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A Chant About the Beauty of the Moon at Night: Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913​-​1921

by Magnificent Sounds Records

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    includes 4 bonus tracks and digital booklet
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • Vinyl LP (colored vinyl)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    150g "tropical hardwood" colored vinyl

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Chant About the Beauty of the Moon at Night: Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Deluxe Bundle (LP + zine + sticker)

    includes 150g "tropical hardwood" colored vinyl LP, vinyl sticker, and limited-edition 28pg booklet featuring performer bios, rare photos, original press clippings, and other historical material. Only 20 available!

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  • CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    includes 4 additional bonus tracks, plus 12-page booklet with extensive liner notes and rare photos.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Chant About the Beauty of the Moon at Night: Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Vinyl LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A collection of rare original recordings, unheard for over a century, of captivating Hawaiian steel guitar music that influenced the first generation of Delta blues and country artists, changing the sound of music forever. Ghostly transmissions from paradise, beamed across time from a lost century, carefully remastered and restored with extensive historical notes & rare photos. Most tracks have been unissued in any format since their original release over 100 years ago.

    150g black vinyl

    "Reissue of the Issue" -- Maggot Brain magazine (Summer 2022 issue)

    "Best New Reissues of 2022" -- PAM (Pan African Music Magazine)

    "The influence of the indigenous style on everything from Delta blues to country music would go underrepresented in our music histories for over a century, but documents like A Chant About the Beauty of the Moon at Night are valuable for setting the record straight." -- Bandcamp Daily (Album of the Day)

    "there are few sounds more beautiful" -- Burning Ambulance

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Chant About the Beauty of the Moon at Night: Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more

    Sold Out

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about

A collection of rare original recordings, unheard for over a century, of captivating Hawaiian steel guitar music that influenced the first generation of Delta blues and country artists, changing the sound of music forever. Ghostly transmissions from paradise, beamed across time from a lost century, carefully remastered and restored with extensive historical notes & rare photos.

Predating the craze for kitschy Westernized “hot” Hawaiian music, the raw recordings here represent the original sounds of the Hawaiian islands that took America by storm in the early years of the 20th century. In 1893 the native Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown by US-backed business interests. Fleeing a repressive regime that even banned the Hawaiian language itself, hundreds of native Hawaiian musicians emigrated to the United States. In a few short years they had conquered America, as audiences flocked by the millions to hear native Hawaiian musicians perform anti-colonial protest songs of Hawaiian independence while playing a unique new Hawaiian invention: the steel guitar.

By 1916 Hawaiian music was the bestselling genre of recorded music in United States. From the biggest cities to the most isolated rural towns, millions of Americans flocked to see touring Hawaiian steel guitarists perform using never-before-seen sliding techniques that produced strange new sounds which audiences found electrifying. It was in some of these isolated Southern towns that pioneering black musicians like Leadbelly, Son House, and Tampa Red first heard Hawaiian guitarists playing steel guitar and began to imitate their slide techniques, bringing a new style of guitar playing to bear on blues music and changing the sound of America forever.

While to Western ears these songs sound jovial and romantic, they also carry other layers of meaning. By celebrating the Hawaiian language, landscape, and people, the music gave voice to a resistance against the white colonial interests that had seized the Hawaiian government. Other songs openly critical of the regime and called for the restoration of native rule, and many were even written by the deposed royal family. Just beneath the surface of these beautiful melodies that spoke of soft waves, warm breezes, and moonlight were political messages about colonialism and white supremacy that resonated deeply with Hawaiian listeners.

Too often, indigenous stories are written out of American history, particularly when it comes to music. This release seeks to bring new attention to the groundbreaking contributions of pioneering Hawaiian artists to the sound of American popular music, as well as transport listeners back to a now-forgotten period of American history when millions of Americans, of every color and walk of life, were obsessed with the innovative, stridently-political, deeply-evocative sounds of native Hawaiian steel guitar music.

All of these tracks have been lovingly restored from original 78rpm releases. Most of them have been unissued in any format since their original release over 100 years ago.

Vinyl, CD, and digital versions all come with extensive liner notes featuring historical info and rare photos. CD and digital editions feature 4 additional bonus tracks not found on the LP.


"Reissue of the Issue" -- Maggot Brain magazine (summer 2022)

"Best New Reissues of 2022" -- Pan African Music magazine

"The influence of the indigenous style on everything from Delta blues to country music would go underrepresented in our music histories for over a century, but documents like A Chant About the Beauty of the Moon at Night are valuable for setting the record straight." -- Bandcamp Daily

"There are few sounds more beautiful..." -- Burning Ambulance

credits

released March 31, 2022

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Magnificent Sounds Records Buffalo, New York

reissuing historical recordings from around the world

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