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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
 Posted - 08/16/2007 : 06:10:48 AM
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A few more thoughts: Jesse has a crucial part of the issue when he writes "The 'honoring' part, I believe, means being conservative with the changes we consciously make." That applies to *everybody* working in a tradition--it's the centripetal force that prevents the periphery from flying off into the esthetic aether, leaving the center to ossify or evaporate. Or, to get rid of the metaphor, for any artistic form/tradition there is a set of characteristics that most listeners will expect to encounter in a work, and when enough of them are missing--or maybe just one crucial one--they will notice the absence.
In Ed Gerhard's "Isa Lei," the first thing I notice is that the bass line is not quite right--I think he's arpeggiating the lower voice, so the underlying count is 1-and-2-and-3-and-4 rather than the straight four/alternating bass I'd expect for slack key. The upper voice--the melody--sounds right, but it's being played over a mainland folk pulse, and the result is not-quite-slack-key. It's a bit like what happened with Chet's 1975 version of "`Opihi Moemoe" ("Hawaiian Slack Key"), in which the bass part and pulse get completely Chet-ified. In these two cases, it's a matter of musical accent, and Ed and Chet are playing with very strong mainland accents. You can hear similar effects in the rhythm playing of non-gypsies, especially when placed next to older, more conservative gypsies who are less influenced by modern jazz: getting "la pompe" exactly right is just as hard as getting the characteristic swing of Ray Kane or Leonard Kwan. But both skills can be mastered without a mentor--though that's the long and less rewarding way 'round.
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 06:51:21 AM
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Another nowhere-near-an-expert chiming in here:
About using a capo: it just helps to change the key, no matter how the guitar is tuned. This is especially helpful if you are playing with others. If the group tone is set by ukulele players, you will find them picking the key of F fairly often. If you are tuned to taropatch - open G - it takes some scrambling to play along. But if you drop down one whole note in tuning, then capo up to the 2nd fret to play G it's much easier (thanks Keith, Uncle George, etc). or if you are in G taropatch, drop the 6th string to C - drop C tuning and capo to the 5th fret for F.
Once again, experts have chimed in here about open tunings... slack key just means that some of the strings are tuned lower than standard tuning. This belies the legend of Hawaiians developing their tunings independently - ie - not slackening strings, just not tuning them the same - no matter. But there are other characteristics that are evident in ki ho'alu. One is the very strong alternating base. Hopefully Peter or Uncle Chuck - etc... will chime in here.... but the distinctive vamps add to the Hawaiian-ness. And it seems like whereas most mainland folk tunes go down at the end, most Hawaiian "folk" music ends going up. There are many other subtleties that make the music Hawaiian -- not the expert here, just hoping to encourage the experts to check in.
nancy |
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hwnmusiclives
`Olu`olu
USA
580 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 07:22:36 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Mika ele
PS: I still haven't been able to listen to Auntie Alice N's LP. Whee Ha! is hard -- you have to have an "attitude"! Mahalo Nui!
I will be spinning some of Auntie Alice's tunes this week on "Ho`olohe Hou" in celebration of her birthday this week...
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Join me for the history of Hawaiian music and its musicians at Ho`olohe Hou at www.hoolohehou.org. |
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hwnmusiclives
`Olu`olu
USA
580 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 07:33:07 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
In my uneducated, haole perspective, it is as da joka says...its the heart. That what makes this music so beautiful and so precious. There is no other music on earth that touches me the way this music does, to the point where I almost cannot stand to listen to other music.
I think you hit on something essential here. Players we idolize - whom we believe epitomize "slack key" - have referred to it not as a style but as a feeling. Because these players approach it as a feeling, it evokes a feeling in us.
On most of Led's early recordings with Hui Ohana he didn't even use slack key tunings on the tracks with vocals - only on the one or two guitar solo pieces. In other words, Led can evoke the slack key feeling in standard guitar tuning! But we hear him and we don't say "that's the G-double slack tuning he's playing." We say "that's slack key."
The expression goes, "I don't know what good art is, but I know what I like." We may never agree on a definition of slack key, but we'll always know it when we hear it.
