Nalu Music

The original Nalu Music website, 2001-2007

I’m in the process of transforming the Nalu Music Ukulele Arcade website from static html to php driven by WordPress; I’m making changes as time allows and for the present will maintain a “lite” version of the old site—Nalu Music Classic—as a link in the sidebar. Pages on the original site that have been integrated into the new design will be redirected here. My decision to update was hastened by an increase in fees from my previous webhost and its lack of features (no MySQL database, etc.) which are now common with most providers at much less expense. The interactive part of the old Nalu design was constantly under seige from spammers and I was compelled to disable posting privileges for all, which I regretted very much. The WordPress “comments” function promises to be more manageable. We’ll see …

Among the improvements are a central “store” listing the products we produce and sell, all on a single page. The most exciting addition is Ho‘o Nalu (see below), a weblog that I hope you will find interesting and informative. I’d love to hear your comments.

Nalu Music has a small but dedicated readership for which I am grateful.

Uke on!

John King

Ho‘o Nalu, the Nalu Music weblog

“Now’s the Day and Now’s the Hour” was the headline of the San Francisco Chronicle on February 20th, 1915, proclaiming the opening of the Panama-Pacific International Expostion. A multi-national celebration, the Exposition commemorated the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and the completion of the Panama Canal. More significantly, it heralded the resurrection of the city of San Francisco following the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire. The P.P.I.E. is often regarded as the spark that ignited the craze for Hawaiian music (and the ‘ukulele) on the U.S. Mainland; a much wider audience experienced the enchanting songs of the Islands at that event than ever before. Although Hawaiian music had been popular on the West Coast since the early 1890s, for the majority of visitors from the South, East and Midwest it was something completely new.

In The Story of the Exposition (New York, 1921) historian Frank Morton Todd wrote:

“People were about ready for a new sensation in popular music at the time of the Exposition, and the sweet voices of the Hawaiians raised in those haunting minor melodies … were enough to start another musical vogue. To this the exhibit of Jonah Kumalae of Honolulu ministered, for he showed Hawaiian ukuleles and taro-patch fiddles.”

The image at the top this page is a panoramic photograph taken on June 11, 1915, Hawaiian Day at the P.P.I.E. Celebrated on King Kamehameha’s birthday, Hawaiian Day featured a speech by the territorial governor, Lucius Pinkham, a ceremonial tree planting (royal palm), a reception at the Hawaiian Building and a presentation on the lagoon of the Fine Arts Palace in the evening entitled “A Night in Hawaii,” as well as a luncheon and ball given by the exposition directors. “Dancing and Music Mark Celebration of Islanders” reported the Chronicle on June 12th, while a smaller tagline noted “Governor Pinkham Speaks for Immediate Strengthening of Oahu Defenses.”

The event pictured in the blog header was probably the afternoon reception. On the left is Henry Kailimai (ukulele in hand) and his quartet on the steps of the Hawaiian Building and to their left are dignitaries standing in front of a bunting made from a huge Hawaiian flag. The throng of fairgoers stretches from the Palace of Food Products on the right across to the Esplanade the runs in front of the California Building in the background. The crowd is a metaphor for the oncoming wave of interest in Hawaiian music and culture.

In the spirit of celebration and commemoration, this blog is dedicated to preserving and promoting a modest bit of history: the story of the ‘ukulele. Now’s the day and now’s the hour.