In the 1930s, the invention of electric amplification for the lap steel was a milestone in its evolution. Hawaiian music began its assimilation into American popular music in the 1910s, but with English lyrics a combination Hawaiians called hapa haole (half-white). Americans were curious about the lap steel instrument featured in its performance, and came to refer to it as a "Hawaiian guitar", and the horizontal playing position as "Hawaiian style". American popular culture became fascinated with Hawaiian music during the first half of the twentieth century – to the degree of becoming a musical fad. The instrument's distinctive portamento sound, characterized by a smooth gliding between notes, became popular throughout the islands. It originated in the Hawaiian Islands about 1885, popularized by an Oahu youth named Joseph Kekuku, who became known for playing a traditional guitar by laying it across his lap and sliding a piece of metal against the strings to change the pitch. The steel guitar was the first "foreign" musical instrument to gain a foothold in American pop music. Hawaiian guitar, lap steel, console steel, kīkākila, Dobro Fender "Champion" electric lap steel guitar
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