OBIT Raymond Kane RIP (Mar 2008) Slack Key Master

Subject: Obit: Raymond Kane RIP (March 2008)
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 11:02 AM

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

Subject: RE: Obit: Raymond Kane RIP (March 2008)
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 12:41 PM

Oh, this is so sad. I love his playing. I have the first album they mention, though it is Masters of the Steel String Guitar, with other performers on it. The latter two listed were solely him.

Here's more about him at Dancing Cat.

Thanks for the Beauty and Heart-filled love and joy through your wonderful music, talent, and sharing, Mr. Kane. We were honoured.

Subject: RE: Raymond Kane RIP (Mar 2008) Slack Key Master
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 03:36 PM

Rest in Peace...

Subject: RE: OBIT Raymond Kane RIP (Mar 2008) Slack Key Ma
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 11:52 AM

Here's some more, from one of the local papers there:



By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

RAYMOND K. KANE

Full name: Raymond Kaleoalohapoina'oleohelemanu Kane. His middle name translates to "the voice of love that comes and goes like a bird and will never be forgotten," said to describe his personality.

Born: Oct. 2, 1925, in 'Ele'ele, Kaua'i.

Awards: National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Foundation, acknowledging him as a folk arts treasure (1987); Lifetime Achievement Na Hoku Hanohano Award from the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts (2003).

Signature tunes: "Punahele," "Wai O Ke Aniani," "Popoki Slack Key."

Slack-key master Raymond Kaleoalohapoina'oleohelemanu Kane, who as a youth caught fish off the Wai'anae Coast to trade for guitar lessons, died Wednesday night at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. He was 82.

Kane shared his ki ho'alu artistry with students and audiences around the world, bringing old-world traditions to the limelight. He was well known for his musical dexterity as well as his roguish personality, virtues that made him a cultural ambassador and beloved icon of a generation.

"He was 7 or 8 when he first heard ki ho'alu, being played by a Hawaiian man," recalled Bobby Moderow, a singer-musician with the group Maunalua who was both a pupil and a friend of Kane. "This man, Albert Kawelo, would chase Uncle Raymond away. Uncle would be told, 'Get out of here, kolohe kid,' but the next night, he went back to listen. 'I love your music,' he told the man, 'and I want to learn.' "

"You catch mackerel," Kane told Kawelo. "You no like mempachi (squirrelfish), or kumu with the big eye? I go catch — you teach."

That's how Kane first ventured into the artistry of ki ho'alu, since no one in his family knew how to strum the guitar with loosened strings in his early years, said Moderow.

Kane contracted emphysema while working as a ship welder during World War II and struggled with serious health issues since the 1980s, close friends said. But he carved out a notable career as a slack-key guitarist, widening audiences and appreciation with his unconventional style.

"Two in one week — Hawaiians say things do happen in threes and that's worrisome," said Jay W. Junker, longtime music and cultural observer, of Kane's passing Wednesday, just two days after revered falsetto singer Aunty Genoa Keawe's death.

Kane and Keawe were cousins. "In both cases, they were ill a long time," said Junker. "But Uncle, back in 1982, was told he wouldn't live the night, and like Aunty Genoa's, his life was a triumph of the human spirit. They both handled illness with dignity and bravery."

Kane earned a reputation as cultural ambassador. "He was one of the first masters of slack key to give public concerts and tour extensively outside of Hawai'i, and he taught students from all over the world — the Mainland, Europe, Japan. And everyone was welcome; he was inclusive," Junker said. "He made everybody feel wanted, and a part of what they were sharing. This not only made an impact on musicians, but also on widening the audience and the support of the music and the values of Hawaiian culture."

Moderow was an eager 17-year-old when he called the master teacher Kane in Wai'anae.

"Who's this?" Kane shouted to Moderow in a somewhat gruff tone. "You like learn from me? You not going waste my time? When you like start, tomorrow?"

It was a typical Kane practice, to challenge and entice his pupils and draw them into his world of aloha and culture. His performance wizardry and his teaching savvy earned him a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1987.

Kane believed in sharing his music on concert stages, in documentaries and in recordings here and abroad.

"If we don't share slack key, we'll lose it," he once said of his artistry. "That almost happened once, so we have to watch out."

His wife of 41 years, Elodia Kane, said, "He was very kolohe, and very proud to be a son of Hawai'i. His dream was always to perpetuate the Hawaiian slack-key guitar and to pass it on to whomever wanted to learn."

Kane played by ear and learned by watching and listening to others.

"Even though he was completely deaf on the right side, he still could tell when somebody's key was off," said Elodia Kane. "I was amazed. And not too many people knew; that's why he raised his guitar close to his (right) ear when he played."

Kane also was a small-kid-time hero during World War II.

"He was called the hero of Nanakuli early in his life, because as a young boy, he and a friend saw two guys stranded (in the ocean)," said Harry B. Soria Jr., host of the Internet radio show "Territorial Tavern." "Two Navy pilots went down in a plane, and Raymond and his friend went out there to save them, brought them to shore."

Kane was born on Kaua'i and raised in Nanakuli on the Wai'anae Coast, where his stepfather worked as a fisherman. On his mother's side, he was related to numerous Island entertainers, including Genoa Keawe, Andy Cummings and Marlene Sai. Other industry kinfolk are Melveen Leed, Ledward and Nedward Ka'apana and the late Dennis Pavao.

"Raymond taught guitar to a lot of people," said longtime friend Eddie Kamae, who shared a room with Kane in Waikiki in the '60s. "He was very kolohe. ... He had a great sense of humor."

Kane is survived by his wife, Elodia; sons Dennis and Michael; daughters Joann Kailiwa'i, Raynette Moana Arakaki, Faith Kane and Ninyo Estores; sister Aileen Perry; brothers Abraham Panoke and Kenneth Panoke; 20 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren.

Services are pending. Hosoi Mortuary is handling arrangements.