Kay Das
From:
Los Angeles CA
|
Posted 11 Jan 2009 4:45 pm |
|
I have recently come into touch with a good-sized following of steel guitar music in Northern Europe (Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Norway), In Norway, of course this forum has a good friend. In Holland particularly because of the historical connection with Indonesia where steel guitar was popular, the subject of another current thread in this forum.
Here I wish to introduce Tam Lealoha (full name Trung-Tam Le), who is a young 72 years of age and lives in Liège, in Belgium. Tam plays from his heart. He has not ever had the benefit of much steel guitar instruction. I will let him say his own words in his correspondence to me, which I have his permission to reproduce. His English is fairly good, and is anyways better than my knowledge of French or Flemish.
[color=darkblue]
| Quote: |
" I play just for entertainment, for my friends....What I do are entirely by and with feeling.....My dream is to try to share my feeling...I am happy when my friends are happy !...I am not a professionnel and music is not my job.
I am always sentimental and I falled in love of hawaiian musics when for the first time I heared a LP of Hal Aloma. I was 15...My only lessons was 2 records (78r/m) and 2 tabs with tuning: EAEAC#E, directly from Hal Aloma. I had neither other lessons nor other master. But after I bought LP "Hawaii calls", LP of Felix Mendelshon, LP of Danny Steward... And also 2 French steelers: Harry Hougassian and Marcel Bianchi and much later, Jerry Byrd. I heared them but I never try to imitate them: I can't !!! The only thing I search to do is to sight-read their tunings... I took my guitar when I'm back from school (secondary school). I dropped my guitar all through my university and later, activity periods. Just one or two tunes for about ½ hour, one or two times a week.
Now, I am 72. For my last years, I begin again to TRY to play hawaiian steel guitar...always for friends. I have no master, I imitate nobody, I have no style...only expression of my mind, so my music is always slow and smooth, may be boring, never speedy.
Your mp3 are excellent, notably "kawohikukapolani" so expressive."
|
[/color]
As you can gather he likes slow expression. Tune in to his website: http://www.myspace.com/tamlealoha.
Dem Dong, Song of the Islands, Imi Au Aa Oe are particularly worth listening to. His style is quite unique.
He is not a member of our forum, but I will relay to him any comments you may have...and persuade him to join us. He is way up there on steel guitar!
Kay |
|
basilh
From:
United Kingdom
|
Posted 11 Jan 2009 6:35 pm New to us for quite a while now !!
|
|
A superb player well known to us in Europe and a close personal friend of mine for some time now.., he was featured at the Chanos International Steelguitar festival, Plays a twin neck Framus with the changer levers and uses them superbly.
He can be found here http://www.chanos-isgf.org/ESGForum/ as can all of your European "Braddahs"
In April 2006 Tam told me he had lessons from Hal Aloma
| Quote: |
My first and only master of Hawaiian guitar was Hal Aloma (1950, I was 14 years old) who kindly sended me my first lessons from Honolulu Hawaii to Saïgon Vietnam. 6 diagrams and 2 records (78 tours: 1 song per face) and these lessons are giving with the tunings: EAEAC#E and AC#EAC#E. Even with this only sending, I was his pupil. Later, he sended me his record (columbia?) "Hawaii Calls" when he played with Al Kealoha Perry's band at the Moana Hotel, Waïkiki (Vinyl 33 tours). Fabulous !!!
Why? Because I am so sentimental and his play is so soft and so smooth. Even "Hawaiian war chant", he played this song with tempo 70 !!! And as I "copy" his play, I have not to resolve the problem of...speed. Ha ha !
My play depend on my feeling. So the same song is differently performed according to my mood of the moment. The phrases may changed. Except, the backing must be right and I surf and improvise on the rhythm.
I know, my play is not exceptional, but for me, each slide played is a bit (the voice) of my mind...sometimes with tears. I'm not professional, so I play mainly for me, generally the night, when everybody is sleep (I play with headplones).
My travels to the dream land, I do them in my...dreams.
I have chance to meet last year the french steelers...and you now.
In France and Belgium practically all steelers play country musics but not at all hawaiian, among them I am like a spot in the middle of the nose, but they like me a lot ! They are incredibles |
|
|
