With Randy Wong, Founder of WAITIKI International and The WAITIKI 7
Looking for the Exotica (Exoticology) 101 Blog? This is it! We retitled it to match the deep thinking often posted. Thanks for dropping by! Grab the RSS feed to stay updated. Wale ki'aha!
A few days ago, I headed down to the Hawai’i State Library to do conduct some exotica and mixology research and came across a Nov. 12, 1961 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin mentioning that weekend’s Honolulu Symphony program. Among the featured performers was Jack Conner, a mallet player who was previously a member of the St. Louis Symphony, and later soloist with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra. I thought it interesting that the Honolulu Symphony would have a vibraphone soloist as its guest artist—given the popularity of the instrument during that time period in exotica (pop) music. I wonder if the Symphony players viewed the program as being more of a Pops concert or a regular classical one, and to what extent exotica’s popularity helped further Mr. Conner’s career as a vibes soloist. (It’d be a good conversation to have with him, although unfortunately I am about a decade too late; Mr. Conner passed away in 2001… obit is here).
But what precipitated the surge of vibraphonists in popular music? In his University of North Texas DMA dissertation titled, Extended Performance Techniques and Compositional Style in the Solo Concert Vibraphone Music of Christopher Deane, vibraphonist and composer Joshua Smith suggests the vibes’ roots stem from 1920s-era vaudeville performers like Louis Frank Chiha. Not surprising, since the vibes themselves were invented by Leedy around 1916, and rejiggered by Deagan in 1927 for its legendary Model 145. Dr. Smith writes,
The spread of vibraphone popularity is a direct result of the first commercial recording of the instrument, which occurred around 1924. At that time a popular vaudeville circuit artist named Louis Frank Chiha (also known as “Signor Friscoe”) recorded Aloha Oe and Gypsy Love Song using the Leedy vibraphone with revolving-disc pulsators. The popularity of Aloha Oe produced an influx of orders for the Leedy vibraphone. By the middle 1920’s, the vibraphone was an integral part of the dance orchestra.
Whoa. Hold on there… the pre-exotica popularity of the vibes can still be attributed to Hawaiian music? No way! Chiha’s 1924 recording predates the Gabby Pahinui recordings of “Ahulili” and “Hame Pila” I wrote about in 2007. Far out!!!
This is a subject, no doubt, this blog will return to. In the meantime, check out this compilation album of jazz vibists from ’37-’55!
“Poeme Electronique” was the world’s first multimedia installation piece. It was written for, and performed at, The Phillips Pavilion of the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels. Edgard Varese provided the audio for the installation; visuals (colored light and film projections) were designed by Iannis Xenaxis. Interestingly, though it is said that the audio and visual were developed independent of one another, both incorporate elements of exotica prevalent in pop-culture of that time (Martin Denny’s Exotica record was re-recorded for stereo that year).
In addition to the obvious visual elements, like the startling flashing images of Easter Island moai at 4:18 and 4:19, there are many aural elements that almost seem snipped from exotica records. What do you see or hear in Poeme Electronique that reminds you of exotica? Or is it a “feeling” or “vibe” you get from the experience that’s related to exotica?
The question at the heart of the debate of Exotica vs. The Other is finally voiced. Thankfully it comes from someone who knows jazz, Hawaii, and exotica. Nate Chinen, an esteemed jazz critic, known for his writings for the New York Times, JazzTimes, and Village Voice asks, “was Exotica a species of Hawaiian music” and follows it with a thoughtful commentary at his blog, The Gig. Chinen, who was born and raised in Honolulu, is no stranger to exotica or its musicians—he studied drums with Harold Chang, gigged with many of the Islands’ finest jazzers, and wrote remembrances of Arthur Lyman when Lyman passed away.
Exotica was by definition a mongrel genre, hovering not only between “modern” and “native” but also between the West and the Orient, between honor and exploitation, between shrewdness and kitsch. Because it was an instrumental pop music during the era when jazz was pop, there’s quite a bit of overlap in terms of style and repertoire. Musicians like Denny came from a similar school of thought as George Shearing, though their arranging strategies actually fell more in line, at the end of the day, with Sun Ra.
Check out the whole article online here. Nate wasn’t able to catch any of the shows during our East Coast tour, so if you saw and liked us, please comment below his post to let him know!
