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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
 Posted - 08/10/2010 : 7:11:56 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
I think a lot of women are happy enough with being "OK" at it -- there is not that "competitiveness" to play better than the next guy or to want to emulate BB King or Eric Clapton or Led Kaapana. I really do think that is a male trait.
Apply this to other kinds of music and it doesn't quite work--the classical world is full of women who are extremely competent in a pretty competitive environment.
As for women being limited by the size of their hands--take a look at Muriel Anderson, who is tiny. And the women players of my personal acquaintance (quite a few) are nearly all of ordinary stature and build (Del Rey is the tallest I can think of) and operate their instruments just fine.
Whatever it is that keeps women in the minority among performing guitarists, it ain't physical size, nor is it lack of willingness to woodshed or to take on challenges. Family life, maybe. I know that Mary Flower limited (but did not stop) her touring while raising her kids. But men with families who aspire to more-than-local success face the same kind of challenges, and many of them wind up playing locally, on weekends, or only touring when they can make the time for it while holding down a day job. Not unlike the players of Gabby's generation (or the current generation, for that matter), whose careers tended to focus on local clubs and recording dates--often while working for the City & County.
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Julie H
Ha`aha`a
USA
1206 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 7:48:26 PM
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Right,
Let's not forget Patti Maxine. What a powerhouse on the steel! Hawaiian, Country and Western, BlueGrass, Rock, you name it, Patti can play it. I still keep trying to organize times for lessons with her, but she is usually working or gigging. I am usually working or cleaning house or preparing for activities. No time to play or even practice.
You know that image of the man coming home to a nice dinner and then sitting down with a newspaper in front of his favorite TV show? No chance with women. After I get home from 8-9 hours of work and a 2 hour commute, I have to cook dinner, start the laundry, feed the animals, plan the next meal, water the plants, answer phone messages and emails, etc. etc. The work never ends for us gals.
Remember that adage: Man works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done.
So I can only play when my husband and I commute together, he drives and I drive him crazy playing my uke. At least until the traffic gets so insane and stressful, I have to put the thing away before I brandish is at someone in an ukulele road rage incident... 
Julie
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 03:18:52 AM
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| The guy that taught me back in '74 learned from his Tutu and 2 uncles. My grandmother played an open tuning she learned in Sweden. She sang all the time. My Mom had a great ear for harmony. Home and kids do take up a lot of time and energy. XX and XY both have talent and discipline, but to quote Click and Clack, "boys have testosterone poisoning". |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 04:37:15 AM
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Plenty of women do play guitar in general. Very few become "famous" for it, especially in niche genres such as did Bonnie Raitt, Maybelle Carter, and shucks, I cannot think of other names. Many have accompanied themselves on guitar -- I mean back in the folk music days, there were plenty of women with long hair strumming a guitar. That's when I tried to emulate my hero of the day: Joan Baez.
But that is not the same as something like slack key. to me that is the pinnacle of guitar playing. There is nothing more complicated nor beautiful nor does anything else require the devotion and lifelong study that it requires. It also requires a lineage...it requires the kumu to have a past, a connection to the past through their kumu to have passed down the traditions that make the music uniquely Hawaiian.
Something is keeping women from pursuing this. For me, it is because I have no talent nor do I have the desire to devote the effort. Plain and simple. I prefer listening to others play the music.
I am sure there are plenty women who play slack key at home, for family gatherings and such but who do not wish to or cannot make it their life's study.
Funny thing -- the book that first got me interested in Hawaiian culture and music was James Michener's Hawai`i . In it there was a bit about a man who was a beach boy and he just wanted to play slack key all the time. He learned slack key from his mother or his tut, I forget who. And she would have periodic gatherings with her lady friends and they would make music together. So even in Michener's book, although it is fiction, it was very well researched and very accurate in information portrayed. So in the early 60's Michener must have seen that women were playing slack key.
