Was Joseph Kekuku a time traveller?

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 21 Apr 2006 2:13 am

Because the generally accepted story goes :-

In 1885, in Honolulu, Joseph Kekuku, an 11-year-old student at Kamehameha School for Boys began experimenting (as young boys will) with ways to make different musical sounds on his guitar. The story goes that while walking along the railroad tracks, he picked up a bolt and slid it across the strings, effecting the very first characteristic slur of steel guitar...

Fair enough, but then whilst my wife was researching an article for our magazine 'Aloha Dream', I spotted this :-

While Dillingham's dream of large-scale human settlement on the ‘Ewa Plain would have to wait until the last decades of the twentieth century, his plan for a railroad that served the area came together fairly quickly. After leasing Campbell's ‘Ewa and Kahuku land in order to start two sugar plantations Dillingham obtained a government charter for a railroad. It was granted by King David Kalakaua on September 11, 1888,

And I can't seem to find any information about construction starting before 1888 !!

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Steel players do it without fretting

[This message was edited by basilh on 21 April 2006 at 03:44 AM.]

c c johnson · Post by **c c johnson** » 21 Apr 2006 3:11 am

Baz, when I am in HI I always look up steel players in places where very few people get to; the pine field, east Molokai,southern tip of the big island, etc; Today these fellows that are still living are in mid 80s and 90s. The ones who have passed on I talked with as a kid just before Pearl Harbor. I don't remember any of them buying the bolt story. They do say that they heard he dropped his guitar on a railroad track and the steel slid against the strings to make the sound all of us love. So I guess you takes your pick and thank goodness whatever happened did! CC

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 21 Apr 2006 4:20 am

C.C, no doubt it DID happen, it's just the chronology that I'm querying.

In the world of Pedal steel, the chronological development has been accurately documented by people like Carl Dixon, and the development of the E9th tuning etc. and members Like Buddy Emmons can put to rest any of the myths that came about regarding the 'Chromatic' Strings and their placement, BUT, in the world of Hawaiian Guitar there are a LOT of ambiguities, and unfortunately Joseph, Sol and the rest of the early masters are no longer here for their voices to be heard, so speculation has led to some rather strange urban myths, like for example the cowboys who came to Hawaii at the request of the King to teach the Hawaiians how to handle the wild cattle, There were only THREE and they probably DIDN'T play guitar to any great level of proficiency. So the whole 'Slack Key' origins theory is a kind of 'Dead Duck'.

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 21 Apr 2006 4:34 am

Joseph Kekuku was the first person in human history to ever slide a metal or glass object along a string?

Give me a break.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 21 Apr 2006 4:35 am

I heard that Joseph Kekuku was sitting, guitar in lap and combing his hair. He dropped his comb on the guitar and heard that sound.

To me, that seems more convincing than just picking up a bolt on thr railroad tracks, <pre>or the rumor that Gerald Ross came to him in a dream</pre>.....

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 21 Apr 2006 5:01 am

Here's my theory:

Musicians have been "borrowing" ideas and techniques from each other since the beginning of time.

Hawaii is situated smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Ocean voyagers had to stop in Hawaii to replenish their food, water and fuel.

There is a traditonal Indian stringed instrument that is played by sliding an egg shaped piece of glass along strings.

Did a young Joseph Kekuku see a traveling Indian musician?


And Howard... Joseph Kekuku came to me once in a dream. It wasn't a pretty sight.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 21 April 2006 at 06:04 AM.]

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 21 Apr 2006 5:19 am

I saw a Bonanza episode once ...

Where a travelin' ranch-hand pulled out a parlor guitar & a "jack knife" ... and played a song for Adam.

Since the "Adam era" was the early 1860's ...

That puts the invention of the steel guitar a good 25 yrs before Kekuku ... clearly makin' it a "country/western" instrument first !!!

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Hawaiian Steel Stuff
The Casteels

[This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 21 April 2006 at 06:37 AM.]

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 21 Apr 2006 5:29 am

Hi Baz,

Interesting post. And a bit of a surprise that no one has questioned this aspect of the Kekuku story earlier.

I recognize your first quoted source as "Hawaiian Music and Musicians," Kanahele editor, University press of Hawaii. What is the second source you are quoting from? Also, not being familiar with the 'Ewa Plain, is this the railroad that Kekuku would have been walking along?

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 21 Apr 2006 5:32 am

Old saying: A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth.

John Soper · Post by **John Soper** » 21 Apr 2006 5:38 am

Don't forget the long tradition among many African cultures for using various sticks, bones, etc to produce notes on non-fretted instruments, leading to the Diddly-Bow and the use of knives & other implements to fret guitars in the USA... probably too far removed, but:

Any African-American sailors that enjoyed liberty in the islands

?

Kay Das · Post by **Kay Das** » 21 Apr 2006 6:20 am

"Discoveries" are seldom single events, but evolutionary and plural. Joseph Kekuku was certainly a visionary and an inventor and promoter of steel guitar and Hawaii would have been the most befitting place to earth where the unique flowing and liquid sound of steel on string, such as is the Hawaiian style, would have developed. But glissando on string was known to classical Indian and other genres long before. Although no other form gets as pretty as Hawaiian music, in my view.

