All I knew about her was that one song that had completely stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it, and still amazes me to this day. In a sense, what captivated me about the song is a bit of a gimmick. Ukulele, guitar, steel guitar, and double- bass rhythmically propel the song under her soaring vocal. That was her original studio version from her album Party Hulas. She was also, by all accounts, a wonderful human being. When we had contests with kids from outside Islands it was mainly Hawaiian songs.
I spoke English to her and she learned it from me⦠I guess everyone thinks their language is the most beautiful language, but I really think Hawaiian is so beautiful.
This was before World War II. We did a lot of pop tunes then. Almeida, the well-known blind Hawaiian multi-instrumentalist including ukulele and writer of more than songs. Somehow, amidst all that she managed to raise her family, eventually numbering 11 children. From the outset of her recording career, her repertoire mixed traditional Hawaiian songs with tunes popularized by the first generation of Hawaiian artists to make 78s, including one of her biggest influences, the great soprano Lena Machado.
She also had her ear out for contemporary numbers that fit her style, and wrote some songs of her own, too. She usually accompanied herself on ukulele, and sometimes featured her oldest son, Gary Aiko, on guitar, son Sam Aiko on bass, Benny Rogers on pedal steel guitar, and a variety of bass players, including her husband Edward who passed away in and Violet Lilikoi.
She taught herself ukulele at a very young age and was a steady and reliable rhythm player throughout her career; not flashy, but always supporting her vocals as needed. You can do the one-finger pick or the one-finger strum or you can do the fan strumβmy mom was doing the fan strum long before everybody else. Eventually it evolved to the concert Martin. At that time, Kamaka was not making high-end ukuleles; they were doing the Pineapples and the small sopranos, and Martin was the best-sounding uke.
