his skill and musical genius.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Wanda |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 03/29/2007 : 4:27:44 PM
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I don't think we need to feel sorry for Sol Ho'opi'i and his friends.
It was the Hawaiian music craze of the teens and 1920s that kept the musicians busy. While the hula is sacred, and in other ways, playful and kolohe, what Sol was playing was a blend of Hawaiian idioms and mainland ragtime and jazz, not the folk music of Hawai'i. So I don't fault the people for dancing however they felt to the music, which the top-40 of the time. It was the blend of playfulness and exotic sounds that is still in the music today. I'm not sure that the Hawaiian musicians were "selling out" as much as riding the popularity of their music. It was a different era.
By gladly blending so many influences, they created the music as we know it today, although the the music continued to change. So many great Hawaiian musicians moved to the mainland where they could get paid for their music. My mother's uncle, Joe Keawe, came to the mainland in the early 1950s and opened a Hawaiian bar, then my mother moved to the mainland to work and dance hula there. People would drink and get whistle at the hula dancers (it was near the longshoreman's union hall), but they would also quiet down and cry while Uncle Joe sang "Hawaiian Wedding Song" and "Pua Lilia".
So I find these kitschy moments in Hawaiian music history an integral part of the long evolution of the music, not a dark period to be ashamed of. Is it any less dreary to see drunken honeymooners trying to dance hula at a poolside luau at Waikiki today? Not really.
Anyone else have an opinion on how this all fits into the music and culture?
Jesse Tinsley
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2007 : 03:30:20 AM
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| At any given time, only a minority of humans are actively creative. The rest, if alert, observe. Some are moved to action themselves to be creative, others just enjoy the creativity. My Dad told me that the audience never really "gets it", the only ones that do are the musicians present. That doesn't mean that the audience can't enjoy the music, they just do it on a diffeerent level. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2007 : 03:51:45 AM
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Jesse - you bring up some really good points. I suppose for my heritage, it is no different than Minnie Pearl clowning around with the tag hanging off her hat, or Stringbean wearing those funny short pants and very long shirt; or any of the stereotypical lazy hillbilly jokes done on Hee-Haw back in the day. Minnie Pearl, Stringbean, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones, etc., all were fantastic musicians and singers, but in order to seel their music, they had to have a "gimmick" that made it amusing for the flatlanders to pay attention to it. Even still, Dolly Parton has had to caracature herself...and she is definitely a good musician, song writer, and singer. But I hear what you are saying. Similar, too, to the West Virginia migration north into Ohio for jobs -- to Cleveland for the steel mills and Akron for the tire manufacturing, and to Dayton for work at Wright-Patterson AFB.
All that comes down to the bottom line...feeding and housing your family.
And, I also cringe at the drunken honeymooners trying to dance hula poolside. I wish they would learn what it is all about. And get rid of those gosh-darned coconut bras. Coconut not big enough for me -- need some giant upu, with plenty vines for support. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2007 : 12:14:41 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
Jesse - you bring up some really good points. I suppose for my heritage, it is no different than Minnie Pearl clowning around with the tag hanging off her hat, or Stringbean wearing those funny short pants and very long shirt; or any of the stereotypical lazy hillbilly jokes done on Hee-Haw back in the day. Minnie Pearl, Stringbean, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones, etc., all were fantastic musicians and singers, but in order to seel their music, they had to have a "gimmick" that made it amusing for the flatlanders to pay attention to it. Even still, Dolly Parton has had to caracature herself...and she is definitely a good musician, song writer, and singer. But I hear what you are saying. Similar, too, to the West Virginia migration north into Ohio for jobs -- to Cleveland for the steel mills and Akron for the tire manufacturing, and to Dayton for work at Wright-Patterson AFB.
All that comes down to the bottom line...feeding and housing your family.
And, I also cringe at the drunken honeymooners trying to dance hula poolside. I wish they would learn what it is all about. And get rid of those gosh-darned coconut bras. Coconut not big enough for me -- need some giant upu, with plenty vines for support.
