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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
 Posted - 05/02/2012 : 12:19:03 PM
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Some time back (probably not more than a couple months) I read a post that mentioned that a prominent musician was also the leader of his church's choir--I think it was Andy Cummings, and I think this must have been where I read it, but the search function isn't kicking up the post I recall.
The context was male-voice harmonies, which I've been thinking about as I rework a chunk of the slack key book that deals with the late-50s Waikiki Records sessions. Three tracks by Andy Cummings and His Hawaiian Serenaders (reissued on the "Best of Hawaiian Slack Key with Gabby Pahinui" compilation CD, WCD-340) feature striking vocals: "Ka Ua Loko," "Moloka`i Nui A Hina," and "Wai Hu`i O Ke Aniani," and it would be interesting if they prove to be connected to the church-music tradition. I hear some of the same harmonies and textures in those Kalama's Quartet movie segments posted over on Talk Story a few days ago.
Anybody remember the post I think I remember?
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Ambrosius
Lokahi
132 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2012 : 06:54:24 AM
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quote:
Anybody remember the post I think I remember?
No, but I'm checking in regular to see if you've got any answers. It's an interesting topic. |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2012 : 10:38:31 AM
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| Sorry, I do not remember that post. I tried searching too and have not found anything. |
Andy |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2012 : 12:39:03 PM
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Thanks, guys. It is not impossible that it was on some other site that I ran across while Googling around and my mental filing system assigned it to Taropatch because this is where I most regularly read about Hawaiian music. But I've been digging at various discographic questions for a couple months and have wandered all over the intertubes with my flashlight and garden trowel. Maybe I should search the steel guitar fora. . . .
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Peter Medeiros
`Olu`olu
546 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2012 : 1:43:35 PM
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Try page 114 of my methodology - Wai Hu’i o Keaniani. This song has a number of things going on in it. The caveat though is you have to know what you are listening for in this outstanding recording. If you can read music, the musical examples you may be referring pertaining to Andy are from the hui (chorus) of Wai Hu’i o Keaniani measures 16-24, measures 55-63. Also, the rhythm of Gabby's picking is his improvisation of a double time ipu rhythm (u-te-te); the number and quality of Gabby's improvised pa'ani, Andy and the boys singing old time parts with obbligato.
This was old time music stepped up a notch. The music church tradition is going to require a lot of footwork and in the long run may perhaps further delay the completion of your book. There may not be enough recorded examples of the older Hawaiian pieces with a male chorus where you will find improvisation occurring in both the vocal or instrumental lines due to the limitations of the recorded media in use then. Although he knew how to have a really good time, Andy was probably the only guy in the group in church on Sundays anyway.
PM
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 09:52:42 AM
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Thanks, Peter--I should have gone back to your book for some memory-jogging, since part of the connection I've been fumbling with must have started there with your notes on "Wai Hu’i O Keaniani" and the mention of Andy Cummings working as choir director of the Haili Church. The forum post (wherever it was) must have fired up that neuron and set me off trying to nail down the reference.
Fortunately (for my publisher) I'm not going to chase that church-music rabbit very far, and in any case I'm way underqualified for the kind of musicological work it would require. But the possibility that in that song we are hearing echoes of churchy harmonies and counterpoint remains an interesting descriptive detail. I like your phrase "old time music stepped up a notch"--that certainly fits what I thought I was hearing, not unlike hearing the churchy overtones in Sam Cooke and Ray Charles.
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Ambrosius
Lokahi
132 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2012 : 06:59:53 AM
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| Well, I just have to wait for the book then :-) |
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OK, this is driving me nuts