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kay

Chris Brooks · Post by **Chris Brooks** » 21 Apr 2006 6:39 am

John Soper and Kay Das make good points. Culture is transmitted, ot just objects and inventions.

Don't forget the Portuguese, who were great seamen and explorers, who had extensive contact with India (Goa, Diu, Diman)and the Pacific (Macao, Timor). . . and were known to have played guitar.

A type of Indian veena played with a "slide", plus a Portuguese sailor who had been in India, now with a guitar in Hawaii . . . Makes more sense than the "guitar dropped on a railroad track" hypothesis.

(A result of my current study of Portuguese langauge is an interest in this relatively small nation's oversized role in the history of discovery.)

Chris

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 21 Apr 2006 8:15 am

I'd highly suggest checking out Lorene Ruymar's book - at least a quarter of the book is devoted to this same subject.

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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 21 Apr 2006 8:45 am

The Kekuku crown as the originator of the lap guitar style is a subject that has brought factions of the steel community almost to blows. To, me it's a big yawn. Gerald, Bob, Kay ... you're all correct in my book. Some kid playing a Diddly Bow with a bottle in 1855 could equally get the credit. In my world view, musical cross pollination is as old as time and there are likely multiple origins for the style and it's all essentially untraceable. Kekuku certainly was very savvy in his marketing skills.

Mike D · Post by **Mike D** » 21 Apr 2006 9:35 am

Blah, blah, inventor of the steel guitar...

What's *really* amazing is that the Cartwright's all had 'Peacemaker' .45s in the 1860s. Now that's time travel!

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Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.

[This message was edited by Mike D on 21 April 2006 at 10:37 AM.]

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 21 Apr 2006 10:01 am

What's *really* amazing is that the Cartwright's all had 'Peacemaker' .45s in the 1860s. Now that's time travel!

"D" ... you're treadin' on some mitey thin ice thar, pardner

Here in the West, we're livin' the best, Bonanza,

If anyone fights any one of us, he's got a fight with me


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Hawaiian Steel Stuff
The Casteels

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 21 Apr 2006 12:00 pm

If I even remotely thought the steel was invented by some red-neck country player, I would quit today, and go work on my old boat.
I'm just joking of course. Does it really matter who stumbled on the idea? It seems to work, no matter whose idea it was, even though Gerald has night mares about it!!
Any way, my old wood boat needs work yet.
Oh yes, I thought the date was around 1898, since there was a celebration for the 100th aniversary,around that date, wasn't there?[This message was edited by Bill Creller on 21 April 2006 at 01:03 PM.]

Derrick Mau · Post by **Derrick Mau** » 21 Apr 2006 12:13 pm

Hi Baz,
Here's some information by Robert C. Schmitt; a Hawaii state statistician. This is from his book called: FIRSTS IN HAWAII

"The earliest railroad installation in Hawaii appears to have been a track a couple hundred feet in length built in Honolulu in 1857 to remove material dredged from the harbor".

"The Oahu Rail and Land Company provided railroad service on Oahu from 1889 to 1947"

There is also another book written within the past 3 years about the rail system. Can't remember the title or the author.

Anyway, I don't buy the railroad track story about Kekuku. The falling comb sounds more credible, but it's diffult to say as things were never documented during that time. Even the famous "SHAKA" sign; lots of theories but no hard evidence.

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 21 Apr 2006 12:18 pm

Metal comb? Wooden comb? Honeycomb?

Couldn't have been plastic... Bakelite wasn't even invented then.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 21 April 2006 at 01:18 PM.]

Derrick Mau · Post by **Derrick Mau** » 21 Apr 2006 12:20 pm

Baz,

A pic from the same book of a railroad system in Kahului, Maui 1879

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 21 Apr 2006 12:52 pm

Thanks for the picture Derrick.

But look what I found when I blew up the photo.

I guess this solves it once and for all. The Kekuku railroad spike story is a sham.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 21 Apr 2006 1:02 pm

Derrick, thanks a million for the info, hard to come by over this side of the pond.

I reckon Gerald has the best 'slant' on it so far, but I must admit I really was expecting HowardR to 'Steal' the plaudits on this one.

Bob Stone asks

What is the second source you are quoting from?

Well Bob it's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oahu_Railway_and_Land_Company

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 21 Apr 2006 1:10 pm

I guess I was on the wrong track.....

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 21 Apr 2006 1:31 pm

With any mention of a "Bar' I would have expected some of the more libation inclined forumites to respond.
Where are you Archie Nicol ?[This message was edited by basilh on 21 April 2006 at 02:33 PM.]

Derrick Mau · Post by **Derrick Mau** » 21 Apr 2006 2:03 pm

Looks like there is more of a market for railroad spikes than steel guitar bars.

58 sellers for spikes on E-Bay. One seller especially creative making works of art out of them.