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keaka |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2007 : 12:18:27 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by slipry1
quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
Jesse - you bring up some really good points. I suppose for my heritage, it is no different than Minnie Pearl clowning around with the tag hanging off her hat, or Stringbean wearing those funny short pants and very long shirt; or any of the stereotypical lazy hillbilly jokes done on Hee-Haw back in the day. Minnie Pearl, Stringbean, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones, etc., all were fantastic musicians and singers, but in order to seel their music, they had to have a "gimmick" that made it amusing for the flatlanders to pay attention to it. Even still, Dolly Parton has had to caracature herself...and she is definitely a good musician, song writer, and singer. But I hear what you are saying. Similar, too, to the West Virginia migration north into Ohio for jobs -- to Cleveland for the steel mills and Akron for the tire manufacturing, and to Dayton for work at Wright-Patterson AFB.
All that comes down to the bottom line...feeding and housing your family.
And, I also cringe at the drunken honeymooners trying to dance hula poolside. I wish they would learn what it is all about. And get rid of those gosh-darned coconut bras. Coconut not big enough for me -- need some giant upu, with plenty vines for support.
Remember, the second musician's commandment (after "don't give up your day job"), is, "If you're getting paid, it's a gig". The difference in playing for pleasure and playing for a living is that you have to make compromises when you do the latter. |
keaka |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2007 : 12:35:22 PM
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Perfect individual freedom is directly divisible by the amount of people present. By yourself, you are free. Your freedom is halved when with another, out of consideration for them (theirs is halved also). In the polka band I play in, for Oktoberfest and "German" fests, I have found that most people would be happy with a rotation of "The Chicken Dance", Beerbarrel Polka (a Czech tune), maybe "Clarinet Polka" (a Polish tune), and "Eidelweiss" (a Broadway tune). People are afraid of change and yearn for the comfort of the familiar. Most people are illiterate (don't read) and uncurious. I tell Hans that we have to educate them one polka at a time. The same goes for any special type of music, art, food, human endeavor. Learning is work and effort is involved.
Bill Cosby said that the best way to fail is to try to appeal to everyone. Be ready to laugh, the human comedy is happening all around us. |
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Mknut
Aloha
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 11:55:53 AM
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| From what I know of Sol's (early) life in Hollywood, I don't think he felt he was "selling out his heritage." I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself at the time - though I also think there was a lot of regret in the latter part of his life. Sol was a product of his age. Now, if Sol had never discovered Jazz, THAT would've been a travesty. |
Darrell Urbien
Research Assistant for the Knutsen Archives
Member, Echo Park Historical Society |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 3:33:58 PM
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Jessie,
I used to think more in terms of the sell out stuff until I read a booklet from the Bishop Museum about how the history of Hawaiian music has always been "in dialgue" with other musical trends. It made me think about many other musical traditions. And with the world getting "smaller and once again flat," cross fertilization will happen faster and more furious. Living traditions change. Museums are repositories of periods of history that we can go back to for inspiration.
That said, it sometimes still pains me to see performances which cater to the lowest common denominator. Not only regarding the rich Hawaiian tradition, but of many, many other traditions. Wouldn't it be great if one could have fun, support your family and play from the richness of your respective tradition!
But all of life is a series of compromises. The best know their limits and handle the rest with a touch of grace. |
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Mknut
Aloha
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 4:44:25 PM
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| I have no idea what Sol's personal feelings were back in the '20s and '30s. But I'm sorry - it seems VERY revisionist to look at what Sol did in that time and somehow come up with the idea he was forced into doing something demeaning to his culture, or that he was somehow "compromised." |
Darrell Urbien
Research Assistant for the Knutsen Archives
Member, Echo Park Historical Society |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2007 : 12:38:56 AM
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Darrell: Thank you for pointing out to me about the revisionist attitude. You are absolutely right -- I certainly have no knowledge of how Uncle Sol felt when playing or doing that film. I was interjecting my current thoughts and attitudes, mistakenly assuming that Uncle Sol would have also felt the same way.
Mahalo,
Wanda |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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