The HAOLE BOYS
Like a treasured souvenir, the music of THE HAOLE BOYS beckons all land-locked listeners to immerse in an enchanted nostalgic journey where Paradise of the Pacific meets Tin-Pan Alley. These tiki minstrels weave music that is often beguiling in every sense of the word and serves to amuse us with its frivolous license of what Hawaii was--and to many still is--all about.
What is "Haole"? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Haole, "ha ole" used in Hawaiian Pidgin to mean "white" or "Caucasian." Haole is a highly charged word and can be used descriptively or derisively. In the Hawaiian language, haole means "foreign" or "foreigner"; it can be used in reference to people, plants, and animals.
Hapa Haole In the Hawaiian language hapa-haole refers to a person who is half Hawaiian and half Caucasian. In the early 1900s a new style of music was coined Hapa-Haole. This music would mix Hawaiian and English lyrics or popular tunes of the day mixed with traditional Hawaiian lyrics. One of the most well known composers of this style was Henry Kailimai, his song "On the Beach at Waikiki", became a hit and helped to start a ukulele craze.
The Jumping Flea There are several theories as to how the ukulele got its name. One popular theory tells of an English army officer stationed in Hawaii named Edward Purvis. Purvis was a talented musician and would often entertain the court of Hawaiian King David Kalakaua. Legend states Purvis was given the nickname 'Jumping Flea' by his Hawaiian friends because of his small stature and fast playing. Another theory compares the fingers moving on the fret board to 'jumping fleas'. And yet another likens the strumming of ukulele to a dog scratching fleas with it's hind leg. A more poetic theory came from Queen Lili'uokalani who believed the name came from Hawaiian words uku (gift) and lele (to come or arrive).
History of the Ukulele The ukulele was introduced to Hawaiians August 23, 1879. On that date the British ship Ravenscrag docked in Honolulu. The ship carried 423 men, women and children from the Portuguese island of Madeira. The voyage from Madeira had taken 4 months and the passengers were very excited to have finally arrived. Legend has it that on that day the weary travelers celebrated and sang thankful tunes while fellow traveler Joao Fernandes accompanied on his machete. The sound of Joao's machete was an instant hit with the welcoming Hawaiians. Also aboard the Ravenscrag were craftsmen Augusto Dias, Manuel Nunes and Jose do Espirito. In addition to being a fine craftsman and cabinet maker, Dias was also a great musician like Fernandes. These men would help create the ukulele as we know it.
Kika Kila, (geetah-steel-ah).Translation: Steel guitar. It has so many slang expressions, no wonder the public is not sure yet what it is. The original name, given in Hawai'i where Joseph Kekuku invented it around 1889. When mainlanders first saw it, they didn't know what to call it, so they reported that it was held on the lap and played with a steel bar. That's how it got stuck with lapsteel which is still much used. But if you want to go first class, you'll call it a steel guitar. It was originally a 6-string wooden guitar built to be a Spanish guitar, but converted to a steel guitar by inserting a metal converter nut (adapter nut) (extension nut) over the nut at the headstock to raise the strings about a half inch off the fretboard. It was originally tuned A Major low bass (1-6) E.C#.A.E.A.E, which has three strings tuned the same as the Spanish guitar. In later years the players of blues, bluegrass, folk, etc. music took the instrument in, but tuned it more to suit the banjo player, to G Major low bass (1-6) D.B.G.D.G.D. The G tuning is still popular in that genre of music to this day. But they referred to the steel guitar as a Dobro and still do. That's not really correct, because Dobro is a manufacturer's name. The name implies that there are no other manufacturers (Weissenborn, National, and many others).
As if we're not confused enough, we now hear people calling it a slide guitar and in that they are totally wrong. "Slide" is not a "guitar" at all, it's a method of playing a regular Spanish guitar using a metal cylinder slide over the left hand pinkie, to make a sound imitating the steel guitar.
Another misnomer: on the mainland in the early days we said, Hawaiian Guitar. Meanwhile in Hawai'i that name is reserved for slack key guitars.
As I said, the original steel guitar was a wooden Spanish guitar with a converter nut slipped in to raise the strings, and played with a steel bar. Since it was laid flat on the player's knees, the sound was directed to the ceiling. To give it more volume (electric instruments were not yet invented) manufacturers used the material church bells are made of, BELL BRASS, and coated it with German silver for beauty. Great! They were much louder. But almost immediately (in the 1920's) the first electric instrument was invented, which by the way was a steel guitar, and the stampede was on to buy one of those. Soon the 6 strings had a 7th string added, then an 8th string, then double necks whether 6 strings or 8 strings each. We even have FOUR necks now! Then the pedal steel guitar came along, in the 1940's. The modern electric steel guitar can still be played on the lap, or it can have manufactured legs. The acoustic steel guitar is played on the lap or suspended by a strap so the player can stroll while performing, AND it can have an electric pick-up, for amplification.
All of the previously mentioned instruments are steel guitars, all are of the family fathered by Joseph Kekuku. All the different styles, shapes, names, tunings of the guitar and of the steel bars used to play it have contributed to much confusion among players and the general public. After more than 100 years, the general public will still look puzzled if you speak of a "steel guitar" but when they hear it, they'll say, "That music is so beautiful! What is it?"