Bill Griffin (musician)
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Bill Griffin (musician)
Bill Griffin is widely known as a musician in both bluegrass and Hawaiian music genres. A luthier and veteran mandolinist, he is also the inventor of the "mandolele", which is a nylon-stringed mandolin that he first crafted in 1986. Born in Glendale, California, Griffin's first exposure to music came through his father, a pianist in a Dixieland jazz band. Griffin began playing ukulele at age five, guitar soon thereafter, and mandolin at age nineteen. He also plays piano and bass. Luthier Work and Mandolele The foundation of Griffin's work as a luthier began in 1970 when he began working for C. Bruno and Sons, the largest musical instrument wholesale company in the world at that time. While there, he met and began apprenticing under master luthier David Simpson. As a result of learning the trade of luthier, Griffin constructed several instruments of his own design, including the mandocaster (an electric mandolin that he built in 1978) and the mandolele, which he first built in ...
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Bluegrass Music
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as ''traditional music'', ''traditional folk music'', ''contemporary folk music'', ''vernacular music,'' or ''roots music''. Many traditional songs have been sung ... that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like Country music, mainstream country music, it largely developed out of Old-time music, old-time string music, though in contrast, bluegrass is traditionally played exclusively on Acoustic music, acoustic instruments and also has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish Ballads, Irish ballads and dance tunes as well as in blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genr ...
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Music Of Hawaii
The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Styles like slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Hollywood soundtracks. Hawaii also made a contribution to country music with the introduction of the steel guitar.Unterberger, pgs. 465 - 473 In addition, the music which began to be played by Puerto Ricans in Hawaii in the early 1900s is called cachi cachi music, on the islands of Hawaii. The traditional music of Hawaii’s Native Hawaiian community is largely religious in nature, and includes chanting and dance music. Hawaiian music has had a notable impact on the music of other Polynesian islands; Peter Manuel called the influence of Hawaiian music a "unifying factor in the development of modern Pacific musics".Manuel, pgs. 236 - 241 Music festivals and venues Major music festivals in Hawaii include the Merrie Monarch Hula Festi ...
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Luthier
A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be used already in French for makers of most bowed and plucked stringed instruments such as members of the violin family (including violas, cellos, and double basses) and guitars. Luthiers, however, do not make harps or pianos; these require different skills and construction methods because their strings are secured to a frame. The craft of luthiers, lutherie (rarely called "luthiery", but this often refers to stringed instruments other than those in the violin family), is commonly divided into the two main categories of makers of stringed instruments that are plucked or strummed and makers of stringed instruments that are bowed. Since bowed instruments require a bow, the second category includes a subtype know ...
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Mandolinist
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 strings, although five (10 strings) and six (12 strings) course versions also exist. There are of course different types of strings that can be used, metal strings are the main ones since they are the cheapest and easiest to make. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin (G3, D4, A4, E5). Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass. There are many styles of mandolin, but the three most common types are the ''Neapolitan'' or ''round-backed'' mandolin, the ''archtop'' mandolin and the ''flat-backed'' mandolin. The round-backed version has a deep bottom, constructed of strips of wood, glued together ...
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Bill Griffin's Mandolele
Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Places * Bill, Wyoming, an unincorporated community, United States * Billstown, Arkansas, an unincorporated community, United States * Billville, Indiana, an unincorporated community, United States People * Bill (given name) * Bill (surname) * Bill (footballer, born 1978), ''Alessandro Faria'', Togolese football forward * Bill (footballer, born 1984), ''Rosimar Amâncio'', a Brazilian football forward * Bill (footballer, born 1999), ''Fabricio Rodrigues da Silva Ferreira'', a Brazilian forward Arts, media, and entertainment Characters * Bill (''Kill Bill''), a character in the ''Kill Bill'' films * William “Bill“ S. Preston, Esquire, The first of the titular duo of the Bill & Ted film series * A lizard in Lewis Carroll's '' Alice' ...
