Post #430476 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Sat, Jan 24, 2009 7:20 PM

On 2009-01-24 15:54, Toshi wrote:

Simple, I like polynesian culture and tikis, is that good enough for you? Or do I need to write a book to have an opinion?

Toshi - No, not to have an opinion, but you might indeed need to write a book if you want to broaden the term "Tiki" to include the roots of Tiki (such as traditional Polynesian culture, Hapa Haole music, etc). You would need to show some good evidence to prove that the term was used for these things. The word "Tiki" can exist in your head as a handy catch-all idea to associate all manner of Polynesian things you enjoy, but if you go into a Hawaiian cd store (there's actually one in my neighborhood) and say, "Do you sell Tiki Music here?", they're probably going to say, "Well I don't think so. We sell modern and classical Hawaiian music, Slack-key guitar music, etc. but I'm not sure I've heard of Tiki music"

But if you go into an old neighborhood and talk to someone in their 60s, working in their front yard, and say "Are there any Tiki Apartment buildings around here?", there's a good chance that the person is going to know exactly what you're talking about and say, "oh yeah. There's the old Lanakai just a few blocks that way."

Did Bigbro make up these arbitrary rules as to what constitutes Tiki Culture? Hell no! These rules, (I'd prefer to call them guidelines), existed independently in the historical record. If you collected mugs, matchbooks, menus, postcards, or old carved tikis, then you knew where earlier 20's Hawaiian and 40's Beachcomber culture left off and "Tiki" culture began. It just took folks like Sven, Otto, Bosko, & Jeff Berry to start quantifying the knowledge and gathering it together into a cohesive form and promoting it to the public.

It's just a matter of semantics and a matter of focus. Nobody here is telling you what to like, and what you should or shouldn't display and play in your tiki bar. Personal tastes are broad and rightly so. I like playing 1920s Jazz in my tiki bar, I just wouldn't call it "Tiki". Folks like Bigbro and Aquarj are just re-stating what Hanford stated in the Mission Statement for this board, which one can read if one clicks the "About Tiki Central" button at the bottom of the screen:

"The Tiki that Tiki Central focuses on is a mid-century American invention that is Polynesia-inspired. We’re here to discuss classic Tiki, what made it great, how to celebrate it and preserve it today, and how to create and influence new Tiki that isn’t generic, watered down, or misguided. The definitive guide is The Book Of Tiki, and we highly recommend that everyone on Tiki Central get the book and read up."

Please don't be upset if your thread on Papua New Guinea Artwork doesn't meet the strict definition above. It's still valid discussion-material here because it speaks to and informs the roots of Tiki Culture. The Mission Statement above serves to keep our Focus on the phenomenon of mid-century Tiki Culture. We can discuss all manner of important topics peripheral to this, as long as we keep the focus on "Tiki".

Suppose this was the "Jazz Central" forum and someone asked the question, "Should Jazz Central be stripped of any Ragtime or Yanni discussions?" Most folks would say "Certainly not. Ragtime was an important ingredient and root of Jazz music. And Yanni, (despite matters of personal taste), is a Jazz-influenced artist. Let's definitely discuss them here, but let's not lose our focus on classic Jazz."

Or suppose on a "Mid-Century Modern" forum, someone asked if we should purge all discussion of Art Deco and Art Nouveau? Certainly not. But keep the focus on Mid-Century Modern.

But what if someone got angry and said, "I don't like being told what kind of furniture to display in my Mid-Century Ranch house! I like my pieces of Art Deco furniture and I don't like this small-minded view of what Mid-Century Modern means." Or "I don't like being told what to listen to. I find Ragtime and the older roots of Jazz much more interesting and don't really like this 1920s-1960s stuff." Well, you might suggest that the person go read up a bit on the history of Jazz to learn what the term is generally accepted to mean and maybe to split their time between the Jazz forum and the Ragtime forums, and you might be a bit confused as to why the person got mad in the first place.

I understand that Tiki and Hawaiiana don't have the saturation of Jazz and Mid-Century Modern design. And that one might find more people here at Tiki Central who share one's interest in Hawaiiana than on any other forum. Because of that, we will probably continue to have this discussion over and over. The lines will be drawn between those who want to preserve the definition of Tiki found in the historical record and Hanford's mission statement, and those who want to evolve and expand the definition of Tiki to include all the enjoyable things peripheral to it and related to it. I don't think the argument will be settled any time soon. It would take many more books like Sven's being written to start establishing the canon in the public mind, and I just don't see our hobby ever being more than a fringe obsession.

Which actually suits me fine.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-01-24 19:26 ]