Growing Up Hawaiian - Part 3 - Ki Ho'Alu Feb 2010

Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar

In March of 1820 the first boatload of Christian missionaries

arrived in the Hawai'ian Islands from Boston.

They brought with them an appetite for beef.
Were it not for their culinary preferences, 
we would not have Hawai'ian Slack Key Guitar.

As the story goes, cows were brought by ship to the islands

but neither the Hawai'ians nor the missionaries

knew how to ranch, so vaqueros (Spanish cowboys)  were imported 
from Spain to manage the ranches and teach the 
Hawai'ians to be cowboys. 

Hawai'ian cowboys are called paniolos.

The vaqueros brought Spanish acoustic guitars with them

and the Hawai'ians were enchanted by their music.

When the vaquero's were no longer needed they returned to Spain,

leaving their guitars behind with their Hawai'ian counterparts.

Again, as the story goes, the Hawai'ians had never really learned

how to tune the guitars so they tuned them to what sounded good to them.  
Which ended up being an 'open' harmonious sound when strummed 
without fingering.  

They managed this by 'slacking' the strings down from E tuning

until they liked the way it sounded.

Musicians devised their own tunings and named them things 
like "Taro Patch" (DGDGBD) and "Wahine".  
These tunings became closely guarded secrets

and part of the  Ki Ho'Alu (slack key) history and folklore.

Ki Ho 'Alu is written in tablature form and played with a rolling base
accompanied by picking the melody at the same time.  

My most most most all-time favorite slack key guitarist and just all-around 

great talented guy is Keola Beamer.

There are many slack key artists in the islands, and around the world,

and much information on the subject is on the web.

Google and You Tube are loaded with it!

Some Slack Key Video Samples:

Keola Beamer

Hapa

Non-traditional slack key, sort of Rock and Roll Slack Key

Ledward Ka'apana
More traditional, an absolute slack key master!  

Keali'i Reichel
Wonderful Hawai'ian musician and entertainer.

Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole

The all-time god of Hawaiian music.  

Sadly, he died of morbid obesity (not uncommon with native Hawai'ians)

at an early age a few years ago.

That is his funeral towards the end of the video and

those are his ashes being scattered from the urn.

I hope I've given you a little taste for the music of my homeland.

If you are interested in slack key guitar music, 

Dancing Cat Music has an incredible catalog of CDs.

MAHALO!