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RWD
`Olu`olu
USA
850 Posts |
 Posted - 04/30/2007 : 2:04:02 PM
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Some time ago it was decided that the art of Hawaiian Ki Ho'alu was being lost. The reason: it was not being shared and was being keep within tight family circles. This was relized and fixed by a new openness and by sharing.
Now, I wonder if because of the encouragement to improvise and re-arrang songs, if we are not loosing the songs themselves.
Just two examples that come to mind....please keep in mind that I am not critisizing the performers.
I recall being confused about Sanoe after learnig Keola's version and then hearing Cyrils version. I had to buy the Queen's song book so that I could find out what the song really sounded like.
It's the same with a song I am now learning...Penei No by Ozzie...I really like his version by the way. Luckily, he at least referenced the Kahauanu Lake trio and I bought the CD. But Ozzies version only hits on half the elemnets of the Lake version. To my ears, they have similarities but are different.
The issue is, if one has not heard the origal song, then that person may not really know the song but merely a stylized unrecognizable version of the original.
Please understand that this is not a rip on the excellent arranger/performers in slack key. Just a concern because I myself am getting confused.
My concern is that I probably do not know what the original songs should sound like but I probably think I do. To continue, if I improvise and change an already changed and improvised version, etc.,etc,etc., I wonder how long it would be before the real original melody is completely forgotten or lost. I do realize that the original songwirtter is usually listed.
When I play an arrangement of a melody now-a-days, I always wonder how far away for the original it really is. If played for an older Hawaiian audience, I might think I was impressing them and they may think I was a complete fool.
Are the original melodies in danger of becoming lost?
I think they could be.
Any thoughts on this?
Bob
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Bob |
Edited by - RWD on 04/30/2007 2:44:24 PM |
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chunky monkey
Ha`aha`a
USA
1021 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2007 : 4:36:16 PM
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If Cyril Pahinui or Ozzie Kotani played songs exactly like someone else, I wouldn't listen or buy their stuff. What's the point? Ever hear Uncle Dennis play Hawaiian music on a banjo? Not like any originals that I ever heard.
What should Jerry Santos' reaction be to Keola Beamer's version of Ku`u Home `O Kahalu`u (my all-time favorite Slack Key piece)?
I've spent years trying to learn John Keawe's music. Do I sound like him? Not even close, but by playing his stuff in my style I'm making myself happy (and maybe some listeners) and I'm honoring his work.
I've never met a master who didn't want students to push the limits and make the music their own.
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2007 : 6:30:23 PM
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I play with fiddlers quite a bit and they tweak and play around with tunes so much that they're hardly recognizable. I figure that's normal with many forms of folk music.
Hawaiian music is less than 200 years old and its history is still being written. If you want to get closer to the original intent of a song, you can search out a Charles King songbook from the 20s or 30s, read lyrics from the "He Buke Mele..." from 1896 or search out the oldest musician you can find and ask him to sing a song for you. We are fortunate that there are a lot of recordings from the 20s through the 60s with more traditional renditions of Hawaiian classics. If you listen to Johnny Almeida sing "Kanaka Waiwai", he sounds a lot like Al Jolson. Each era of composers and performers was likely affected by the music world outside Hawai'i.
Although Keola Beamer is a longtime musician, many consider him avante garde, and there are many Hawaiians who don't perceive solo instrumental slack key as mainstream Hawaiian music. So labeling one version of the song to be "standard" and another "nonstandard" is more about perception.
Just my thoughts,
Jesse Tinsley
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2007 : 7:07:18 PM
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From my sources within the tradition, I've been told that the process of change is almost as old as Hawaiian music itself. As a performer, I completely agree with C.M. (above) As a listener, I also agree. I think traditions which are alive continue to grow and change. (Brings up a lot of other issues - for example, I've adapted Chabrier's Habañera from "España" for Taro Patch solo. Works great. Some of my friends, including professional musicians think I created a sacrilege. Others also including professional musicians have told me they think it is a very good adaptation, and people have been creating adaptations since music began. Many composers even created mulyiple adaptations of their own compositions. But I digress, as I do all too often.)
