Ray Kane, Master of Slack-Key Guitar, Dies at 82

By MARGALIT FOX [New York Times]

Ray Kane, an internationally known master of the Hawaiian slack-key
guitar, died last Wednesday [February 27, 2008] in Honolulu [Hawaii].
He was 82 and lived in Nanakuli [Hawaii], on the island of Oahu
[Hawaii].

The cause was respiratory failure, his wife, Elodia, said.

Though Mr. Kane (pronounced KAH-neh) did not consider himself a
professional musician until he was in middle age, he is widely
credited with helping revive interest in his instrument in Hawaii and
around the world. A welder by trade who learned the slack-key guitar
as a boy, he was among the first people to bring the instrument into
the concert hall.

In the traditional Hawaiian slack-key style, the strings of a standard
guitar are tuned down -- that is, slackened. This unorthodox tuning
lets the guitarist play a full, resonant chord simply by strumming all
six open strings at once, without having to use the left hand on the
fret board. The resulting music, which is also characterized by
traditional rhythms and ornamentation, is often described as liquid,
rippling and hypnotic.

Every slack-key player tunes the instrument differently, and the
tunings, which were often passed down in families, could be guarded as
fiercely as any trade secret. Mr. Kane usually tuned his guitar to
match his singing voice, approximately G major.

The slack-key guitar has its roots in the 19th century, when Spanish
and Mexican vaqueros came to Hawaii to herd cattle. They brought their
guitars with them. In the decades that followed the slack-key style,
known in Hawaiian as "ki hoalu," developed spontaneously in the
islands. In the early 20th century, it could still be heard
everywhere: at luaus, on the beaches and in family homes. But by the
end of World War II, slack-key guitar, like many traditional Hawaiian
arts, had begun to wane.

Raymond Kaleoalohapoinaoleohelemanu Kane was born on October 2, 1925,
on the island of Kauai and reared on Oahu. (His middle name, quite
prophetically, means "the voice of love that comes and goes like a
bird and will never be forgotten.")

At 4, Ray learned the ukulele and the standard guitar from his father.
At 9, he became entranced with the slack-key guitar after hearing a
local man play it on the beach. A skilled fisherman even as a child,
Ray traded fish for guitar lessons. After serving in the Army Air
Forces during World War II, Mr. Kane returned to Hawaii, performing
mostly for family and friends.

In the early 1960s, Mr. Kane made his first recordings, singing and
playing his own compositions as well as traditional songs. In 1973, he
gave what is believed to have been the first full-length solo slack-
key guitar recital, at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. The
concert brought renewed attention to the instrument.

Mr. Kane taught widely for many years and performed in Hawaii, on the
United States mainland and in Japan. In 1987, he was named a National
Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Besides his wife, Elodia, a traditional singer who often performed
him, Mr. Kane is survived by a sister; 2 brothers; 7 children; 20
grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and 2 great-great-
grandchildren.

Among his albums are "Master of the Slack Key Guitar" (Rounder
Records, 1988); "Punahele" (Dancing Cat Records, 1994); and
"Wa'ahila" (Dancing Cat, 1998).

In an interview from the mid-1970s quoted on the Web site
allmusic.com, Mr. Kane expressed surprise at his celebrated career.

"I don't know why they picked me," he said. "I wasn't famous. I wasn't
playing anywhere. I was just trying to stick to the style I learned
back in the 1930s."



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/arts/music/05kane.html?ref=obituaries