Steel Guitar in 1930s-40s German Pop music, off radio and recordings, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature.

LISTEN to this Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 5 October) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

This week, Steel Guitar in Nazi Germany…

HAWAIIAN GUITAR

The steel guitar was invented by Hawaiian 11 year old, Joseph Kekuku, in the late 1880s. He later toured the world as a Hawaiian guitar soloist.

Quoting The Smithsonian magazine, “According to one of the most popular origin myths, Kekuku picked up a railway spike as he was walking along railroad tracks and put it in his pocket. When he returned to his dormitory later that day and was playing the guitar, he had a moment of inspiration—Kekuku pulled out the steel railroad tie, ran it along the guitar strings as he strummed, and noticed the unique sound the steel made.”

Kekuku modified his guitar to raise the strings higher off the fretboard and created a smooth metal cylinder to run over it as he played. He had modified an existing instrument into something entirely new.

Steel guitar is played on the lap, and the guitarist plucks the chords instead of strumming them while running a steel bar over the neck.

The steel guitar made a huge impact on different styles of American music. Hawaiian music was the most popular music genre by record sales in 1916. In Australia, Hawaiian music had a huge fan base in the 1940s into the 1960s.

In 1931, an electric Hawaiian guitar hit the market – the frying pan guitar – and it launched Hawaiian music back into the mainstream. The breakthrough song was the big hit of 1933, My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua.

In Europe, strangely, Nazi Germany, was the country that made the most steel guitar recordings, incorporating the instrument into its dance bands and on radio. You’ll hear one 1940 radio selection and two Berlin dance band recordings featuring steel guitar with dance orchestra.

5 OCTOBER PLAY LIST