Hawaiian Music in France
by cecile
Gino Bordin was an Italian born Hawaiian steel guitar virtuoso who became famous in France in the 1930s. He was fascinated by Hawaiian music as a child and first appeared at casinos in Monte Carlo, and then in cabarets, restaurants and music halls in Paris. Where is Mr. Peabody and Sherman's Wayback Machine?
Bordin recorded for all the major record companies Odeon, Pathé and Parlophone of the time. We are lucky to have some of these recordings available today.
The Ann Arbor District Library has Virtuose De La Guitare Hawaiienne: Paris 1930s by Gino Bordin. "Chant d'amour de Tahiti", "Crepuscule Hawaien" and "Retour d'Hawai" are songs that create a wonderful atmosphere and bring back that time. Hawaiian music was a huge fad in the 1930s (my mother was in a children's ukelele band!) that generated some music that was as bad as the worst of 1970s disco.
Gino Bordin composed and played some of the most beautiful music of the genre and it definitely is not kitsch. If you like Django Reinhardt you might like this too. How could you go wrong with "Waikiki en fete?"
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