Hawaiian songs enshrined in Library of Congress registry

From rare audio interviews of former slaves to recordings by Donna Summer, and two Hawaiian songs, 25 sounds that shaped the American cultural landscape are being inducted into the National Recording Registry.

Summer’s 1977 hit "I Feel Love" is joining the Grateful Dead’s famed 1977 Barton Hall concert as sounds of cultural significance, among 25 additions announced this week by the Library of Congress into its recording registry.

The list also includes two songs from the islands: "Hula Medley," by Gabby Pahinui (1947), and "Fascinating Rhythm," Sol Hoopii and his Novelty Five (1938).

The world’s largest library has chosen a diverse array of history-setting sounds and songs to retain for permanent preservation.

Also chosen were Dolly Parton’s "Coat of Many Colors," Prince’s "Purple Rain" and Leonard Bernstein’s 1943 conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic.

Some selections are truly historic, including the only known audio of former American slaves who were interviewed in the 1930s.

Of "Fascinating Rhythm", the library says:

In the 1890s, Hawaiian musicians began playing open-tuned guitars flat in their laps, fretting the strings with steel to produce distinctive sliding tones. The style soon reached the U.S. mainland, and when young Sol Hoopii arrived in California in 1924, the Hawaiian steel guitar was a mature and demanding instrument with national popularity. Hoopii emerged as its greatest exponent, applying it to traditional hulas, ragtime, jazz and pop. He and his peers influenced blues and country slide guitarists, and Dobros and pedal steel guitars are descended from the Hawaiian model. Hoopii switched to electric guitar in the 1930s and displays his formidable technique on this Gershwin standard, deftly mixing tonal variations, a chord solo and bass runs into an adventurous and swinging improvisation.

Of "Hula Medley", the library says:

Gabby Pahinui was a master of slack-key guitar, a style originating in Hawaii. In slack key, one or more of a guitar’s strings are loosened or "slacked" from the standard EADGBE format to create a different tuning, usually a chord that allows it to be played without using the fretboard. Often the thumb plays rhythm on the lower strings, while the fingers play the melody on the higher strings. Pahinui made some of the first modern recordings in this genre, including the lovely instrumental "Hula Medley" in 1947.