That said, there is also a bit of "historian" in me. Note that I said historian, not someone wanting to get that one "just right" performance.
What I would like to see for Hawaiian music is two things -- First of all, as the "old timers" die, their songs go with them. We need an archive -- Thankfully it's being done in some places by some great people. It is a race against time and the more we get on tape, etc, the better off we all are.
Secondly, I would really like to see a "linear" archive -- something like this: A depository (Bishop museum?) with as close to the "original" of a song as possible -- in some cases sheet music from the author, in some cases recordings, in some cases maybe the best we can get is a recording based upon a consensus of people "in the know." Then, a series of recordings of that song as performed down the ages -- different styles and/or different performers who are either key to Hawaiian music or to a particular song or style. That would, of course, take lots of foundation funding and a small cadre of people willing to put in long hours. One can dream.
(Now let's see, what piece can I butcher next.....)
The point being that knowing the history of the changes would provide an incredibly rich source for the next generations of Hawaiian musicians, as well as other musicians intereted in Hawaiian music. |
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RWD
`Olu`olu
USA
850 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 02:19:56 AM
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Raymond
A source to hear the originals or close version would be great! But, I doubt anyone would do it unless it was a funded organizaton. Since I didn't reserch this subject before I posted, there may be some out there, but I do not know of any right now.
What if 200 years from now, authentic Hawaiian music was considered to be a Jawaiian version of The Queen's Prayer?
Would that bother anyone?
Bob
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Edited by - RWD on 05/01/2007 02:20:41 AM |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 03:45:37 AM
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Most of you are speaking as soloists and, in that context,everything you are writing is correct. But, if you play with others, as I, as a tyro lap steel player, am trying to do, knowing the melody is essential (unless you are so swift at ear training that you can suss out the unknown melody instantaneously). Jesse, I'll bet you know the difference in what the fiddlers are doing because you already know the basic tune. Just as, last night, I listened to Sarah practicing her play list for a gig tonight, I noticed that her current version of Moloka`i Waltz had lots of phrases that were much different from the original.
So, how do you know what the original was/is? You either are immersed in the culture for the better portion of your life, or, if you are outside it (in some sense), you do research - lots of it. Research involves listening and reading and maybe being a student of a knowledgeable teacher; it is no different than any other kind of learning. Sarah and I knew from the get-go that we had to acquire every book, CD, Video, whatever, that we could lay our hands on. So we did. Sarah got into it lots deeper than I, but I am slowly getting there, too. Daily, I go to to our reference library to get a handle on what I am trying to do, and, sometimes, I write out the melody in standard notation, or have Sarah do it for me. (My lap steel course has gotten me away from tab and toward first reading standard notation, really knowing the fretboard in these new tunings, and then ear training to understand where the "good" notes are.) I try to make up my own variations, but if I can't sing the basic basic melody in my head, I am helpless.
...Reid |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 03:47:43 AM
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Oh yeah, an excerpt from an EKK article about Keoki Kahumoku:
"While traveling on the Big Island, he discovered that there are family songs in each district and feels that it is very important to preserve the family songs known only to the kupunas but being lost to younger generations. One of the songs was traditional "Kapa Pala" from the Kapapala Ranch where cattle are driven across Mauna Loa, across Hu'alalai and down to Kona to be shipped off to the mainland."
