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“THE HONOLULU STUDENTS / ROYAL HAWAIIAN TROUBADOURS”
(KR Strings)
The death of Michael Cord in 2015 ended his unprecedented commitment to licensing, electronically restoring and re-releasing out-of-print recordings of defunct Hawaii-based record labels. In the years since Cord’s death, Honolulu resident Roger Bong has been instrumental in re-issuing a collection of out-of-print island pop recordings on his Aloha Got Soul label. Now Kailua-resident master luthier and music historian Kilin Reece is stepping forward with a collection of recordings that go back to the first decade of the 1900s.
The recordings restored by Reece were made in 1904 in New York City for the American Record Company by a group that was sometimes billed as the Honolulu Students and sometimes as the Royal Hawaiian Troubadours. By either name, their recordings are among the earliest commercially made recordings of Hawaiian music known to exist. The fact alone makes this CD a welcome and significant addition to any collection of Hawaiian music.
The leader of the band was Lui Thompson Keouli, a former member of Mekia Kealakai’s Royal Hawaiian Orchestra. (Notably, Kealakai served two terms as bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band between 1920 and 1932.) Additional members were identified as Wm. Holoua, Fred Kahea, David Kaai Kaleikau and Mme. Anehila. Between them they played guitar, violin, flute, ukulele and “taro patch” (an early 8-string “cousin” of the soprano ukulele).
The 24 songs include classics by the royal composers Kalakaua, Lili‘uokalani, and Lele‘iohoku, as well as compositions by David Nape, Thomas Sylvester Kalama, Mekia Kealakai and Reverend Samuel Kapu Jr.
One of the most interesting things about listening to these recordings today is hearing how familiar songs like “Maui Girl” and “Hi‘ilawe” seem when played by these Hawaiian “string bands.” Reece says this collection is the first such set of recordings made by any American string band, and the recording of “Hi‘ilawe” is the first, bar none.
Buyers should take note that the audio quality is fair at best. Reece writes in the liner notes that the recordings were “made on machinery run by hand-cranked springs and gears, driving needle blades into hard wax,” and far more primitive than the technology that came into use after the invention of the electric microphone. These long-lost recordings are welcome nonetheless.
Visit www.krstrings.com.
Killin Reece will spotlight the Hawaiian music of the early 20th Century with “A Night of Sovereign Strings: Celebrating the Musical Legacy of Mekia Kealaka‘i,” 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Honolulu Museum’s Doris Duke Theatre;$45-$55, honolulumuseum.org.
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