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One-Two-Three-Four

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With the current Tiki Revival's emphasis on the mid-20th century, it's sometimes easy to forget that there was a much earlier age of Polynesian Pop. In a fascinating bit of musical detective work, Ukulelia reveals how a play that ripped off Madame Butterfly and "the worst song ever written" may have sparked America's first love affair with Hawaiian music. [Link]

Comments

fascinating. i remember being surprised that there was a ukuleili(sp?) in the 1928 film "the crowd". interesting to see how far back some of these things go.

I'm not exactly sure when ukuleles made their first appearance in mainland music and film, but Hawaiian sheet music was being published as far back as the 1870s.

are you getting a mr.rapanui grill?

It's pretty cool, but not very practical for serious grilling, which I do a lot of, and it's also quite expensive.