...Reid |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 04:42:33 AM
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Until 1946, slack key was entirely an oral/aural folk tradition, and even after the early recordings that followed Gabby's, it was closely held and not well documented. As far as I can tell, the earliest collecting/descriptive efforts start in the period right before the Cultural Renaissance--this has to be when Elizabeth Tatar and Mike McClellan and others were gathering the data that went into their published work, and it's also about the time that Eddie Kamae started to collect songs from across the Islands. This pattern echoes what has happened in any number of folk traditions, from Bishop Percy's 18th-century ballad-collecting work to the Lomaxes' field recordings, to the East Coast guys who sought out old bluesmen and fiddlers in the 1960s, to Michael Horowitz hanging out with Sinti guitarists to learn exactly how they play la pompe. What all these discovery-and-preservation efforts reveal is that the "folk" who make the music don't sit still, even in traditions that value stability--the musicians keep absorbing influences and continue to innovate at the same time that they pass on what they received from their own elders. I've see these discussions about stability, authenticity, and preservation in every musical tradition I've encountered. We who come to the traditions from the outside tend to see them as snapshots (or as sets of canonical recordings) when they're actually movies (or evolving jam sessions). Being part of a tradition always means finding a balance between preservation and change--otherwise a living art becomes a museum display. To change the metaphor, you have to be willing to get on the bus if you want to experience the whole ride.
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mike2jb
Lokahi
USA
213 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 05:31:40 AM
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quote:
Reid said: "... but if I can't sing the basic basic melody in my head, I am helpless."
I think that is essential, at least for me, so I hope Bob's fears are wrong about the loss of the original songs.
In taking my first baby steps towards improvisation, I have to have the skeleton of the song in my head, not a "play-back" of some other improvisation.
For me, this also has held true for tabbed pieces: For the longest time, I could not get Hanson's transcription of "Radio Hula" under my belt, even though I had probably heard the various recorded instrumental versions of this piece at least a thousand times and could have whistled the tabbed version note-for-note. So I gave up and learned to sing it, modeling after the earliest recorded version I could find (from about 1960). When I returned to Hanson, something clicked and now it's my favorite piece to play. This is true even despite the fact that the phrasing and cadences of the transcribed instrumental differ pretty radically from the vocal.
I realize that the 1960 recording was also somebody's interpretation of an earlier rendition, but it's probably not possible to know what an "original" version sounded like in the 20's, or even if there ever was a single original way to render the mele Hula that Lizzie `Alohikea wrote. |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 07:52:27 AM
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I don't know if there is much reason to fear the loss of the songs themselves. We don't know the melodies to many songs from the 1800s, though perhaps thousands were printed in the Hawaiian language newspapers of the era but never recorded. Nothing we can do about that now. As long as we have recordings of performers who sang the older tunes we won't lose them, but I agree when you have instrumentalists only listening to other instrumentalists for inspiration and ideas, the original intent of the composer can get lost. It's not much different than what happens with vocal recordings.
I've heard some atrocious (to my ears) vocal renditions of some traditional songs, and if you line up the recorded versions chronologically, you can see what happened. Someone in the 1990s listened to someone who recorded it in the 1980s, who listened to someone who recorded it in the 1970s and so forth back to the earliest recording. It's like the whisper game we played in grade school. The teacher would whisper something in someone's ear, and this repeated around the classroom. By the time it got to the last person the sentence in no way resembled what the teacher whispered.
I don't think anyone is advocating having everyone perform them in the same way. Listen to several recordings by different vocalists, by the composer if there is a recording of that person singing their own song, or by someone who does the language right. For Almeida and Machado's songs, they are plentiful. For others, you have to use your best judgment.
Nana i ke kumu - Look to the source. 'O ke kahua ma mua, 'o ke kukulu ma hope - create the foundation first, and then build upon it. Words of wisdom from the kupuna. |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 08:49:19 AM
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Interesting discussion.
One thing to remember is that slack key is one of those traditions where the player often deliberately alters the melody. In other words, to sound right, the guitarist will drop notes, alter the harmony, change a phrase, etc.
With old time fiddle music, it's very much what a claw hammer banjo player does.
For those of us from outside the Hawaiian tradition, this can get confusing, as you rightly point out. And the solution is to try and find the basic melody, just as you say. The more we understand both the melody and the way it would change when played slack key style, the more we enjoy the music.
I don't think that the current interest in slack key is going to cause the loss of the
'real' melodies.
