I feel very fortunate to have befriended Bill Kaiwa long before he left this life. (This is not the case with many of my Hawaiian music heroes.) I would not call him a “friend” as we didn’t spend that much time together. But I would refer to him as an acquaintance who was very open to accepting a phone call from me and having a lengthy conversation with me about our mutual Hawaiian music heroes…
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Where there was a will, there was Freddie Tavares. Like his contemporary Les Paul, who better to solve the problems faced by musicians than a musician? The Maui-born Tavares was a musician and a tinkerer. Although he could play any stringed instrument handed to him, he excelled at the steel guitar – beginning his career in small groups with brother, Ernie, followed by a stint with bandleader Harry Owens (making him the first steel guitarist…
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In 1964, four little known about lads that called themselves The Beatles released their first recordings in the U.S., and on February 9, 1964 at 8pm, the Fab Four made their U.S. television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. And music – and the world – would would never be the same. That story has been chronicled countless times. But what has not been discussed has been the effect of the British Invasion on the evolution…
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Coming Soon – A feature on the history of the ever-growing popularity of Hawaiian music in Japan. Among those featured will be Ethel Nakada, a fine singer of Hawaiian songs and one of the earliest stars of Hawaiian music in her home country of Japan, George Matsushita, a fine falsetto with a nearly five-decade career in Japan, and steel guitarists Buckie Shirakata, Tetsuo Ohtsuka, and Poss Miyazaki. The article will also discuss the origins of…
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Kui Lee. I never met him. (Many of his most ardent fans never had a chance to meet this iconic figure whose life was cut too short – given over to cancer – at the tender age of only 34.) But his presence in my life was very strong from the moment I was born. He was a friend of our family long before I came along. His record played constantly in our home –…
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There is woefully little information about a Hawaiian songstress once so popular on stage and TV across the country that like Madonna or Cher she was known by just her first name: Haleloke. Perhaps you have already read that Haleloke Kahauolopua was born on February 2, 1923 in Hilo on the island of Hawai’i into a musical family. It was only natural that she would be discovered. And discovered she was – over and over…
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