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Join me for the history of Hawaiian music and its musicians at Ho`olohe Hou at www.hoolohehou.org. |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 12:41:47 PM
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From the Liner Notes to "Led Live - Solo"
quote:
Mauna Loa Slack Key (instrumental)
"When I was young my uncle Fred told me you can play slack key in Standard tuning. He said, 'It's easy, jus' press the right strings.' 'Jus' press' was something he would always tell us when we'd ask him a question. One time when we were playing I asked him, 'Uncle Fred, what key is this?' He told me, 'Boy, no worry what key, jus' press.'"
Fred Punahoa only recorded once two songs live at the 1974 WAIMEA MUSIC FESTIVAL (Panini Records 1006), including this song, under the name Slack Key Instrumental #2. Like Uncle Fred, Led loves to challenge himself and delight his audiences by taking a few risks with his playing. He'll play Mauna Loa Slack Key to illustrate how Hawaiians mix poi. "What I do," Led says, "is play for awhile, then reach over the neck and start rubbing my fo rearm across the bass string. It takes practice to keep playing in time and hitting the right notes. After each run, I like to use my fingers to make the 'shaka' sign or the 'peace' sign. People enjoy that and I get a big kick out of it too." It is played here in Standard tuning in the key of A.
Any of you that have been blessed to watch Led perform this song can attest that IT IS SLACK KEY in the pure sense, although none of the strings are "slacked"
hmmmmm..... go figure! |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 2:27:50 PM
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| Amen brothers. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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aka
Aloha
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2007 : 12:55:38 PM
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| Yes. The feeling of riding your horse on the hills and roping cattle, sitting around the campfire in the evening strumming your kika and singing mele that remind you of your work, history, and Love. It is the music that comes from the 'aina, the moana and Wakea. Let us not forget the lifestyle of a time long ago, for it is the birthplace of this mana. |
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Basil Henriques
Lokahi
United Kingdom
225 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2007 : 3:35:31 PM
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I'm trying to learn about the history of "Slack Key" but here in the UK there is little about it.
Are these assumptions correct ?
There are five basic categories: Major, Wahine, Mauna Loa, Ni'ihau/Old Mauna Loa, and miscellaneous. G Major "Taro Patch" tuning D-G-D-G-B-D F "Wahine" C-F-C-G-C-E C6 "Mauna Loa" C-G-E-G-A-E
Also. Is this correct or is there documentation to prove there were more than THREE Vaqueros hired by King Kamehameha ?
quote:
There are different theories about the beginnings of slack key guitar in the Islands. Music is one of the most mobile of cultural forms, and the six-string guitar was probably originally introduced to the Hawaiians by European sailors around the beginning of the 19th century. Web information can be like this.. Guitars were also brought to Hawai'i by Mexican and Spanish vaqueros (cowboys), hired by King Kamehameha III in 1832 to teach the Hawaiians how to handle an overpopulation of cattle. Many of them worked on the Big Island of Hawai'i, especially around the Waimea region.
In the evenings around the campfire, the vaqueros probably played their guitars, often two together, with one playing lead melody and the other bass and chords. This new instrument would have intrigued the Hawaiian cowboys, or paniolo, as they came to be called, who had their own strong, deep-rooted music traditions. However, given the strenuous work, the Hawaiians possibly didn't have time to learn a lot about this new music. When the hired cowboys returned to the Mainland a few years later, some of them gave their guitars to the Hawaiians.
The THREE Vaqueros names (hired in 1832 by King Kamehameha) were :- Don Luzada, Mr. Ramon and Mr. Kussuth..and they came from California, that was at that time part of Mexico. They were professional wranglers and had large saddles ornately adorned with silver. The cattle were a BIG problem for the Hawaiians because they were quite vicious and not a bit like the domestic cattle of today. It’s also probable they DIDN’T play guitar or bring them to Hawaii.. there is NO substantiated account of them playing..Just the folklore that has built up since then. The likeliest way that guitars were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands was via the Missionaries and visiting sailors. It is on record that the missionaries had a hard time teaching the Hawaiians harmony parts to the Hymns, but once they grasped the melodic major thirds and sixths type of harmonies, they developed it beyond the simple structure of the Hymns.
This information was sent to me from various sources including the Hawaiian Music Historian John Marsden, the information about the three vaqueros is apparently well documented.
There is a document that I've gathered the information from, it's located here :- Slack Key
Again, I'll reiterate, I'm trying to learn about the history of "Slack Key" any help regarding the validity or not of these statements would be most helpfull and well appreciated.