Something has happened between then an now. What was it? TV? Video games? |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 08/11/2010 04:38:08 AM |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 06:38:39 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Russell Letson
Apply this to other kinds of music and it doesn't quite work--the classical world is full of women who are extremely competent in a pretty competitive environment.
Yes, now - but that was not the case a generation ago. Progress is good to see in all forms - there are quite a few successful female jazz musicians these days, too, and not just "girl singers" (as they used to be called by the male jazz musicians).
quote:
Originally posted by Julie H
Let's not forget Patti Maxine.
Never could - she's amazing and a sweet person to boot. I chose not to list her earlier simply because Wanda specifically asked about slack key players in her opening post. |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 06:40:35 AM
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| In the Puget Sound region, there are a number of women who play fine slack key guitar, both at kanikapila and in public performance. Several of them are members of TaroPatch, too. We're fortunate to hear them play and sing around these parts. |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 07:30:52 AM
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I gotta say--I am now three generations old, and I can't recall a time when women did not play a prominent role in classical music. And while they were often stuck in the role of specialty or novelty acts, there were all-woman dance/swing bands at least as far back as the '30s; and there were individual instrumentalists as well: pianists Lil Hardin (who played with and married Louis Armstrong), Mary Lou Williams and Marian McPartland and guitarist Mary Osborne are among the most famous, but they're not alone.
As for slack key requiring more "devotion and lifelong study" than other traditions, even other traditions of guitar playing, I have to respectfully but strenuously disagree. I know too many musicians of all kinds to believe that. All art is bottomless and invites and rewards endless practice and refinement.
Joan Baez, by the way, has been a more-than-respectable guitarist from the beginning. Other hot-doggy and/or influential women with guitars (to borrow from the title of Del Rey's presentation on the subject) include Memphis Minnie, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mary Flower, Del Rey, Patti Larkin, Mary Osborne, Bonnie Raitt, Muriel Anderson, Etta Baker, Carol Kaye (session player extraordinary), Emily Remler, Mimi Fox--and that doesn't include the classical or rock players.
Cultural and socioeconomic forces might have pushed down, but many women have pushed right back, real hard.
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LikaNui
Aloha
40 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 12:34:19 PM
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| Don't forget Charo. Yes, ignore the coochie-coochie image, which is nothing more than a stage game; she's actually not like that at all in person and she's quite bright. She's been ranked among the very top flamenco guitar players in the world for at least the last couple of decades. |
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LikaNui
Aloha
40 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 12:40:46 PM
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| Also I haven't seen anyone mention Haunani Apoliona and Ku`uipo Kumukahi. |
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sirduke58
`Olu`olu
USA
993 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 2:16:38 PM
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No disrespect to Haunani Apoliona or Ipo Kumukahi but they are more well known for their vocalizing than their ki ho'alu.I have not heard of or witnessed either playing vituoso like instrumental ki ho'alu.Both mostly use slack key more like a rhythm accompaniment for their singing. I'm not suggesting they are not capable but neither features ki ho'alu regularly in their pulic performances.
Prominent female slack key artist in Hawaii are rare. Besides Haunani & Ipo I can think of only a few others like Cindy Coombs, Owana Salazar & Brittney Paiva.There is not a strong female presence in ki ho'alu in the Hawaiian music community.Haunani only plays when it doesn't conflict with her OHA schedule. Ipo plays a lot for halaus so it restricts her ki ho'alu. Owana may be better known for her work on steel guitar. Cindy Coombs is seldom seen & Brittney's focus is on ukulele & her slack key is more of a novelty.
If you look back at the history of ki ho'alu you would be hard pressed to name very many well known female slack key artists.I personally only know of one who is obviously Auntie Alice Namakelua.Ask me to name the male counter parts & I can rattle off a slew of names instantly like Gabby, Sonny Chillingworth,Atta Isaacs,Leonard Kwan, Fred Punahoa,Raymond Kane to present day artist like Ledward, Cyril Pahinui, Ozzie,Danny Carvalho,Patrick Landeza, George Kahumoku Jr, Keola Beamer & George Kuo. This is not to mention those who do so much to perpetuate ki ho'alu by sharing their mana'o like kumus Peter Medeiros, Ron Loo, Walter Carvalho & Kalei Bannister.
