Hawaiian Music: ‘The Real Stuff !!’ (Deel 8)
The first generation (1)
A number of the visible expressions of the Hawaiian guitar craze
In the ‘The Real Stuff!!’ series, a lot of big names have been featured from The Golden Years of Hawaiian Music, Sol Hoopii, Andy Iona, Dick and Lani McIntire, Al Kealoha Perry and Pauline Kekahuna. And yet we continue to talk about the so-called Second Generation. They were the successors to those whom we have not yet discussed.
The big names from about 1911 onwards are, of course, the true pioneers. Their record productions, while there were only a few people who could actually afford a record player, were absolutely astounding when compared to current standards. The craze began in 1915 when the Panama-Pacific International Exibition was hosted in San Francisco. Among the performers there was Henry Kailimali and his group, for example. His “On the beach at Waikiki” composition was a straight up worldwide hit and drove the Hawaiian craze in America.
Major industrialist Henri Ford was so impressed by what was offered that he let the band come to his factories in Detroit to play during his staff nights. From then on, people like Frank Ferera (Palakiko Ferreira) produced so many records that researchers have lost count. It is assumed that he worked on 1000 record sides in nearly 40 different formations (or names) and for almost 90 record labels worldwide. Try doing that today … It is thought that he could be found daily in the recording studio in New York. And of course everything had to be recorded flawlessly or else it meant starting the whole thing over. There was no such thing as editing the way we do today. All in all, more Hawaiian records were sold in America in 1916 than any other kind of music, and that while Sol Hoopii hadn’t even started yet.
A number of these pioneers are featured in this part of our series under the name of ‘The First Generation’. You can assume that it was an incomplete story, for the amount of material from that time is still unpredictable, as mentioned many times in this series. The craze, especially in America, started in 1915 and lasted for at least 40 years.
