Vintage Hawaiian Treasures, Vol. 7: The History Of Slack Key Guitar

Vintage Hawaiian Treasures (Series) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 18, 1997)
• Original Release Date: March 27, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hana Ola Records
• ASIN: B000005U0N
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,060 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #32 in Music > World Music > Pacific Islands > Hawaii > Slack Key Guitar

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION OF SLACK KEY FIRSTS, September 12, 2000

By 

Shlomo Pestcoe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vintage Hawaiian Treasures, Vol. 7: The History Of Slack Key Guitar (Audio CD)

I love this album! Here we have all 20 of the first commercial recordings of ki ho'alu (slack key) guitar, pressed between 1946 and 1950 by small local Hawaiian labels-- Bell Records of Hawai'i, 49th State Hawai'i, and Aloha Records. Especially noteworthy is the 78 rpm record that started it all back in 1946 -- Gabby Pahinui's HI'ILAWE. Ray Kane, the late Sonny Chillingworth and many of the other older slack key masters point to this Bell Records release as the one that got them interested in seriously pursuing the ki ho'alu style. In fact, the C Wahine tuning that Gabby used for this piece has since become known in the slack key world as "Gabby's C" or "HI'ILAWE" tuning.

Prior to HI'ILAWE's release, ki ho'alu was considered "home" music. You heard it at family gatherings and neighborhood parties, but hardly ever in context of Hawaiian pop. Professional Hawaiian musicians, who played for the tourists at hotels and night clubs and recorded commercially, stuck to the more recognizable (and, therefore, marketable) sound of the steel guitar, ukulele and the standard-tuned, strummed guitar. Gabby's HI'ILAWE was a revelation to the young Hawaiian guitarists of the day; not only did it legitimate ki ho'alu but it also served as a model for the creative revitalization of this important element of Hawai'i's musical heritage.

The legendary HI'ILAWE aside, each cut on this album is a rare treasure-- from Gabby's 1947 HULA MEDLEY, the first commercial recording of a slack key guitar solo instrumental, to PUNALU'U, which features the lovely traditional singing of Mama Tina Kaapana, the mother of today's current slack-key great, Ledward Kaapana. Unfortunately, most of these 78's were originally recorded in small, poorly equipped studios and some of the master discs used here have suffered from the wear 'n' tear of age. Still, you can hear and appreciate the incredible care and skill that went into the near-impossible task of restoring and remastering these precious time capsules.

It's great that this album was the product of the combined efforts and resources of the leading labels documenting traditional Hawai'ian music: Michael Cord's Hana Ola Records and George Winston's Dancing Cat Records. Mahalo to Jay Junker, Harry B. Soria and George Winston for the very informative liner notes, complete with the slack key tunings for each cut.

THE HISTORY OF SLACK KEY GUITAR is a keeper and "must-have" for every fan of ki ho'alu and Hawaiiana. Better yet, it belongs in the music library of all those who love finger-style acoustic guitar... regardless of musical persuasion.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roots Music of an Overlooked Genre, August 9, 2000

By 

David K. Bell (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vintage Hawaiian Treasures, Vol. 7: The History Of Slack Key Guitar (Audio CD)

This is roots music. Granted, the guitar is not native to Hawaii, and so the slack key genre had non-native influences at its very beginning (Mexican cowboys from the 1830's, to be exact.) But the guitar is also not native to, say, the Mississippi Delta, and I think few would say that the rich treasure trove of guitar music that came out of that region was not genuinely reflective of the culture that spawned it. This record, containing pieces recorded mostly in the 1940's and 1950's, showcases the Mississippi John Hurts, Blind Blakes and Robert Johnsons of the slack key tradition. These were the first artists of the genre to be recorded (this record contains the first ever recorded slack key piece, recorded by the legendary Gabbie Pahinui), and the ones who later became the idols of a new generation of Hawaiians in the 1960's and 1970's wanting to discover their musical roots. Pahinui, Henry Kaalekaahi, Tina Kaapana, Tommy Blaisdell and many others, some of whom later recorded prolifically, but most of whom did not, are featured here.

Every tune on this record is a complete gem. If you have never heard slack key guitar, imagine stumbling for the first time on a compilation of Hurt, Blake, Johnson, and perhaps Lightnin' Hopkins, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell and others of that genre, and you may get the idea. The playing, all finger-picked on unique (slack key) open tunings whose mysterious fingerings and overtone qualities are still the closely-guarded secrets of the family musical dynasties that developed them, is every bit as virtuosic and thrilling as that of the Delta and country blues masters of the American South. And every bit as evocative of the culture it grew out of. It somehow embodies the slow rhythms of the ocean waves and a slower, more open and generous culture than the one in which we now find ourselves.

A must have for anyone who treasures pure,uncommercialized roots music that still allows us a glimpse of a vanishing culture.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, February 1, 2004

By 

Lawrence Cauble "Larry Cauble" (Sublimity, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vintage Hawaiian Treasures, Vol. 7: The History Of Slack Key Guitar (Audio CD)

It's a good thing this is on CD; If it were vinyl I would wear it out! I've been buying recordings for over 40 years, and I haven't been this infatuated with a recording since I was a teen. Unlike the other reveiwers, I'm not knowledgable on slack key but have enjoyed listening to Hawaiian music of various kinds for many years without knowing what I was listening to. I have a couple of the modern Dancing Cat slack key albums and thought I'd give this one a try. I'm pretty much stunned -- to think that I could have been listening to this music for years! If you enjoy roots music of any kind, by all means try this!