Joseph Kekuku
Joseph Kekuku | |
|---|---|
 Kekuku in a 1916 advertisement | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph Kekuku‘upenakana‘iapuniokamehameha Apuakehau, Jr. |
| Born | c. 1874 – c. 1875 Laie, Hawaiian Kingdom |
| Died | January 16, 1932 Morristown, New Jersey, United States |
| Genres | Hapa haole music |
| Instrument | Steel guitar |
Joseph Kekuku‘upenakana‘iapuniokamehameha Apuakehau, Jr. (1874/75 – January 16, 1932), better known as Joseph Kekuku, was a Hawaiian-American musician and the inventor of the steel guitar. He discovered the sound of the steel guitar after tinkering with an old Spanish guitar. Born in the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kekuku later immigrated to the contiguous United States in 1904 to pursue a successful career in music, where he lived until his death. In 1993, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.
Biography
[edit]Early life
[edit]Joseph Kekuku‘upenakana‘iapuniokamehameha Apuakehau, Jr. was born in Laie, a village on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.[1] Conflicting information surrounds his date of birth, either October 19 or December 19 in 1874, or December 29, 1875.[2] When Joseph was 15, his cousin, Sam Nainoa, and he left for a boarding school in Honolulu.
Discovery of the steel guitar
[edit]In 1889 while attending the Kamehameha School for Boys, Kekuku accidentally discovered the sound of the steel guitar. In an article first seen in 1932, C.S. DeLano, publisher of the "Hawaiian Music in Los Angeles", whose "Hawaiian Love Song" was the first original composition to be written for the Hawaiian steel guitar, said:
'"Joseph told me that he was walking along a road in Honolulu 42 years ago, holding an old Spanish guitar, when he saw a rusty bolt on the ground. As he picked it up, the bolt accidentally vibrated one of the strings and produced a new tone that was rather pleasing. After practicing for a time with the metal bolt, Joe experimented with the back of a pocket knife, then with the back of a steel comb, and still later on with a highly polished steel [bar] very similar to the sort that is used today."'
Career in the United States
[edit]In 1904 at the age of 30, Kekuku left Hawaii and never returned. He started in the United States by performing in vaudeville theaters from coast to coast. His group, "Kekuku's Hawaiian Quintet", was sponsored by a management group called The Affiliated.[3]
In 1919, Kekuku left the U.S. for an eight-year tour of Europe. traveling with "The Bird of Paradise" show,[4] "which had started on Broadway, and was well-received in Europe.[5]
Kekuku returned to America on board the United States Lines ocean liner SS Republic in October 1926. On the evening of October 3, he performed in the passenger-led benefit concert for seamen’s charities and the Actors Fund of the United States, as was customary on transatlantic crossings. In the program from the evening, he is referred to as “Mr. Joseph Kekuku (Originator of the Hawaiian Guitar Method)”.
"The Bird of Paradise" was so popular that it became a film in 1932 and again in 1951, though Kekuku was not in either.[5]
At the age of 53, Kekuku settled in Chicago and ran a popular and successful music school.[5] In 1932, Joseph Kekuku lived in Dover, New Jersey, with his wife and gave Hawaiian guitar lessons.
Death and legacy
[edit]On January 16, 1932, at the age of 58, Kekuku died in Morristown, New Jersey, of a cerebral hemorrhage.[5] Kekuku is buried in the Orchard Street Cemetery.[6]
In 1993, Joseph Kekuku was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame with full honors as the inventor of the Hawaiian steel guitar.[5] A statue of him was erected at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii in 2015.[7]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Soria 2015.
- ^ Troutman 2016, p. 254.
- ^ "Kekuku's Hawaiian Quintet". digital.lib.uiowa.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2018-05-11.
- ^ Garrett, Charles Hiroshi (2008). Struggling to define a nation : American music and the twentieth century. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 180. ISBN 9780520254862. OCLC 219568840.
- ^ a b c d e Ruymar, Lorene. "The Hawaiian Steel Guitar and Its Great Hawaiian Musicians", via Google Books. Centerstream Publications, 1996. ISBN 1-57424-021-8. Accessed November 23, 2008.
- ^ "Hawaiian festival to honor Joseph Kekuku and steel guitar" (PDF). Ye Olde Tye News. 35. Dover Area Historical Society. Fall 2004.
- ^ "Polynesian Cultural Center Unveils Statue of Joseph Kekuku, Inventor of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar - Go City Card". www.smartdestinations.com. Retrieved 2018-05-11.
Bibliography
[edit]- Soria, Harry B. (2015-09-22). "Kekuku, Joseph". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2284894. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
- Troutman, John W. (2016-05-16). Kika Kila. University of North Carolina Press. doi:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469627922.001.0001. ISBN 978-1-4696-2792-2.
External links
[edit]- HMHFM Honorees - Joseph Kekuku at www.hawaiimusicmuseum.org
- Owana Salazar - About Hawaiian Steel Guitar Archived 2013-03-25 at the Wayback Machine at www.owanasalazar.com
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