Kika Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music

by John W. Troutman

Since the nineteenth century, the distinct tones of k& 299;k& 257; kila, the Hawaiian steel guitar, have defined the island sound. Here historian and steel guitarist John W. Troutman offers the instrument's definitive history, from its discovery by a young Hawaiian royalist named Joseph Kekuku to its revolutionary influence on American and world music. During the early twentieth century, Hawaiian musicians traveled the globe, from tent shows in the Mississippi Delta, where they shaped the new sounds of country and the blues, to regal theaters and vaudeville stages in New York, Berlin, Kolkata, and beyond. In the process, Hawaiian guitarists recast the role of the guitar in modern life. But as Troutman explains, by the 1970s the instrument's embrace and adoption overseas also worked to challenge its cultural legitimacy in the eyes of a new generation of Hawaiian musicians. As a consequence, the indigenous instrument nearly disappeared in its homeland.

Using rich musical and historical sources, including interviews with musicians and their descendants, Troutman provides the complete story of how this Native Hawaiian instrument transformed not only American music but the sounds of modern music throughout the world.

Genres: Music, History, American History

372 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2016

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a lot in this book that I believe would be interesting to someone who knows and likes Hawaiian music while not necessarily being personally involved with the steel guitar. To a steel guitar player, it is wonderful. The book is fascinating and explains a lot. I, like many, originally was drawn to Hawaiian music without knowing anything about it. I knew what I didn’t like and I knew what pleased me. In the late 1970’s and early to mid-1980’s I used to go to Borders Books in the Ward Center in Honolulu on my trips there where you could sample music to one’s heart’s delight. I bought what appealed not knowing then the importance of Sol, Tau Moe, Aunty Genoa, Gabby, et al. It turns out that I bought well (mostly).

But I didn’t really understand the history of Hawaiian performers and the music styles they performed. George Kanahele’s Encyclopedia of Hawaiian Music and Musicians is a wonderful reference, but it really doesn’t tell a story. He does pose the question in his first few pages: “What is Hawaiian music?” The answer of course is that is many things (some of which can make be cringe). I didn’t know why the instrument and music I love and have learned to play (after a fashion) has essentially disappeared from the Hawaiian scene and repertoire. I did not know the relationship of the music of the 1880’s to what came later. I did not know how it was that so many Hawaiian steel guitar-based groups and performers came to tour the world and how it came to be so popular. I did not know the role that politics and sociology and economics played in the Hawaiian musician diaspora after the overthrow. I didn’t know that Joseph Kekuku (inventor of the steel guitar) opened a steel guitar school at 217 Leavenworth Street in San Francisco years before the Panama Pacific Exposition. The book is a good read, incredibly well researched evidencing a keen eye as well as a good deal of wit and a sense of irony. I took a lot from this book including the fact that there is an awful lot more for me to learn.