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Topic: David Kelii w Al Perry Surf Riders transcription disc |
Chris Clem
From:
California, USA
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David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
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Posted 5 Jul 2020 1:44 pm |
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Such beautiful recordings! David Keli'i's tone and technique are the benchmark of Hawaiian steel guitar. Here is a photo from the period. The musicians are probably on the recordings.
L-R: David Kupele (bass),Andrew Bright,George Kainapau, Al Perry,Kalakaua Aylett, David Keli'i, John Leal.
At rear? Wahine?
_________________
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 5 Jul 2020 6:01 pm
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I believe that David Keli'i is to the right side of photo between and just behind the ukulele player and the rhythm guitar player.
Here is an older David:
Last edited by Don Kona Woods on 5 Jul 2020 6:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Scott Thomas
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Posted 5 Jul 2020 6:45 pm
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Yes Don, notice the bit of his frying pan he's holding. David Kelli'i is my favorite steel player. This is so great...thanks for posting, Chris!
Also it sounds like Dave Kaleipua Munson's (of Kalama's Quartet) inimitable voice? |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 6 Jul 2020 3:48 am
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Thanks, Chris. David was a master of the instrument! What I really dig about Keli'i's playing is that there's a feeling of looseness and freedom tied together with a sense of precision when he hits a note or chord; hard to describe exactly but it always feels right.
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com
Last edited by Andy Volk on 7 Jul 2020 12:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Roger Fletcher
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 6 Jul 2020 11:37 pm
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Another of JB's articles from the 1970s:
"ANYONE who doesn't know, or recognise the name DAVID KELII and what it means to the history of the "steel" guitar, really does not know too much about the instrument. I would hesitate to estimate what it would have been without David Kelii. He has been the inspiration of students and even many professional steel guitarists the world over, especially in the U.S., Canada, and points west — all the way to the Orient. Myself included. Anyone of us "older" guys and gals who used to listen faithfully each Saturday afternoon to "Hawaii Calls" in the late '30s and '40s will always remember hearing David's soulful, plaintive yet exciting sounds as he played over the sound of the surf rolling in to Waikiki beach by the old Moana Hotel from under the old Banyan tree. Both are still there—the hotel and the "older" Banyan tree. For many years there were only those two still remaining—David had gone away to the "Big Island" (America) to make his fortune. Now once again the three are back together, for David returned "home" last year and is once again playing shows in and around Waikiki. The circle has been joined.
Music "didn't pay"
David was born on the island of Maui in a lovely old Hawaiian town by the name of Lahaina.
When he was seven years old, his family moved to the island of Molokai to a village called "Kamalo", which in translation means "a dry place". When he was 10 or so, he recalls listening to his brother Joe play the first steel guitar music he had ever heard. The guitar was "home-made" and was constructed of koa — a Hawaiian hardwood. David recalled to me that "Joe was really good for those days" and could have played professionally had he wished—but "not on Molokai"! A man worked—he didn't play music! Besides, it didn't pay anything in those times, and their father was dead set against it. "Play music for fun—not for work"!
But young David "copped" on to that guitar and played with it every moment he could, but later he finally got one of his own; "somewhere". "To elevate the strings," David said, "I took a pocket comb and broke all the teeth out of it and fitted it over the nut. For a steel bar I used a pocket knife." He explained that in those days, and especially on remote Molokai, no one could have found any steel with which to make a bar, or a machine to tool it. No "store bought" bars, or even finger picks were available, so he had to invent his own. All he had was a thumb pick.
No short cuts
So — here he goes — off into a career with nothing to go on. But he did have the one most important thing of all: desire. And at this point I would like to add an insight that I have found from having worked with so many of today's great musicians and that is this: Talent is about 10% of it—desire is 90%. There are no "short cuts"!!
David lived on Molokai until he was around 18 or 19 years old, then left during, or shortly after the worst of the "great depressions" He then came to the big city—Honolulu, and got a job as a stevedore then a truck driver. In 1934 he then returned to Maui and was a bus driver. But all the while he was still "hammering" at that steel guitar. And improving. Then back to Honolulu! He then started playing with a group of wahines (ladies) who called themselves the "Royal Hawaiian Glee Club". The Guerrero family were the mainstays of the group. (There are still a lot of Guerreros playing in Hawaii!) The group was appearing at a political rally at the old Honolulu
airport one day in 1936 when Simeon Bright (of another famous Hawaiian music family) heard David playing. Simeon, his brother, Andy, Frank Cockett on bass and one "Sonny" Harbottle on ukulele (these are all Hawaiian boys, understand!) along with Al Kealoha Perry, comprised a group known as the "Honolulu Hale". Hale (Hah-lay) means "house" and they were all employed by the city of Honolulu to work in city jobs. They played music "on the side"—as they were doing this day at the rally. "Hired on the spot"
Simeon Bright, after hearing David play steel, went and told Al Perry that they should hire this guy on the spot. And they did. Later, this group became the original "Singing Surf riders" and were hired by Webley Edwards to do Hawaii Calls on world-wide radio. From then on, David Kelii's steel guitar artistry became known and recognised the world over and he later recorded albums on Decca and RCA with the "Surfriders".
In 1952 he suddenly left Hawaii and Hawaii Calls and went to Los Angeles and later to Las Vegas in 1958. He worked in the top Hawaiian revues the last one being with Nalani Kele at the Stardust which lasted 14 years!
Then last year he came back home —to stay. Hawaii needs him and so does Hawaiian music.
David used a six-string Rickenbacker "frypan" for years on Hawaii Calls and later added an Epiphone, giving him two necks and two tunings. But—he would change tunings while the group was singing and so it sounded to the listener like he had three or four guitars working! He now uses a Rickenbacker triple-neck, eight strings per neck and tunes them to E-13th, B-llth, and C-6th tunings.
I recently produced a beautiful record album of David for Maple Records of Toronto, Canada. It was his first solo album (after all these years) and you simply must get it for your collections. It will most definitely be a collector's item! It was a proud moment for me and a high compliment to be asked to do this with David Kelii. After all—if it were not for guys like him, there wouldn't be guys like me! And so it goes. We both hope that we can pass it on to the young—the youth of Hawaii and see that steel guitar will be in Hawaii and in its music forever." |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2020 7:10 am
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Good article! 
Erv |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2020 11:59 am
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This is fantastic stuff, his playing really does something for me
Thanks |
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