Hawaiian Slide Guitar: Made in India

While many music historians assert that Hawaiian lap steel/pedal steel guitar originated in the late 1800s with Hawaiian guitarist Joseph Kekuku, some assert that the first steel guitar player was actually Gabriel Dayion, a musician who the Portuguese brought from India to Honolulu in the bonds of slavery. He played guitar in a traditional Indian slide style known as gottuvadyam. Let’s learn from BobBrozman.com about how slide guitar became popular in India  as we watch American musician and ethnomusicologist Bob Brozman introduce us to the Hawaiian version of the form.

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