Keoki E. Awai

George "Keoki" E. K. Awai was a Hawaiian steel guitar and ukulele player and composer (born December 7, 1891 in Wailua, Oahu, Hawaii – died December 25, 1981) Awai's Royal Hawaiian Quartet was the house band of the Hawaiian Pavilion at the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, California and helped popularize Hawaiian music on the U.S. mainland. Awai also directed the Royal Hawaiian Glee Club and taught the ukulele at the ukulele display of the Hawaiian Pavillon. After the exposition, he stayed in San Francisco and joined Ernest Ka'ai's School of Hawaiian Music as an instructor. In 1917, he published "The Superior Collection of Steel Guitar Solos." As a composer, Awai is best known for "Kilima-Waltz." Sometimes he is also credited for "Sweet Lei Lehua" (as are Queen Lili'uokalani and King David Kalakaua). He also arranged Hawaiian songs, e.g., David Nape's "The Old Plantation (Ku'u Home)".