Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 6, 1 June 2015 — Statue honors Hawaiian steel guitar inventor [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Statue honors Hawaiian steel guitar inventor

The Polynesian Cultural Center has unveiled a bronze statue in honor of Joseph Kekuku, inventor of the Hawaiian steel guitar. The life-size statue showing the Lā'ie native seated and playing the steel guitar was revealed in a ceremony attended by his family members, PCC executives and members of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association. The April cere-

mony featured a steel guitar performance in his memory. Born in 1874, Kekuku invented the sound of the Hawaiian steel guitar as a youth while studying at Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu. He left Hawai'i as a young man and took the music of the steel guitar to vaudeville theaters and venues throughout the eontinental U.S. His group, "Kekuku's Hawaiian Quintet," helped popularize Hawaiian music at a time when stories and images about Hawai'i's enchanting appeal were circulating nationwide. Beginning in 1919, Kekuku toured Europe for eight years with "The Bird of Paradise" show, performing

before sell-out crowds throughout the continent. Kekuku eventually settled in New Jersey, where he passed away in 1932 and is buried. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1993. His statue was created by former BrighamYoung University-Hawai'i student Leroy Transfelt, a native Maori from New Zealand. Kekuku's statue, at PCC's new Hukilau Marketplace, joins a statue there of Hamana Kalili, credited as the originator of the shaka sign, unveiled in February.

The Joseph Kekuku statue is housed at the Polynesian Cultural Center's new Hukilau Marketplace. - Courtesy: PCC