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Podagee57
Lokahi
USA
280 Posts |
 Posted - 04/26/2007 : 8:37:09 PM
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How much of the interest in Hawaiian culture in general is directly related to, or initialized by the music. Hawaiian music indeed has a broad appeal due to it's unique and beautiful sound...especially slack key. I myself have always loved the Hawaiian sound. However, my recent desire to learn slack key has fueled a deeper desire to learn more about the history, language and customs of the Hawaiian people.
I'd have to say that due to the power of any form of music to seduce listeners, the Music of the Islands has to be a least somewhat responsible for the appeal of the other parts of the culture.
How has this unique musical art form affected your interest in the culture as a whole? Are you only interested in the music? Or did your love of the music draw you further into the depths of the culture?
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What? You mean high "E" is the TOP string. No way dude! That changes everything! |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2007 : 12:46:57 AM
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Good question!
I am interested in the music, first and foremost. I've always been a 'music man' since I can remember, even before I played anything. However, when I become interested in some music, I want to know more about it - how it's come to be like it is, what the 'conventions' of the style are etc. I try and do this by keeping my big stupid mouth shut and my ears open, but my big stupid mouth often doesn't co-operate!
I believe that music comes from the culture, and the culture comes from the environment. In the case of Hawaiian music, I'd heard one person playing some acoustic steel (and this was a visiting American - it's not something you can stumble across in the UK very easily). This music was different to any that I'd heard before, and sounded beautiful.
Actually going to Hawaii (the Aloha Music Camp) was an amazing experience for me. I learned lots of things that I didn't know before, about the culture, about the music, and a bit about the aloha spirit. It is a place of extraordinary beauty - it makes sense to me that Hawaiians have developed a music that sounds beautiful - it fits with where they live.
And the Hula dancing - also part of the culture. It was only when I saw this great big palm tree with its leaves swaying in the wind that the association went 'click'. (I'd never seen a palm tree swaying before.) Basically, it looked to me like the tree was dancing hula. Then I realised that the dancers had probably copped the move from the tree rather than the other way round!
Anyway, this is a bit rambling, but in short, it was the music that drew me in,and that will always be my main interest. But it is also good to know about other cultures, and the more you know about the culture, the more likely you are to understnad the music. The music is a part of the culture, the culture part of the music. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2007 : 01:49:55 AM
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It was the history and culture that first interested me. As I have previously mentioned, plain and simple, it was Michener's book, Hawai`i, that first sparked my interest in the history and culture. After than, I went on a quest to learn more things about Hawai`i -- the land, the history, the culture, including the music. Michener talked in his book about a beach boy who just loved to play slack key. I had never heard of it before (Paul did, but then again, he's the guitar player at our house). I used the internet and went on an amazon.com search for slack key. What popped up in the search results was Israel Kamakawiwo`ole. I listened to samples and immediately fell in love with that beautiful voice. I had no idea this was not slack key. It was then Iz's music that turned my interst in Hawai`i to pretty much an all comsuming passion. Until that time, I would never have dreamed that a 50-something hillbilly girl from West Virginia would ever bea able to visit paradise. The first trip blew me away. Now the thing that kept me hooked was the people and their true aloha. Wow. That was something I never experienced here in Cleveland. If you tried to talk story with a stranger, they would probably call the cops on you for being a stalker. Once you experience anything thing Hawaiian, you see how all intertwined it all is...oh yeah, the food, too. Food and music really givess you an insight into the soul of any culture. And most often, the music appears to be directly related to the indigenous dances of that culture.
And tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m., I will once again be saying aloha to Hawai`i. See you soon, Ray Sowders! Paul is bringing the dulcimer. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 04/28/2007 : 3:00:45 PM
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He ninau maika'i kela! Interestingly enough, my obsession with Hawai'i started when I was in seventh grade; I'm a sophomore in high school now. I was writing a mo'olelo with a character who was from Honolulu in it, and then all of a sudden, I wanted to learn about the culture, hear some Hawaiian music, etc. I used to think that hapa haole music was real Hawaiian music because the first CD I ever got that had a Hawaiian theme to it was "Hukilau Hulas," with all these hapa haole songs on it. At the end it also had some Hawaiian songs but not ones that made me like the language right from the start. It wasn't until I started liking the music of Keali'i Reichel that it all changed for me.
This past February was the second time that my 'ohana and I went there. I was so glad that I could sing "Hawai'i Aloha" with the featured musicians and hula dancers at all these restaurants and hotels. It was an amazing vacation. |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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hikabe
Lokahi
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - 04/28/2007 : 8:03:24 PM
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I was born and raised in Hawaii and I have a different perspective. My dad listened to only Hawaiian music. But it is the haole music that intrigued me to study the haole culture. So I listened to Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and that fueled a deep desire to learn more about the history, language and customs of the haole people. The power of rock and roll apealed to a whole generation and shook the haole culture on many levels. The haole scene opened my eyes to a world of music. My love for rock, pop, jazz, blues, classical, avante garde, opera, rap and other styles has drawn me deep into the haole culture, even denying my own culture to feed my obsession with haole music, rich and diverse with excellent musicians like Dylan, Lawrence Welk, Gershwin, James Brown, etc...
And the haole people are very friendly and open, just like the Hawaiians that work in Waikiki. Unlike the Hawaiians in my old neighborhood where the cops keep dragging somebody off.
Anyway. Now I sit here in CA and watch the eucalyptics bending in the wind as I strum my uke to the tune of Neal Youngs anti war song, sipping my Heinekin and smoking my pipe. It doesn't get any better then this. ...Akamai Okole |
Stay Tuned... |
Edited by - hikabe on 04/28/2007 11:14:49 PM |
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RWD
`Olu`olu
USA
850 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2007 : 03:24:35 AM
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Hikabe
Very interesting response.
I bet very few thought of this subject from your point of view.
There is no doubt that haole's have contributed greatly to music. Some of the classical composers were scary talented. Some pretty good black haoles too (huh ???  ).
I realy like Hawaiian music now but I never listened to it while I was there. There is something about not being there that makes it work out for me.
I am still wondering about your Akamai Okole sign off--I know what the words mean but confused about the inference.
Anyway, I enjoyed your post. Serious or not...
Bob |
Bob |
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Podagee57
Lokahi
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2007 : 09:30:52 AM
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Hikabe, your point is interesting. I recently had a chat with Bill Keale. He too grew up listening to Hawaiian music but found himself attracted to "haole" music as you call it. I wasn't until recent years he began to return to his roots.
Now because of your sign off, I don't know how serious you were in your post...or what you been smokin' in that pipe. I'm guessing that because you are a regular here you were chuckling as you wrote.
I grew up on big band music and old, I mean old, country music. Jimmy Rogers, Carter Family, Hank Sr. etc. Rock and Roll wasn't allowed in our house. After I left home, my musical interest broadened to include most of what was previously forbidden although to this day I still love all the stuff I grew up with.
I think that one can get bored with listening to the same old "sound" day after day. Maybe this is why the Hawaiian sound is appealing to many who have not been exposed to it all their life. It's uniqueness and beauty offers something different from your typical 5 piece band sound. Combine that with the beauty and allure of the Islands themselves and you get a real exotic combo. |
What? You mean high "E" is the TOP string. No way dude! That changes everything! |
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hikabe
Lokahi
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2007 : 11:46:12 PM
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My mom called me akamai okole when I was a kid. It's just a nickname.
I just thought it ironic how podagee and I are moving paralel motion in search of great music. My post is an accurate, factual account of my experiences. Except, I am smoking a cigar, not a pipe. I meant to imply a dream.
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Stay Tuned... |
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