Island Life 101: A Newcomer's Guide to Hawaii
Your Subtitle text
Hawaiian Music: Sounds from the Heart
The sweet sounds of Hawaiian music seem to rise from the heart of the Islands, keeping time with the swaying palms and the rhythm of waves, casting a romantic spell that immediately brings to mind pictures of
paradise.
Hawaiian music is loved all over the world. From Sweden to Japan, musicians play songs that tell of a mountain on Maui, a Big Island love affair or a moonlit night on
Kauai.
It all began with the chant. In the oral culture of old Hawaii, the chanter was an important member of society, preserver of history and legend. A chant might honor an individual, welcome a newborn, record the genealogy of a chief, or lament the loss of a loved one.
Though ancient chants, or mele, had little of what Westerners would recognize as melody, they were arranged in complex and changing rhythms, and chanters cultivated distinctive voice styles.
Melody came with the missionaries in 1820. Hawaiians were immediately enthusiastic about this new kind of music. A book of hymns translated into Hawaiian was an instant best-seller.
Islanders soon were composing songs in the new style, meshing simple gospel melodies with the beautiful poems and complex rhythms of Hawaii. Even royalty got into the act. The songs of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani still are sung today, especially those of Liliuokalani, who wrote Aloha Oe, perhaps the best-known Hawaiian song in the world.
Like the queen, whose Aloha Oe ends with the line “until we meet again,” Hawaiians sometimes sprinkled English words among their lyrics to give a certain spice to a composition. In the late 19th century, English speakers reversed the trend and began to write songs with a hint of Hawaiian added.
These “hapa haole” songs first were spread by Hawaiian bands touring the Mainland in the early 1900s. They gained a nationwide audience when Hawaii Calls began broadcasts from the Moana Hotel in 1935, inspiring dreams of paradise in many a Midwesterner.
Hapa haole songs are the ones Mainlanders are most likely to have heard and are most likely to remember, for the simple reason that their lyrics are intelligible to the non-Hawaiian speaker. They include oldies like Little Brown Gal and lovely tunes such as Waikiki, Hanalei Moon, and Kuu Home o Kahaluu.
When the hapa haole genre traveled, it took along the ukulele and the steel guitar.
The rhythms of the ancient chants had been created by implements made from natural items like stones and gourds. Outsiders introduced stringed instruments such as the braguinha, a small four-stringed guitar brought by Portuguese immigrants in 1879. The Hawaiians named it ukulele, which means “jumping flea,” perhaps because of the player’s rapidly moving fingers.
A favorite of King Kalakaua, the ukulele became a fad on the U.S. Mainland in the days of Tin Pan Alley and raccoon coats. The Mainland craze died out, but the ukulele never lost its standing in Hawaiian music, and today is the specialty of virtuosos like Herb Ohta or the amazing young Jake Shimabukuro.
A Kamehameha School student is usually credited with inventing the steel guitar in the 1880s. Joe Kekuku made a steel bar in the school shop and slid it along the strings of a guitar laid across his lap, while plucking notes with his other hand.
Musicians like Sol Hoopii etched the sound of Hawaiian steel guitar into national consciousness in Hollywood movies of the 1930s like Bird of Paradise, Waikiki Wedding and Song of the Islands. Players of country-western music quickly adopted the instrument’s moody, wailing sound.
And when the audiences grew so big that the unamplified steel guitar couldn’t be heard, musicians and inventors figured out ways to electrify the instrument, bringing about the most significant change in the history of the guitar.
Two techniques also contribute to the unique sound of Hawaiian music: slack key and falsetto.
Slack key is a style of guitar tuning in which steel strings are loosened, or slackened. The strings are predominantly plucked, rather than strummed, for a lilting, melodic sound. Modern masters include Keola Beamer and Ledward Kaapana.
Falsetto may have its origins in some of the vocal styles used by ancient chanters, or may have evolved from later influences, perhaps the yodeling of the Hawaiian cowboy, or paniolo. Some female singers use falsetto techniques, such as veteran Auntie Genoa Keawe and young stars Amy Hanaialii Gilliom and Raiatea Helm, but it is usually associated with male singers like Mahi Beamer, Dennis Pavao and the Hoopii Brothers.
The music continues to evolve: The ukulele has gone electric; Hawaiians are singing “Jawaiian” (a local adaptation of Jamaican reggae); steel drums and congas have been added to the mix. Performers like Kealii Reichel and Willie K. blend contemporary sounds into the traditional. And a new generation of composers creates lyrics in the reviving Hawaiian language.
In 2005, the Grammy Awards included a Hawaiian music category, won in this first year by a collection of slack key melodies by various artists. The Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame celebrated its tenth anniversary, and Hawaiian musicians released about 170 new albums.
Today, Hawaiian music belongs to the world. But its spirit belongs to its birthplace. The lovely words of the Islands’ poetic language, sweet tunes sung in falsetto against the lively chords of the ukulele, the sinuous tones of a steel guitar, and the intricate notes of slack key—all combine to enchant a listener with the musical essence of Hawaii.
