Keech and Kekuku On Record!

Some of you may remember last year when I wrote a few pieces about Alvin Keech, one of the people who “invented” the banjo ukulele. (Catch up here and here.) In that discussion, we marveled over the photos of Alvin Keech and Joseph Kekuku, the originator of the Hawaiian steel guitar.

Kilin Reece just posted that a friend of his named Kealoha Wong found three tracks that Kekuku recorded with an African-American duo called Layton and Johnstone. (Their story is incredible, including some amazing intersections of class, race and nationality along with the music.) Of the three tracks, the only one with Keech is "I’ll See You In My Dreams.” You have to be on Spotify to listen, sorry about that, but it’s worth it. The embedded player below is only a sample, but I think if you click through to Spotify you can hear it all.

I love that we finally get to hear Keech play his syncopated banjo uke along with Kekuku’s steel guitar so well recorded. It really is an interesting mixture of the pop music of the day and Hawaiian music traditions.

Thanks for keeping the lights on…

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