For those of us in the phonograph branch of the hobby, 10-inch 78s of
Hawaiian music (many of them black label acoustic Victors) seem to be
all TOO plentiful. Whenever I come across what looks to be a nice
cache of clean 78s for sale in a flea market or antique mall, it seems
that the majority of them are Hawaiian tunes. When I played some of
them as a kid, my mom used to say that they sounded like a bunch of
alley cats howling out on the back fence!
When I got my player piano about 3 years ago, a friend gave me a box
of rolls he'd come across somewhere. Two of the rolls were "Hawaiian
Medleys" (featuring tunes such as "On the Beach At Wakikii.") After my
experience with Hawaiian on phonograph, I put off playing these rolls
as long as possible.
When I finally pumped them up, though...what a pleasant surprise!
These rolls are wild, raggy, orchestrated romps, with fun counter-
melodies, etc. -- they make my humble piano sound like a nickelodeon.
I haven't bought any other Hawaiian rolls since, and I'm wondering if I
just "lucked out" on these two...are the majority of them pretty tired?
JIm Canavan
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