The sweet sounds of Hawaiian music seem to rise from the heart of the Islands, keeping time with the swaying palms and the rhythm of waves, casting a romantic spell that immediately brings to mind pictures of
paradise.Hawaiian music is loved all over the world. From Sweden to Japan, musicians play songs that tell of a mountain on Maui, a Big Island love affair or a moonlit night on
Kauai.
It all began with the chant. In the oral culture of old Hawaii, the chanter was an important member of society, preserver of history and legend. A chant might honor an individual, welcome a newborn, record the genealogy of a chief, or lament the loss of a loved one.
Though ancient chants, or mele, had little of what Westerners would recognize as melody, they were arranged in complex and changing rhythms, and chanters cultivated distinctive voice styles.
Hawaiian Chant becomes Hawaiian Music
Melody came with the missionaries in 1820. Hawaiians were immediately enthusiastic about this new kind of music. A book of hymns translated into Hawaiian was an instant best-seller.
Islanders soon were composing songs in the new style, meshing simple gospel melodies with the beautiful poems and complex rhythms of Hawaii. Even royalty got into the act. The songs of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani still are sung today, especially those of Liliuokalani, who wrote Aloha Oe, perhaps the best-known Hawaiian song in the world.
Like the queen, whose Aloha Oe ends with the line “until we meet again,” Hawaiians sometimes sprinkled English words among their lyrics to give a certain spice to a composition. In the late 19th century, English speakers reversed the trend and began to write songs with a hint of Hawaiian added.
English + Hawaiian = "Hapa Haole"
These “hapa haole” songs first were spread by Hawaiian bands touring the Mainland in the early 1900s. They gained a nationwide audience when Hawaii Calls began broadcasts from the Moana Hotel in 1935, inspiring dreams of paradise in many a Midwesterner.
Hapa haole songs are the ones Mainlanders are most likely to have heard and are most likely to remember, for the simple reason that their lyrics are intelligible to the non-Hawaiian speaker. They include oldies like Little Brown Gal and lovely tunes such as Waikiki, Hanalei Moon, and Kuu Home o Kahaluu.
When the hapa haole genre traveled, it took along the ukulele and the steel guitar.
The rhythms of the ancient chants had been created by implements made from natural items like stones and gourds. Outsiders introduced stringed instruments such as the braguinha, a small four-stringed guitar brought by Portuguese immigrants in 1879. The Hawaiians named it ukulele, which means “jumping flea,” perhaps because of the player’s rapidly moving fingers.
A favorite of King Kalakaua, the ukulele became a fad on the U.S. Mainland in the days of Tin Pan Alley and raccoon coats. The Mainland craze died out, but the ukulele never lost its standing in Hawaiian music, and today is the specialty of virtuosos like Herb Ohta or the amazing young Jake Shimabukuro.A Kamehameha School student is usually credited with inventing the steel guitar in the 1880s. Joe Kekuku made a steel bar in the school shop and slid it along the strings of a guitar laid across his lap, while plucking notes with his other hand.
Musicians like Sol Hoopii etched the sound of Hawaiian steel guitar into national consciousness in Hollywood movies of the 1930s like Bird of Paradise, Waikiki Wedding and Song of the Islands. Players of country-western music quickly adopted the instrument’s moody, wailing sound.
And when the audiences grew so big that the unamplified steel guitar couldn’t be heard, musicians and inventors figured out ways to electrify the instrument, bringing about the most significant change in the history of the guitar.
It's All in the Technique
Two techniques also contribute to the unique sound of Hawaiian music: slack key and falsetto.
Slack key is a style of guitar tuning in which steel strings are loosened, or slackened. The strings are predominantly plucked, rather than strummed, for a lilting, melodic sound. Modern masters include Keola Beamer and Ledward Kaapana.
Falsetto may have its origins in some of the vocal styles used by ancient chanters, or may have evolved from later influences, perhaps the yodeling of the Hawaiian cowboy, or paniolo. Some female singers use falsetto techniques, such as veteran Auntie Genoa Keawe and young stars Amy Hanaialii Gilliom and Raiatea Helm, but it is usually associated with male singers like Mahi Beamer, Dennis Pavao and the Hoopii Brothers.
The music continues to evolve: The ukulele has gone electric; Hawaiians are singing “Jawaiian” (a local adaptation of Jamaican reggae); steel drums and congas have been added to the mix. Performers like Kealii Reichel and Willie K. blend contemporary sounds into the traditional. And a new generation of composers creates lyrics in the reviving Hawaiian language.
In 2005, the Grammy Awards included a Hawaiian music category, won in this first year by a collection of slack key melodies by various artists. The Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame celebrated its tenth anniversary, and Hawaiian musicians released about 170 new albums.
Today, Hawaiian music belongs to the world. But its spirit belongs to its birthplace. The lovely words of the Islands’ poetic language, sweet tunes sung in falsetto against the lively chords of the ukulele, the sinuous tones of a steel guitar, and the intricate notes of slack key—all combine to enchant a listener with the musical essence of Hawaii.
Stumble It!Like this article on the history of Hawaiian music? It's an excerpt from Island Life 101: A Newcomer's Guide to Hawaii. Order it here:
