Hawaiian Music Collection - Moke, M. K.: Performer Biography

M.K. Moke was one of Hawaii's finest steel guitarists. Moke toured Japan in the 1920s and 30s with Ernest Kaai, Jr., David Pokipala, and Joe Cravalho. He was recruited in 1928 by Johnny Noble to record with Lena Machado, Ray Kinney, Dave Burrows, Joseph Kamakau, and Nani Alapai. The cabinet firm Bruniwick-Calke-Callender Company had a crude studio in downtown Honolulu. That year, Moke recorded Hilo March, a song composed by Joseph Kaaeau Aea, and considered a Big Island Anthem by many Hawaiians. Moke's musical influence goes beyond Hawaii and across the Pacific to Japan. Yukihiko Haida, the "Father of Hawaiian Music" in Japan, studied with M.K. Moke when Haida returned in 1933. When Haida returned to Hawaii from Japan, he depended on M.K. Moke as a resource to further learn Hawaiian steel guitar.

George S. Kanahele (1979). Hawaiian Music and Musicians: An Illustrated History. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.

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