In fact, it is helping keep the music alive. And, as others have said, to be alive is to change.
Mark |
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hikabe
Lokahi
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 09:36:09 AM
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Some of us are trying to change the melodies and affect change. The fact is that most Hawaiian music you hear today, contrary to popular belief, is not unique to the Hawaiian music scene. What people forget is that prior to the arrival of outsiders there was very little melody other then the chant, kind of like gregorian. After the piano and organ was brought over for church rituals, all Hawaiian music was quickly transformed and dramatically influenced by western-european music. Then came guitars, ukes, Ozzie and us, about 200 years later. Hold the past if you can but don't be afraid of change, the point of Jerry Santos song. He is also concerned about blurring the line between tradition and innovation. We must move forward or die. Instead of keeping history alive, let's make history.
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Stay Tuned... |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 10:43:21 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hikabe
Some of us are trying to change the melodies and affect change. The fact is that most Hawaiian music you hear today, contrary to popular belief, is not unique to the Hawaiian music scene. What people forget is that prior to the arrival of outsiders there was very little melody other then the chant, kind of like gregorian. After the piano and organ was brought over for church rituals, all Hawaiian music was quickly transformed and dramatically influenced by western-european music. Then came guitars, ukes, Ozzie and us, about 200 years later. Hold the past if you can but don't be afraid of change, the point of Jerry Santos song. He is also concerned about blurring the line between tradition and innovation. We must move forward or die. Instead of keeping history alive, let's make history.
No one is saying that the music is completely unique, and you are right that many Hawaiian songs borrowed melodies from introduced music. However, when someone performs or records a song and introduces it as "Aloha 'Oe", out of respect for the Queen I would hope that a performer would honor the intent of the composer and at least know the melody and lyrics before building upon that foundation. To do any less is disrespectful of the culture that so many here claim to admire. Frank Hewett uses the analogy of a fish. The body of the fish is today. The tail of the fish is yesterday, the head is tomorrow. But the tail is what propels the head to where it is going.
It's fine to innovate, provided it is built on a foundation of knowledge. IMHO, the further you go back, the more solid your foundation is. |
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Peter Medeiros
`Olu`olu
546 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 2:35:19 PM
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If Gabby had not used the melody from the first two measures of Noho Paipai in his 1946 version of Hi‘ilawe, slack key would be a lot different than what it is today. Innovation is the mother of invention. It is also the bane of tradition because it forces change. As one becomes more efficient and moves towards artistry the further one moves away from tradition.
Many of you have a pretty good idea of my understanding of slack key. The following is an excerpt from a book that I am writing and from a letter I wrote to a colleague.
My views are based upon culture and tradition arguments. But they are cumbersome and they take a while to explain. In addition, the perception of what is Hawaiian culture and tradition are in a slow but constant state of change. These are my thoughts:
The tunings that we use in slack key are neutral, that is these tunings could be played anywhere in the world, however, they may be called alternate tunings or open tunings. But what makes slack key different from the other styles of playing is the plain fact that it evolved here in Hawaii and is linked to the Hawaiian culture in a way no other guitar form could.
Actually if I were the late Aunty Alice Namakelua who was born in 1892 and was a slack key player and composer of note, Gabby’s name would be interchangeable with Peter Moon, Atta Isaac, Keola Beamer, Oz, Peter Medeiros, Charlie Brotman, and Daniel Ho. By Alice’s standards none of these guys would be considered playing slack key including me.
In 1975 Alice and I were selected by the late Ralph Rinzler (he ran the American Festival of Folk life for the Smithsonian Institution) as slack key artists representing Hawaii for the US Bicentennial Celebration in Washington DC. It was being held the following year, in 1976. Unfortunately she took ill and wasn’t able to go, but I did get to spend some time with her. I met her first when I was in my teens, introduced by either my mom or one of my aunts. She was older than my parents and her views represented another time, when life in Hawaii was very hard but in some respects simpler.
