The Steel Guitar Forum

I have just digitalized my Mena Moeria Minstrel records and thought that some of you might like to listen to these. Unfortunatly the recordings are from old 45 and 78 rpm records so the sound quality includes pops crackles and an occasional skip but mister Wairata's steel sounds great!!!
the track :steelguitar rock" is an extra, recorded by the Kilima Hawaiians who tried to jump on the Rock 'n' roll bandwagon but I guess failed to score a hit with it

enjoy!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0ONJ5QZ7

Erik The sound quality is great!! And so is the music. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this.

Thanks for sharing, Erik. I don't think that the Mena Moeria Minstrels were known very well in the USA, for whatever reason. I look forward to listening to this.

Erik, thank you for making these recordings available to us. That band was tight. Every track has loads of interest. Great vocals. I note the vibrato rate for both the guitar and the vocal on Drowsy Waters is about the same. Very nice. Steel Guitar Rock is also top stuff. Royal Hawaiian Hula stands out for me. Aloha Nui Loa.

Erik:

Thanks for that. Rudy and George de Fretes are becoming favorites around here.

Here are a few more:

http://picosong.com/VP3

http://picosong.com/VPq

http://picosong.com/VPk

http://picosong.com/VPL

Someone from the Netherlands posted a site on here a few years back, with Indonesia and the surrounding islands etc music on it, which included stuff by Rudy and George. I lost the link when my PC crashed, and couldn't find it again. I'd like to locate it again.
They were both great players that didn't get the accolades they deserved I believe....

Thanks for those Erik and Mitch !!

Thanks, Erik and Mitch for those songs.
Mitch, I might be wrong, but "Beautiful Aloha Beach" might not be Rudy Wairata.
It sounds like the smooth playing style of Coy Pereira and the band sounds like the Kilima Hawaiians.
The band of the "Ika Royal Hawaiian Hotel" song is definately the Kilima Hawaiians.
You can clearly hear the voice (and accent) of Mary Buysman.
"Drowsy Waters" beautiful vocal was recorded by Joyce Aubrey who was still with Rudy and the MMMinstrels at the time.

Bill, here are some links:
http://www.pmouse.nl/defretes/
http://www.pmouse.nl/wairata/
http://www.pmouse.nl/defretes/wanda.htm
http://www.jazzandtrends.nl/Hawaiian.htm
http://home.orange.nl/wrniesing/

Peter:

You could be right about Beautiful Aloha Beach. The songs were not taken from my own LPs or CDS, but I found the song attributed to Mena Moeria Minstrels on the internet. Did Coy play for that group also? I have a bunch of songs by that group where I don't know the steel player.

Likewise on Ika Royal Hawaiian Hotel. I have a bunch of songs attributed to Rudy that could be truthfully be the Kilima Hawaiians with Rudy on steel. I'm not qualified to judge by ear who is playing steel.

Mitch, I do not think that Coy Pereira ever played with the MMM.

Here is more info on Rudy (Rudi) Wairata.

http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/ESGHoF ... airata.pdf

Hello Peter, I sailed into SA many years ago and loved the Cape. Thanks for posting those very interesting links. There are some great photos in there. The quality of the Dutch/Indonesian musicianship and recording is top. When you hear Rudi you know he was one of the best and when you look at the notes on his life you see why.

Thanks for those links Peter.

Vibrato like that ... sadly has become an antediluvian style

Thanks for a glimspe of what made the steel guitar so great !!!

That vibrato was one of the first things that struck me about these tracks - magic! And from the links here's a shot of a very rare item. Wahini on steel guitar, Elly Baron with George de Fretes. Looks like Elly just hit a palm harmonic. Is that a volume pedal?