The Steel Guitar Forum

check this one out, folks.

https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/the-c ... e-archives

That's great, Kirk! Thanks for posting this. I have a new found appreciation for Hawaiian music and have been searching for a source of the obscure early styles and artists. Just can't seem to find them Spotify. Go figure.

caveat: i'm just an old luddite living by choice far from the madding crowd, but it seems to me that finding historically significant hawaiian music on "spotify" would be rather like searching for fresh dolce latte gorgonzola at one's local 7-11 mini-mart.
that said, praise the gods for adam jansen!

how would this benefit an average steel guitar player from any area other than where the collections are located that wanted to hear any of this? i know of several collections at places of higher learning.i inquired of both & was denied any access. one such looked as if they were digitized.

i cannot speak for north carolina, but the hawaii state archives are open to the public, according to their website.

that said, surely it will take a time to collate, catalogue, and digitize this new treasure trove.

The project is in good hands with Kilin Reese at the helm. He was responsible for the Kaula Piko "Source of Strings", history of Hawaiian music show last year at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. He's also an excellent repairman of vintage Hawaiian instruments.

however much i would like to visit hawaii i would not be able to financially swing that.

Exciting news! I am unable to access any recordings on the Hawaii digital archives website (link below). The "Search" and "Browse" options don't seem to help. Maybe someone can post the steps to do this?

https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/

Not enough for me!

Keith Aiken wrote:how would this benefit an average steel guitar player from any area other than where the collections are located that wanted to hear any of this? i know of several collections at places of higher learning.i inquired of both & was denied any access. one such looked as if they were digitized.

I'm an old time banjo player, originally, and there are so many people out there that have digitized old time blue grass and early country 78s that I've taken out for granted. Now that I'm interested in early Hawaiian lap steel, I'm flummoxed by how difficult it is to find this stuff. Even most of the old cd sets seem hard to find.

Archives.org has a bunch of old 78s. Search for artists by name.
Angryjim.com has a bunch of digitized Sol Hoopii stuff, including his spiritual stuff. Some can be downloaded. He also has a good version of Sol's Aloha Oe Blues!

Keith Aiken wrote:how would this benefit an average steel guitar player from any area other than where the collections are located that wanted to hear any of this? i know of several collections at places of higher learning.i inquired of both & was denied any access. one such looked as if they were digitized.

I'm an old time banjo player, originally, and there are so many people out there that have digitized old time blue grass and early country 78s that I've taken out for granted. Now that I'm interested in early Hawaiian lap steel, I'm flummoxed by how difficult it is to find this stuff. Even most of the old cd sets seem hard to find.

Archives.org has a bunch of old 78s. Search for artists by name.
Angryjim.com has a bunch of digitized Sol Hoopii stuff, including his spiritual stuff. Some can be downloaded. He also has a good version of Sol's Aloha Oe Blues!

I know the guy that runs Honking Duck, and hand mutual friends of the person that hosts Juneberry 78s. If there were folks with digitized Hawaiian music, one of them might host it, offering a wider public access.

In case there is still interest in this, the page at the link in Kirk's opening post has an email contact link. So I emailed the archives department to ask about this. I got a very prompt and full response from Adam Jansen, PhD, State Archivist.

From his response I conclude that getting this material organized and digitized is expected to take a long time. He asked me to paste his response on the SGF so I am doing so. Here is the entire email conversation. As usual, the chronological reading order is from the bottom.

Thank you, Adam for this prompt and full response. I now understand that the work of classifying and digitizing the material is a big job and is only just beginning. I am guessing that your resources for getting the work done are smaller than you might wish. Good luck with this endeavor.

I will copy your reply and post it to the SGF. In the event you would like to join the SGF there is only a nominal fee of five dollars. There frequently are threads related to Hawaiian music in the "Steel Without Pedals" section. I am sure the members would welcome your contributions about Hawaiian music and musicians. The main page with a link to join the SGF is at https://steelguitarforum.com/

Again, I certainly appreciate you taking time to respond to my inquiry.