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Kate Wolf
Kate Wolf (born Kathryn Louise Allen; January 27, 1942 – December 10, 1986) was an American folk singer and songwriter."Kate Wolf", pp. 533–534, in '' All Music Guide'', 2nd edition (1994), edited by Michael Erlewine. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. . Though her career was relatively short, she had a significant impact on the folk music scene. Her best-known compositions include "Here in California", "Love Still Remains", "Across the Great Divide", "Unfinished Life", “Green Eyes” and "Give Yourself to Love". She recorded six albums as a solo artist. She was elected to the NAIRD Independent Music Hall of Fame in 1987. Her songs have since been recorded by artists such as Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris (whose recording of "Love Still Remains" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999). Biography Born in San Francisco was her father, John Fred Allen (* 1915), and her mother, Ernestine Ruth Allen, née Endicott (1918−1996). She began studying piano at 4 but quit a ...
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Flying Fish Records
Flying Fish Records was a record label founded in Chicago in 1974 that specialized in folk, blues, and country music. In the 1990s the label was sold to Rounder Records. Bruce Kaplan, the label's founder, was a native of Chicago and the son of a president of Zenith Electronics. He studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and became president of the school's folklore society. He began Flying Fish in 1974 to concentrate on traditional and contemporary folk music, though the catalog grew to include blues, bluegrass, country, jazz, reggae, dancefloor and rock. When Kaplan started the label, most similarly oriented companies produced albums with decidedly "homemade" packaging (e.g. cover art, etc.) and marketed the albums to a relatively narrow audience of aficionados. Kaplan realized that music of this sort had the potential to reach a wider audience, but needed to be packaged in a professional manner; people not already devotees were unlikely to take a chance on somethin ...
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NAIRD
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, Northern California, Southern California, and the Pacific Northwest. Among other events, they organize the annual Libera Awards. The organization was preceded by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD) founded in 1972, which in 1997 changed its name to the Association for Independent Music (AFIM), which dissolved in 2004. History A2IM launched on July 5, 2005. The organization has some 600 independent music label members and over 200 associate members (companies who don't own masters but rely upon, provide services for, or otherwise support independent music labels). A2IM was preceded by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD) founded in 1972. In 1997 it changed its name to the Associati ...
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Patrick Landeza
Patrick Landeza is a contemporary Hawaiian slack key guitarist. He is the first mainland-born Hawaiian to win a Nā Hōkū Hanohano music award. He was born in Berkeley, California on June 23, 1972. Early life Patrick Landeza's parents, Danny Landeza Jr. of O'ahu, and Frances Kawaipulou Kuakini O'Sullivan of Moloka'i, met and married in California. Danny Landeza was a founder of the Kaimanu Outrigger Canoe Club in San Leandro and was active in community service. Patrick was recognized in 2006 when he became the youngest recipient to date of the Kapalakiko Aloha Spirit Award, created by longtime Bay Area Hawaiian cultural leader Saichi Kawahara. Patrick Landeza's ethnic background is Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, and Irish. At age 15 he was introduced to ''ki ho'alu'', or Hawaiian slack key guitar, by two uncles, Clarence and Francis Ahyee. Landeza's early musical education continued under the tutelage of Saichi Kawahara. He began to learn slack key guitar from Hawaiian musicia ...
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Yvonne Elliman
Yvonne Marianne Elliman (born December 29, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who performed for four years in the first cast of the stage musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved a US #1 hit with "If I Can't Have You (Bee Gees song), If I Can't Have You". The song also reached #9 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 4 in the UK Chart. Her cover of Barbara Lewis's "Hello Stranger" went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and "Love Me (Bee Gees song), Love Me" was also #5, giving her 3 top 10 singles. After a long hiatus in the 1980s and 1990s, during which time she dedicated herself to her family, she made a comeback album as a singer-songwriter in 2004. Biography Early years Elliman was born and raised in the Manoa neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii; her mother was of Japanese American, Japanese descentWayne HaradaHonolulu Advertiser: "Reinvigorated Elliman may invest in rock future" February 17, 2002. and ...
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American Mandolinists
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ...
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