1910s

1912 The play “The Bird of Paradise”, which includes authentic Hawaiian music, runs in New York City from January to July. Touring companies then perform the production for millions in the USA and internationally into the 1920s. 

                                    Duke Kahanamoku wins gold medal in swimming at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden and attains international fame. 

1914   Bina Mossman organizes the Bina Mossman Girls Glee Club under the mentorship of Queen Liliʻuokalani. Later the group will perform for seventeen years with composer and publisher Charles E. King on radio station KGU, disbanding in 1944. 

1915 The Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California is open for seven months to 19 million visits. The Hawaii Pavilion has as many as 34,000 visitors in one day. Henry Kailimai’s string band performs there, making his song “On The Beach At Waikiki” a national success. Joseph Kumalae sells ukulele and guitars in the Pavilion. Henry Ford hires Kailimai and quartet to perform everywhere he speaks and appears. 

1915 Steel guitar teachers, schools, and instruction books begin to appear in the USA.

Over the next two years, phony “Hawaiian” songs are a major craze in the USA, with at least two hundred published.

1915                           December Mekia Kealakai orders “Extra Large Jumbo Martin Guitar”, which will be the ancestor to the famous Martin Dreadnought. 

1915-1933 Frank Ferera, from Honolulu, makes hundreds of acoustic steel guitar recordings over 18 years.

1916 Records of Hawaiian music are the highest-sellers in the USA.

                                    Kealakai on tour in NY meets Chris Martin III in Elmira music store. 

                                    March Mekia Kealakai recieves completed “K” model Martin Kealakai guitar, the first Dreadnought designed for Hawaiian-style playing. 

                                    Kealakai publishes the E7 Steel Guitar method, a tuning that becomes pivotal in early country music, as well as western swing.

Kamaka Ukulele and Guitar Works is founded in Honolulu by Sam Kamaka Sr., an apprentice of Manuel Nunes, after touring in Europe as a violinist and upright bass player. The company is still in business today.

                                    Martin Guitar Company introduces instruments made of Hawaiian koa for the Southern California Music Company, the first production instruments exclusively using steel rather than gut strings. 

                        

1917                            The Oliver Ditson Company of Los Angeles licenses the “Kealakai” design for manufacture under its own name, marketed as the 111, 222, or 333 model. 

1917                            The Martin Guitar Company introduces its Hawaiian-style steel-string lap models, and sales soar. 

1919 Joseph Kekuku and Mekia Kealakai travel together to Europe. Kealakai returns to Honolulu in 1920, while Kekuku joins a “Bird of Paradise” traveling production and stays for eight years.

Sol Hoopii travels to California as a stowaway.