HAWAIIAN MUSIC – ‘The Real Stuff !!’ (Part 9)
The Dutch contribution
Bill Buysman, Rudi Wairata and George de Fretes
The series of Hawaiian music ‘The Real Stuff !’ in which we focus on the great popularity of this music in America during the 20s to 60s of the previous century, would not be complete if we excluded the prominent role that some Dutch names played in the popularity of this music in the Netherlands.
Aside from the many hundreds of Hawaii bands that were inspired by them, (we devoted three broadcasts to that last year, entitled ‘The Dutch, Hawaiian style’) there are three men who have earned their fame in the Dutch Hawaiian scene. This programme is about these three in a nutshell, starting off with Bill Buysman and his wife Mary with their Kilima Hawaiians. When the interest for that started to decrease, the music got a new impulse through Rudi Wairata and his Mena Moeria Minstrels. He on his turn was succeeded by George de Fretes, the King of the Steel Guitar, with his Royal Hawaiian Minstrels. The latter two stood no chance against the ‘Rock violence’ that conquered the world during the 50s. But the Kilima’s just kept coming back. Actually, they never left! And that for 57 years ……… a record in the history of Hawaiian music worldwide.