It is totally lopsidedly male dominant today & as far back as the 1940's with Gabby. It's no wonder why the ratio of the gender participation is so one-sided....Think about it... Who have the women had to emulate for inspiration other than Joni Mitchell hahahahahahaha sorry I couldn't resist
Malama pono
 Duke |
Hoof Hearted?...Was it you Stu Pedaso? |
Edited by - sirduke58 on 08/11/2010 2:17:31 PM |
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Claudia
Lokahi
USA
152 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 3:01:06 PM
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Wahine slack key player in the house....
To answer a couple of your questions, Wanda - why did I take up slack key? in 2006, I bought the "Masters of Slack Key" album and was transfixed by the playing of all the artists on there, particularly Keola Beamer and Ozzie Kotani. Then I bought the DVD "Thatʻs Slack Key" and saw Haunani Apoliona playing Makee ʻAilana and that was IT. I was completely besotted by slack key and I was determined to learn it. I happened to meet Haunani a few weeks ago and told her what a big influence she was on me.
Regarding the "little hands" issue- yes, its a problem for me, but I donʻt let it stop me- it just makes me work harder. Iʻve been told I have the hands of an 8 year old. Many years ago, Iʻd been told by the biggest jeweler in Boston that in 60 years of business they had never made a wedding ring as tiny as mine. But when I tackle certain songs with require big stretches (thanks alot...... KEOLA) I start by learning them on a short scale guitar and after a really long time and alot of sweat I eventually can play them on a regular guitar.
Why did I take up such a complex form of guitar? Because Hawaiian music is sublime and the sound of slack key and those open tunings just hooked me. Of all the worldʻs great guitar traditions - I find slack key to be the most beautiful to my ear and is worth all the effort to learn it. I have kids, so that means I practice alot in the middle of the night.....
Why arenʻt there more wahine slack key players? I think Salmonella hit the nail on the head - you canʻt dance hula and play slack key at the same time. It seems to me that when Hawaiian (and Hawaiian-at-heart) women take up a Hawaiian cultural activity - most take up hula. I have no idea why. But it takes alot of time and effort to get good at hula too, so there are just so many hours in the day for women between jobs, kids, the house, etc..... so one needs to focus! I take some hula because dancing hula makes me a better slack key player, but Iʻll never be any good at hula. Any spare time I have goes to my Martin 
Yes, thatʻs me practicing at 1am underneath the painting my ipo, Tommy, made for me of my idol - Auntie Alice Namakelua...... |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 4:02:16 PM
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Just so we never forget: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=indIwSadW-w
That guitar looks fairly sizeable to me, but I do not know if Aunty was dainty or what. She looks tiny to me. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 08/11/2010 4:06:22 PM |
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2010 : 8:25:30 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by sirduke58
Who have the women had to emulate for inspiration other than Joni Mitchell hahahahahahaha sorry I couldn't resist
Malama pono
Duke
Aloha Dukie...Howzit!!
How about Lehua Kaapana Nash as opposed to Joni?
Just saw Cindy Combs tonight as a matter of fact. She gave a great concert along with Stephen Inglis. |
"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
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Julie H
Ha`aha`a
USA
1206 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2010 : 9:02:32 PM
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I regret having missed Cindy's concert. I was at work in Sunnyvale until 8 and just had no energy when I fonally got home. How was it, Norman?
Julie |
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2010 : 04:09:52 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Julie H
I regret having missed Cindy's concert. I was at work in Sunnyvale until 8 and just had no energy when I fonally got home. How was it, Norman?
Julie
Great concert, wonderful turnout, lots of surprises. We missed you!! |
"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
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Women Playing Slack Key