Almost all of her slack key music was in the ku‘i form – which is strophic and accounts for the largest body of slack key repertoire. Singing the melodies that she composed – telling the stories that were hers alone until she presented them to the public were the primary focus of her music. Slack key was simply accompaniment for the “leo” – voice. Alice used a figured style of playing in G wahine tuning. Aunty Alice used a single note line and did not rely upon pedal point to build structure over the bass note. She used kinetic patterns that were repetitious and pedantic, but this was the style played in her kuleana during her younger years – it is what she learned out in the Hamakua countryside. Perhaps if she had been raised in Honolulu she might have developed a more open attitude as to what constituted slack key.
Two of Alice’s concerns about Gabby were his poor Hawaiian and changing slack key to fit popular music. The first issue she had with him was that he didn’t know Hawaiian and he would frequently just massacre the lyrics because he didn’t know the words. However, he was not alone in not knowing the Hawaiian language. Born in 1920 Gabby was just one generation removed from the time of the overthrow of the Monarchy. My father and mother were born into Hawaiian households in 1906 and 1909 and Hawaiian was spoken at home but not encouraged outside. From 1894 the provisional government, the Republic of Hawaii, prohibited the Hawaiian language from being spoken or taught under the fear of sedition or counter-revolutionary actions. Upon annexation to the U.S. in 1898, in order for Hawaii to become a territory, the Hawaiians had to be assimilated into the American educational system, and consequently the Hawaiian language was just about legislated out of existence.
The second issue relates specifically to slack key and it is a little bit more complex. It involves the evolution of slack key from its early period (genesis 1800 through 1900). It is difficult to draw a perfect conclusion about early slack key because there are so few recorded examples and absolutely no literature from this period. It is probable that the wahine tunings used fairly simple voicing at this point in time. The left hand would hold simple chord forms over which the right hand would pick a kinetic pattern with little or no variation. The left hand rarely went above the fifth fret and exercising only a few simple options, such as harmonics, chromatic solo, and triplets on chord inversions. During this era, slack key guitar was used primarily an instrument for hula accompaniment, it's rhythms were defined by the beat of the ipu. It was used in accompaniment and not meant to overshadow the voice. The most prominent artist playing this style would be Alice Namakelua (1895-1986).
The maunaloa and taropatch tunings as played during this period present a different picture. These are tunings Alice did not play to my knowledge. There are no wire recordings from this period that I am aware of that would illustrate the different styles played. However, the general nature of maunaloa and taropatch tunings provides more vertical opportunities to play inversions up and down the fret board. It is probable that these tunings would lead to more virtuosic excursions up and down the fret board. They allow structure to be built over pedal point and bass alternation.
Although Gabby may not have been the first to play these tunings, it is what he did with them that makes just about all of us to acknowledge him as the greatest of slack key artists. He was an innovator, able to adapt and improvise at a level that fewer than a handful of artists have been able to reach. He played mainly straight tuning, and in slack key the C9 tuning, the C6 maunaloa and taropatch tunings.
There were as many styles of playing slack key, as there were players but this is what Gabby and my father, Sonny and Peter did when playing. They used a two-note approach to imply the most commonly used chords, which are major and seventh with the open bass notes providing the root. The two note chords are used primarily as guide tones through a chord or chord progression. Although not a fully voiced chord {triad = three note or tetra chord = four note} the two note chord is used to define the quality of a chord. If a chord's root is established by using either the sixth or fifth strings on the guitar, or by a bass player, any kind of chord can be implied through this technique. That is the chord may be a major, minor, augmented, diminished; and the various configurations of seventh, ninths, etc..
Today the newer artists are using a different pallet or song form to execute their artistry. Where the largest body of slack key repertoire comes from the hula ku‘i form (strophic), they are electing instead to play their slack key on through composed songs and in a few cases strophic pieces. These songs are usually based upon northern European and American song forms and in comparison to the ku‘i form are more complex harmonically. They are leaning stylistically towards chord progressions used in the modern love ballads. There is a greater tendency now to incorporate chord changes simply for the sake of change; they are not restricted to cultural reference points. Through omission or ignorance there is no relationship to Hawaiian vocal syntax, text or hula. Current releases are showing fewer and fewer of the vocal jumps characteristic of Hawaiian compositions. There are so many chords being used in taropatch they may as well be playing in standard tuning.