Best regards,
Dale

On 2/26/2022 7:09 PM, Jansen, Adam wrote:
> Aloha e Dale
>
> Mahalo nui (thanks much) for reaching out to the Public Archives of Hawaii. I am very pleased to read the excitement our project is generating so very far from home.
>
> I would have posted myself, but I dont have a membership to the forum.If you wouldn't mind posting what's below, please do so on my behalf.
>
> mahalo
> Adam
>
> And now a word from the Hawai'i State Archives:
> Aloha mai kakou (let there be aloha among us)
> I am so very pleased to see that our project has generated interest beyond our fair isles. To provide a little bit of background on the project, we have indeed been donated the impressive collection of Michael Scott (https://hsga.org/in-memoriam/), steel guitarist and Hawaiian music aficionado, formally of Mike "Malahini" Scott and the Hawaiianaires (https://www.hawaiianaires.com/). There are an estimated 6000 78s and another 3200 LPs, along with ~100 1/4" reel to reel recordings of mid-90s, early 2000 Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association conferences.
>
> As one can imagine, that is a LOT of material to have to organize. The process of sorting and digitizing this collection is 100% community volunteer driven. We have started the process of alphabetizing the materials so that we can prioritize the digitization process. This includes both the records and the sheet music. We anticipate that the 'bringing order from chaos' portion of the process will take a year, then we will be cleaning and indexing the materials as they get digitized (estimated start next year). Once that process commences, anything that is out of copyright (our first priority) will be freely available online at the Hawaii State Digital Archives (https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/). Access to copyrighted material will require coming to the Archives to listen, but we are making arrangements to open up online access to educational institutions (starting in Hawaii and increasing access as other educational institutions request such) with no login or account needed. I am working with our Deputy Attorney General to see how much of a song we can allow to put online as a 'preview' without violating copyright. Currently, we are hoping to allow the first 30secs of every song to be globally accessible. I realize this isn't quite the access you all were hoping for, but we have to walk that delicate line between access and artist rights. I have noticed a a large selection of Andy Iona, the McIntires, Sol Ho'opi'i, Tommy Castro, etc., so it will be worth the wait.
>
> As mentioned in this thread, Kilin Reece, luthier extraordinaire and Hawaiian Music Historian, has partnered with the Public Archives of Hawaii through his amazing non-profit the Kealakai Center for Pacific Strings (https://www.kcpstrings.com/) to develop an online museum as a centralized resource for contextualized, curated history of Hawaiian Music. We are hoping that, as a museum, he will be able to provide longer/extended access to key pieces of music that shaped the history and evolution of Hawaiian stringed instruments.
>
> What was not mentioned in the radio interview is that we have also been gifted the Territorial Airwaves Archives, the longest running Hawaiian music radio program in Hawaii (and likely the world) https://territorialairwaves.com/. This looks to be another 10,000ish records, as well as three generations of Hawaiian Radio DJ materials -- photos, letters, sheet music (Harry B. Soria, Jr followed his father and grandfather into the business).
>
> If you would like to support our initiatives, donations are welcome to the Hawaiian Music Archives Foundation (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_b ... 8G6RZ63A3L). The Foundation is dedicated to providing the tools, equipment, and supplies needed to archival process and digitize these materials for public access.
>
> As word spreads, we are receiving more offers to donate records, sheet music, and instrument collections - and so the Hawaiian Music Archives grows. This is a very exciting time for us as we expand to become one of the largest resources on Hawaiian Music to be found anywhere. If you ever do find yourself in Honolulu, please do stop in -- I would love to drop a needle on a record or two in your honor. Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at adam.jansen@hawaii.gov
>
> Mahalo Nui (thanks much)
> Adam
>
> Adam Jansen, PhD
> State Archivist
> Hawaii State Archives
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: DAGS Archives Historic Records Branch <archives>
> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2022 1:25 PM
> To: Jansen, Adam <adam>
> Subject: Fw: [EXTERNAL] Playable or downloadable music files?
>
> For your response?
>
> The link is to a thread about your interview on HPR, but not sure if the person misunderstood or taking things out of context - so not sure what they meant by "a post about the possibility of playing music from the archives. " And as to "online music files" - um, yeah that is like way in the future.
>
> Please "CC" archives@hawaii.gov when you respond so I know this was responded to.
>
> Mahalo,
>
> Ju Sun
>
> Hawaiʻi State Archives
>
>
> ‘Iolani Palace Grounds
> 364 S. King Street
> Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813
> Phone:(808) 586-0329
> Fax: (808) 586-0330
> e-mail: archives@hawaii.gov
>
> From: Dale Lee
> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2022 11:14 AM
> To: DAGS Archives Historic Records Branch <archives>
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Playable or downloadable music files?
>
> Hi Archives,
>
> I am a member of the Steel Guitar Forum (SGF), which is an online discussion board for steel guitar players. Many of the members of the SGF have a strong interest in Hawaiian music. Recently there was a post about the possibility of playing music from the archives. See this link for details:
>
> https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... highlight=
>
> Can you provide any information whether such online music files are available in the archive, and if so how to access them?
>
> Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> Dale Lee
> Raleigh, NC

I've posted this link before, but there is tons of great steel guitar on stations that broadcast from Hawaii on Radio Garden. Old & new: http://radio.garden/visit/hanalei-hi/P9vYrULr

Territorial Airwaves was mentioned and I can not speak highly enough of this vast and wonderful resource of Hawaiian Music!

Check it out:

https://territorialairwaves.com

Sane person? Meh. Sanity is overrated

If it is a lack of sanity that makes me want to sit around a listen to hours of Hawaiian steel guitar, well, bring on the straitjacket

Thank you for the link

but we are making arrangements to open up online access to educational institutions

does that mean that eventually i will be able through my local library to listen to the archives? do i have to be enrolled in say the university of chapel hill or such?

walk that delicate line between access and artist rights.

i get it that those that own copyrights should make money from those copyrights. as soon as they start releasing dick mcintire & sol hooppii box sets i'll buy em.

i think the average person does not know or care what a steel guitar is. much less want to hear or study the master steel guitar players from the past.

i hope the average person in hawaii will be extremely interested in the collection. it is only right that they can access their musical heritage. but it looks like the collection maybe falling into a black hole for the rest of us