Mahalo,
Basil |
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mpi_50
Lokahi
USA
133 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2007 : 3:49:08 PM
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This is just my thoughts:
Kanikapila: The gathering of Ohana (family and friends) for the purpose of binding together with good music, hula and of course food. During these sessions the songs are played from the "heart of the moment". Flourishes,vamps, riffs and runs are spontaneous gestures that may captures a child's smile or grandmother's laugh as she does her impassioned yet fragile hula. The instrumentalist takes these gestures to heart also and it becomes an integral part of the artist's repertoire. This is the soul of slack key; the gift of Aloha from the artist's generations of kanikaplia with Ohana. Build Ohana and cherish it with an extra big helping of Aloha. |
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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2007 : 5:37:55 PM
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| Taro patch= DGDGBD from low to high. I'll let others add there thoughts. Origin of guitar in general/ Many romantic tales. Nice to hear, like the origin of Won Ton nobody knows. We are just thankful it exists. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
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Basil Henriques
Lokahi
United Kingdom
225 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2007 : 06:41:21 AM
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Thanks Reid, whilst I find George Winston's articles on tuning, style etc to be very comprehensive, the problem I have with that is that there is irrefutable proof that there were only THREE Vaqueros hired by King Kamehameha III, not NUMEROUS or MANY and the reference in the George Winston article says "Probably", this is pure conjecture !!quote:
King Kamehameha III, around 1832, hired Mexican and Spanish vaqueros (cowboys) from North America to teach Hawaiians how to handle the growing herds. In the evenings around the campfire, the vaqueros -- many of whom worked on the Big Island, especially around the Waimea region -- probably played their guitars, often two or more together, with one playing the melody, and the other guitarist(s) playing the bass and chords (occasionally a gifted guitarist would have played solo). In general, the guitarists played mainly to accompany singing
As I've said, there are newspaper articles and other documented proof, their names were Don Luzada, Mr. Ramon and Mr. Kussuth..and they came from California.
There is NO other reference to King Kamehameha III employing any other Vaqueros.
So where does the perception come from that they were numerous or that there was many of them ?
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Edited by - Basil Henriques on 08/19/2007 06:43:38 AM |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2007 : 07:29:31 AM
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Basil, Perhaps some of slack key (and Hawaiian) history is just lost in the sands of time. Perhaps we'll never know the exact number cowboys who visited Hawai'i and their terms of employment in the islands. If you ever find good documentation of the history we would all be interested to know more.
WARNING, MORE OPINIONS: On the general topic, I think we can say slack key conveys a feeling. The uniqueness of slack key guitar is in the instrumental part of the music, so how do we associate a series of plucked notes, specifically, with the Hawaiian islands? My opinion is the phraseology of classic slack key, chiefly the repetitive V-I turnaround, is the signature of slack key guitar. When slack key phrases are played on the uke, violin, piano, etc., it becomes part of the wider world of Hawaiian music, not slack key guitar. I'm sure we can argue semantics again about this, but the term "slack key guitar" refers, in general, to a guitar style and we needn't try to stretch the term to fit over the entire Hawaiian music genre in order to validate its universal use. There are many styles of Hawaiian music, most of which are more pervasive than slack key guitar, including himeni, changalang uke, swing, steel guitar (derived from slack key), jazz, 'oli, contemporary, etc.
Jesse Tinsley
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Basil Henriques
Lokahi
United Kingdom
225 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2007 : 07:49:29 AM
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Good point Jesse, I will post the reference books and their isbn numbers along with the relative page numbers in a NEW topic and hopefully not drift 'off Topic" again here !!
As for Defining Slack Key, quote:
My opinion is the phraseology of classic slack key, chiefly the repetitive V-I turnaround,is the signature of slack key guitar.
Hawaiian Steel Guitar Players call this the "Hula Lick" or "Vamp".It along with the "Glissando" is also Their signature sound |
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Bill Campbell
Akahai
USA
90 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2007 : 5:12:51 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Russell Letson
I'll leave a technical definition of slack key to someone with a better grasp of technical musical language, but I think I can tell the real thing from, say, New-Age-open-tuning guitar.
Interesting, Russell. So, now you are going to defer the fight to someone with a better grasp of technical musical language. Is that who we need to define what 'slack key' music is now? I sure hope not. |
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Defining Slack key
