Famous Hawaiian Musicians

There are three distinctly types of Hawaiian guitar: ukulele, slack key guitar, and steel guitar. The most famous and most notable Hawaiian guitarists did not only play guitar (ukulele, slack key, or steel guitar) par excellence. They also either revolutionized the way a type of guitar is played, or brought Hawaiian music to a wider audience through use of their instrument. They made Hawaiian music transcend from Hawaii to US mainland and beyond.

Hawaii has produced many renowned guitarists, but these are some of the most famous.

Tau Moe Family

Tau Moe was a Samoan who moved with his family to Hawaii when he was 11. He learned to play steel guitar from M.K. Moke, and later married another steel guitar player named Rose. The couple joined a traveling show, performing Hawaiian music to international audience. The couple had two children, Lani and Dorian. When they grew up, Lani and Dorian joined Tau Moe and Rose. The family was dubbed the" Aloha Four." Tau and Rose lived as far as Germany, Japan, India, and Lebanon. It is even said that they performed for Adolf Hitler during Nazi Germany. Tau Moe and his family helped spread Hawaiian folk music and hapa haole music worldwide.

Gabby Pahinui

Born in Honolulu in 1921, Charles Philip "Gabby" Pahinui was a key in bringing slack key guitar from the "back porch" of Hawaiian homes into a bigger audience. He is also dubbed the "folk hero of the Hawaiian music" for he was a force behind its resurgence.

A musical wiz, Gabby had no formal music education. He played in cafes, restaurants, and night clubs for more than 40 years, and spent 10 years producing albums and holding concerts.

Gabby's early interest was American jazz. He would later meld jazz with traditional Hawaiian music and slack key guitar, a musical ingenuity he was particularly famous for.

Gabby recorded his first song in his early 40s. Entitled Hi'ilawe, the song became a hit.

The Sons of Hawaii

The Sons of Hawaii consisted of four famous Hawaiian guitar players. Founded by Gabby Pahinui and Eddie Kamae (ukulele), the group also included David Rogers (steel guitar) and Joe Marshall (bass). They released their first album in 1962. In 1960, The Sons of Hawaii was the highest paid Hawaiian group in the state.

Eddie Kamae

Also born in Honolulu, Eddie Kamae was a ukulele virtuoso. He was famous, foremost, for promoting "Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance." Before founding The Sons of Hawaii with Gabby Pahinui, he played with Ukulele Rascals and Ray Kinney's Orchestra. Eddie's unique plucking methods revolutionized the way ukulele is played. This multi-awarded guitarist has also produced films promoting Hawaiian music and culture.

Don Ho

Who could forget Tiny Bubbles and Pearly Shell? Both were as famous as its singer and slack key guitarist, Don Ho. A former member of the United States Air Force, Don Ho had also made appearances in many television shows such as I Dream of Jeannie and The Brady Bunch, and later had his own television show, The Don Ho Show.

Sol Ho'opi

Sol Ho'opi was the most famous steel guitarist of the 20th century. He has also appeared in a number of movies including Waikiki Wedding and some Charlie Chan films.

The Ukulele - A Traditional Hawaiian String Instrument

The ukulele, or uke, is a Hawaiian stringed instrument. This instrument was developed in the late nineteenth century in Hawaii, and was based on a small instrument similar to a guitar brought to the islands by immigrants from Portugal. In particular, three cabinet makers are credited as the inventors of the first ukulele. The Portuguese immigrants were known to play folk songs on the dock, where native Hawaiians were impressed not only by the sweet sounds of the instrument, but also the fast fingers of the players. Roughly translated, the name "ukulele" means "jumping flea," a reference to the action of the player's fingers.

The ukulele's quick rise in popularity has been credited in part to the ardent support of the instrument by King David Kalakaua, the last king of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Serving from 1874 until 1891, he was in office when the first ukuleles were played in 1879 and 1880, and soon made them an integral pat of royal performances. Several members of the Hawaiian royalty learned how to play this instrument; it also became popular with Hawaiians from all walks of life, including fishermen and taro farmers. Today, the ukelele is often associated with music from the Hawaiian islands due to its use in popular music originating there.

During the early and mid twentieth century, this exotic instrument also gained popularity on the mainland of the United States. This is due in part to the Panama Pacific International Exposition, which took place in San Francisco throughout 1915 and featured a guitar and ukulele band hailing from Hawaii. The popularity of this exhibit at the Expo launched a fad for Hawaiian-themed music on the mainland during the Jazz Age of the 1920s.

This enjoyment of all things Hawaii would continue following World War II and the resulting popularity of tiki culture. The ukulele fit right in with this midcentury fad. From the 1940s through the 1960s, over 9 million inexpensive plastic ukuleles were produced to satisfy the demand from Tiki aficionados. Today, the ukulele can be found in many musical styles around the world. It is particularly popular in Japan.

The ukulele is known as a relatively inexpensive and portable instrument, making it a favorite of amateur players since the 1920s. On the other end of the spectrum, some of the most valuable ukuleles, made from Hawaiian koa wood prized for its tone and attractive coloration, can cost thousands of dollars.

A subset of the guitar family, most ukuleles have four strings. The sounds emanating from a ukelele depends on its size and how it has been constructed. There are four common sizes of this instrument: baritone, tenor, concert, and soprano. The soprano, the smallest uke, is the original size. In Hawaii, it is known as the "standard" ukulele. Although traditional ukuleles have a body shaped like a figure eight, similar to the body of an acoustic guitar, there are also oval ukuleles (sometimes referred to as a 'pineapple' shape), boat paddle shaped bodies, and occasionally square bodies, which are often constructed from a wooden cigar box.

Hawaiian Music History

Hawaiian music is a product of years of acculturation of different cultures and sounds, a wonderful melding of different  Its history is as diverse as the history of its peoples.

Hawaiians did not merely absorb music and instrument brought to the island. They adapted music based on how it  their own traditional songs and chants. As a result, the Hawaiians have given the world the slack key guitar, the steel guitar, and the ukulele among others.

Traditional Hawaiian folk music is primarily a celebration

of nature, their gods, and love of life. Religious in nature, Hawaiian music traditionally involved chant and hula. Chants were either accompanied with music and dance (mele hula) or without (mele oli).

Before the arrival of the Europeans and their guitars, traditional Hawaiian musical instruments included the ipu (gourd drum), ipu heke (double gourd drum), ili'ili (two flat stones clicked together),  ohe hanu inu (wooden nose flute), large Conch shell that produces deep resonant sounds when blown, pu ohe (bamboo trumpet), and puili (slit sticks made from bamboo). Hawaii has little metals and minerasl (besides lava) so their ancient musical instruments were mostly made from shells, plants, and trees.

Documented Hawaiian music history did not start until the 18th century upon the arrival of the haoles (non-Hawaiian) in the island. Hawaiian culture expert Elizabeth Tatar divides Hawaiian music history from the arrival of the Europeans to the present into seven periods:

1820 to 1872

Mexican cowboys (vaqueros) came to Hawaiian with their guitars. King Kamehameha III brought them to teach Hawaiians how to control overpopulation of cattle in 1832. They taught the Hawaiians how to play the guitar. The Hawaiians changed the tuning of the guitar to adapt it to their traditional Hawaiian songs and chants. They loosened or slackened the strings of the guitar, thus giving the world the slack key guitar.

Though slack key guitar became popular, families kept  their own string tuning styles a secret. For this reason, slack key guitar (called Ki ho 'alu by Hawaiians) was a "back porch" musical instrument until Gabby Pahinui popularized it in the 20th century.  

During this period, numerous styles of European  music including Protestant hymns and falsetto singing.