Vintage Hawaiian Music: Steel Guitar Masters 1928-1934

Another recording rescued from disappearing in the cracks of the american pop-culture.
Lap steel style is playing guitar with a steel bar - somewhat like the bottleneck slide as used by bluesmen - but with guitar flat on your lap, rather than in the regular position. Hawaiian steel guitar playing was invented sometime in the late 1890s and became a raging fad in 1915, when several steel guitarists played to the crowds during the The Panama-Pacific International Exposition AKA San Francisco World Fair. Steel guitar became the sound of the islands - faraway and exotic places at the time. Hawaiian orchestras played in clubs, guitar teachers set up sold-out classes to teach the steel playing, and every guitar sold through the Sears-Roebuck mail order included a raised nut as a default accessory. The first commercial electric guitar was Rickenbacker "Frying Pan", a lap steel; the SG of the famous Gibson SG stands for "Spanish Guitar", to distinguish it from a hawaiian lap steel.
It is hard to believe that a style that once was so popular may disappear so completely and without a trace. All we are left with are the recordings from the steel's golden age, and this CD collects some of them. The high points of this collection are a track by Sol Hoopi, the biggest name in Hawaiian music and a real virtuoso player with a jazzy style, who had a long and successfull career and recorded many albums; and a track from Jim and Bob - a duo that performed on a Chicago radio show for a short while in the 30s. They made literally a handful of records, which are cherished by collectors and the musicians, and hardly anything is known about them; follow this link for more info.


Vintage Hawaiian Music: Steel Guitar Masters 1928-1934
REUP: zippyshare or uloz.to
66mb, 192kbps
01. George Ku Trio - Na Pua O Hawaii
02. Hilo Hawaiian Orchestra - Hula Love Medley March
03. King Benny Nawahi - Waikiki Waltz
04. Tau Moe & The Moes - Ellis March
05. (Unknown German Orchestra) - The Road To Paradise
06. Sam Ku West Harmony Blues - Wang Wang Blues
07. Sol Hoopii Trio - Lady Be Good
08. King Benny Nawahi's Red Devils - Dinah
09. George Ku Trio - Na Ali'i
10. S. Cortez Y Sus Hawaiianos - Lirios
11. Charlie Wilson - Palolo
12. Kanui & Lula - My Little Grass Shack
13. Walter Kolomoku - Medley Of Old-Time Waltzes
14. Kalama's Quartet - Maile Lau Li'l Li'l
15. Jim & Bob, The Genial Hawaiians - Hula Blues
16. Unknown - Unknown

Also, I will most highly recommend Sol Hoopii - Master of the Hawaiian Guitar, Vols. 1 and 2 [EDIT: zippyshare or uloz.to], a great compilation of Hawaiian swing by the master himself at http://eldiablotuntun.blogspot.com; I have it on CD, too.