And through the simple act of a commercial release the recording artist is validating that the music or some of it is slack key. The public whether they are an informed public or not buys the product based upon good faith that its contents do include some slack key. At some level they are influenced by the product because it is in general good, does it sound Hawaiian? No. Basically they are through composed songs of Hawaiian origin played in an open tuning.
The Hawaiian audience is not their target market. It is a niche market on the mainland and Japan that appeals to the fingerstylists and other connoisseurs of guitar. Pursuit of the Grammy Award is high visibility and crucial to their success. Most local people are clueless as to just how much of an impact the Hawaiian category in the Grammys had throughout the world. By mainland standards it is small, but by local standards and sales it is big. Appropriating slack key and turning it into a product and marketing it on the mainland has in effect been good for just a few slack key players. But it has turned the Hawaiian entertainment community inside out.
This does not mean that authentic slack key can only played in the strophic form or that it is ethnocentric or has to be played by a local. No, instead the players who are considered good—and they are not all Hawaiian -- are aware on some level that there are cultural reference points that an island audience will recognize and respond too, because of a collective history held in common. As appreciative as the local audiences are the mainland audiences pay more. Public perception in Hawaii does not correspond to public perception on the mainland or Japan.
When a host culture's music -- such as slack key -- is one that is adaptive and inclusive, the music when integrated will reflect the combined heritage of several cultures. In the slack key tradition the knowledge was closely held within the family or extended family. Over time as this process continues certain elements of host culture’s identity diminish or disappear completely as the host culture takes on the cultural and other traits of the dominant group.
In slack key, the oral tradition in the folk process has receded and has been supplanted by more efficient means of disseminating information. Moreover this process has been further accelerated through commercialism and mass media. Where slack key was once exclusively in the realm of Hawaiians it is now out in the open and is subject to interpretation by an ever-increasing amount of guitarists and non-guitarists who are from outside of the host culture.
Popular music has always had an impact upon traditional music, not always for the better, but usually modulating a host culture’s music in some way or form. Where through composed pieces are generally based upon the European and American models and harmonically more complex, the hula ku‘i songs are simpler and truly representative of folk music. From a narrow point of view if the melody or general intent is being changed to the extent where song is no longer recognizable, than the composer has the remedy if they have copyright protection to seek redress. On a more auspicious note, if the change to a song reflects a broader stylistic accommodation being applied to any Hawaiian song to make it sound like so and so who is a very beautiful guitar player and very popular, than you know change has occurred or is imminent.
The real danger is when the host culture divorces itself from one of its traditions because either the cultural values have changed or the tradition has changed so much that neither reflect the same values or points or reference -- whatever common bond there was is not worth maintaining. Can you name for me a dozen blues players who are black?
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Edited by - Peter Medeiros on 05/01/2007 8:08:42 PM |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 7:00:41 PM
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Mahalo, Peter. Excellent summary.
Jesse Tinsley |
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Auntie Maria
Ha`aha`a
USA
1918 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2007 : 7:25:18 PM
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Peter, taropatch.net is incredibly blessed to have you here...so generously sharing your mana`o!
Many musicians speak reverently of Aunty Alice (with just a hint of the fear they felt when playing in her presence). Your statement about her, seems to confirms all that I've heard:
"Actually if I were the late Aunty Alice Namakelua who was born in 1892 and was a slack key player and composer of note, Gabby’s name would be interchangeable with Peter Moon, Atta Isaac, Keola Beamer, Oz, Peter Medeiros, Charlie Brotman, and Daniel Ho. By Alice’s standards none of these guys would be considered playing slack key including me." |
Auntie Maria
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