"Kai maia o ka maoli"
Helen Louise & Frank Ferera
Victor 18157
1916
Helen Louise and her husband Frank Ferera enjoyed great success until she died mysteriously in 1919, drowning in the Pacific as a steamship was taking her to Seattle.
Helen Louise Greenus--her name before marriage--was a Seattle native.
Her childhood home was on the West slope of Capitol Hill (1616 Summit Avenue).
Their Edison recording debut, as Helen Louise and Palakiko Ferreira, was "Medley of Hawaiian Airs--No. 1," issued on Blue Amberol 2917..
Frank Ferera introduced steel guitar and slide guitar playing to a worldwide audience.
He had more recording sessions than any other guitarist from 1915 to 1925.
He was not the first Hawaiian guitarist to record. That was probably Joseph Kekuku, the steel guitar's reputed inventor.
But Ferera was the first guitarist to enjoy success as a recording artist, his name familiar in catalogs of most record companies of the World War I era and 1920s.
His style was a forerunner of bottleneck playing on blues records and "steel" playing on country records. His records influenced many guitarists of his generation.
Hawaiian music had been recorded as early as the 1890s but was not popular on the mainland nor influential until the World War I era. The first records featuring authentic performances were made by the American Record Company.
Steel guitar virtuoso Frank Ferera--called Palakiko Ferreira on some early Edison recordings (others were credited to Palakiko's Hawaiian Orchestra)--was born on June 12, 1885, in Honolulu to Mary and Frank Ferreira.
He left for the mainland around the turn of the century.
He was featured on the cover of the December 1916 issue of Edison Phonograph Monthly, in which an article states, "Frank Ferera...has the distinction of being the one who first introduced the Hawaiian style of playing the guitar into the United States. It was in 1900 that he brought the first ukelele [sic] here and commenced to charm vaudeville audiences with the weird and plaintive effects he produced. For quite a while he had the field to himself....It is said that the Hawaiian style of playing the guitar was originated by a Portuguese sailor. Perhaps this has something to do with the tendency that Mr. Ferera had toward the ukelele for he, although of Hawaiian birth, is of Portuguese descent."
His first wife was Eva Perkins. After their divorce, he, married Helen Greenus, who played ukulele and guitar.
The two performed in vaudeville as Helen Louise and Frank Ferera.
When Hawaiian records became popular in 1916 and 1917, Louise and Ferera recorded prolifically, profiting from a heavy demand for Hawaiian records but also providing fuel for the craze with their many records featuring charming performances.
Interpretation was at times staid but intonation was clean and accurate, which is important in steel guitar playing since performers must rely on a good sense of pitch when sliding a bar of steel along strings.
Helen Louise & Frank Ferera
Victor 18157
1916
Helen Louise and her husband Frank Ferera enjoyed great success until she died mysteriously in 1919, drowning in the Pacific as a steamship was taking her to Seattle.
Helen Louise Greenus--her name before marriage--was a Seattle native.
Her childhood home was on the West slope of Capitol Hill (1616 Summit Avenue).
Their Edison recording debut, as Helen Louise and Palakiko Ferreira, was "Medley of Hawaiian Airs--No. 1," issued on Blue Amberol 2917..
Frank Ferera introduced steel guitar and slide guitar playing to a worldwide audience.
He had more recording sessions than any other guitarist from 1915 to 1925.
He was not the first Hawaiian guitarist to record. That was probably Joseph Kekuku, the steel guitar's reputed inventor.
But Ferera was the first guitarist to enjoy success as a recording artist, his name familiar in catalogs of most record companies of the World War I era and 1920s.
His style was a forerunner of bottleneck playing on blues records and "steel" playing on country records. His records influenced many guitarists of his generation.
Hawaiian music had been recorded as early as the 1890s but was not popular on the mainland nor influential until the World War I era. The first records featuring authentic performances were made by the American Record Company.
Steel guitar virtuoso Frank Ferera--called Palakiko Ferreira on some early Edison recordings (others were credited to Palakiko's Hawaiian Orchestra)--was born on June 12, 1885, in Honolulu to Mary and Frank Ferreira.
He left for the mainland around the turn of the century.
He was featured on the cover of the December 1916 issue of Edison Phonograph Monthly, in which an article states, "Frank Ferera...has the distinction of being the one who first introduced the Hawaiian style of playing the guitar into the United States. It was in 1900 that he brought the first ukelele [sic] here and commenced to charm vaudeville audiences with the weird and plaintive effects he produced. For quite a while he had the field to himself....It is said that the Hawaiian style of playing the guitar was originated by a Portuguese sailor. Perhaps this has something to do with the tendency that Mr. Ferera had toward the ukelele for he, although of Hawaiian birth, is of Portuguese descent."
His first wife was Eva Perkins. After their divorce, he, married Helen Greenus, who played ukulele and guitar.
The two performed in vaudeville as Helen Louise and Frank Ferera.
When Hawaiian records became popular in 1916 and 1917, Louise and Ferera recorded prolifically, profiting from a heavy demand for Hawaiian records but also providing fuel for the craze with their many records featuring charming performances.
Interpretation was at times staid but intonation was clean and accurate, which is important in steel guitar playing since performers must rely on a good sense of pitch when sliding a bar of steel along strings.
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Música