History of Hawaiian Music
Hawaiian music is as rich as the state's colorful history and as spellbinding as its unforgettable beauty and tropical allure. The world's most remote island chain, Hawai'i is the only state in the United States to have had a monarchy, a native language and a culture whose distinct music and dance traditions are deeply rooted in its unique Island history.

Early history of Hawaiian Music
The music of Hawai'i is a blend of foreign influences and its native chant and can be dated to the century when the first Polynesian voyagers landed around 300-500 AD. The first Hawaiians had no written language and used chant, or mele (pronounced meh' lay) to record and preserve a wide array of cultural topics including legends, genealogies, homage to ali'i (royalty), sexuality, love, death and nature. The mele could be accompanied by hula (dance) or stand alone (mele 'oli). The mele was often accompanied by simple rhythm instruments such as the ipu (gourd), papa hehi (stone clappers), 'ili 'ili (clicking stones) and woodwinds such as the 'ohe hano iuhu (noseflute) and hokiokio (gourd whistle). Rhythmic pattern, melodic ornamentation and form are all important features, but by far the most important is the chanter's voice quality as evidenced by the fact that a minimum of 60 Hawaiian terms describe the voice quality of a chanter!

In 1778, Captain Cook's landing on the islands introduced new instruments such as the French horn, flute and the violin. In 1820, the missionaries arrived with their Christian hymns, upright basses, guitars and pianos. The Hawaiians were fascinated by the hymns, especially the harmonies, and soon started their own hymnal music. Tragically, the missionaries didn't like the hula or the mele and discouraged its use, nearly destroying traditional Hawaiian music and dance.

Fortunately, many members of the ali'i were educated by western teachers and learned to play music, including King David Kalakaua, who reigned from 1874-1891. Known as the "Merry Monarch" because of his love of music and hula, the King cast aside heavy criticism from the missionaries and allowed 'oli and hula to be performed publicly again. His devotion to Hawai'i's cultural and spiritual heritage helped revive and perpetuate the musical and dance traditions in the islands, and today the best-known hula competition, the weeklong Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, Hawai'i, honors the monarch.

The most prolific of the ali'i composers was Queen Lili'uokalani, King Kalakaua's sister and successor, who notated all her music and was interested in its publication and preservation. She blended Hawaiian musical features with western ones to produce melodic songs. Her composition, "Aloha O'e," was the first Hawaiian music hit outside of Hawai'i and resulted in Hawaiian music becoming popular on the U.S. Mainland.

Ukulele, the "jumping flea"
Another important musical moment occurred in 1879 with the arrival of Portuguese immigrants to work in the sugar cane fields. They brought the braguinha. One tale says that the Hawaiians were captivated by the musicians' nimble fingers as they jumped across the braguinha fingerboard like fleas….another says that a sprightly Englishman named Edward Purvis jumped about like a flea when playing the instrument…either way, the instrument became known as the ukulele, or "jumping flea" in Hawaiian.

The Hawaiians took immediately to the instrument, and bands and musical groups began to tour the U.S. Mainland and it soon became one of America's favorite instruments. The ukulele seemed to inspire music that could bring to life the grace, allure and exoticism of Hawai'i. Read more about Ukulele history

Slack Key, distinctly Hawaiian
The sound of slack key or ki ho'alu is uniquely and resoundingly Hawaiian. The instrument's origins are obscure, but it is popularly associated with the paniolo, a word derived from Spanish meaning Spaniard, or vaqueros, Mexican and Southern California cattle ranchers, who came at the request of King Kamehameha III to thin cattle herds in the mid 1800s. "Slack key" is generally referred to as a style of playing, but it actually refers to the guitar's tuning. The guitar strings are loosened, or slackened. This allows performers to play, for example, bass on loosened bass strings while playing melody on the treble strings. Among Hawai'i's most noteworthy slack key artists are Raymond Kane, Sonny Chillingworth, Ledward Kaapana and Gabby Pahinui. Pahinui, a jazz fan, was known for incorporating the chords and harmonies of jazz into his own brand of Hawaiian music. Read more about Slack Key history

Birthplace of the Steel Guitar
Hawai'i is also the birthplace of the steel guitar, and for many, the sound of Hawai'i is represented by the ukulele and steel guitar. There is some confusion as to the inventor of the steel guitar. It is possible that it was invented independently by James Hoa, Gabriel Davion and Joseph Kekuku in the early 1900s. The Hawaiian steel guitar or kika kila is played using a sliding steel bar instead of the player's fingers to press against the fingerboard (initially a steel object was used).

Hapa Haole Music
Hapa haole (half Hawaiian/half mainland) music took off in the 1900s. These songs, written by someone living in Hawai'i with English lyrics and a sprinkling of pidgin (a language developed to allow communication among diverse ethnic populations), adhere to the structure of Hawaiian music and the subjects are Hawaiian. These songs tend to be humorous, romantic or nostalgic. The performer singing a hapa haole song can emphasize the "Hawaiianess" through voice quality –– an important element of native Hawaiian chant as well. Starting around 1910, Tin Pan Alley (a collective of composers and publishers creating popular music in New York) responded to the craze for all things Hawaiian with some of their own songs. Many of the songs were humorous, and they reached a wide audience. While actual Hawaiian songs, i.e., those composed by Hawaiians in Hawai'i, were not influenced by the music of Tin Pan Alley, the opposite is certainly true. The topics, rhythms, melodies and especially instrumentation of the music of Tin Pan Alley strove to imitate that of Hawaiian music. While some would include the "Hawaiian" songs of Tin Pan Alley in the hapa haole category, many see them as distinct from it. While hapa haole music was widely successful abroad, other styles of Hawaiian music were being performed at home too such as songs about paniolo (Hawaiian cowboys), falsetto and the popular steel guitar and slack key guitar styles.

The 1920s and '30s were also the heyday of the Waikiki beach boys, who worked at the beach at Waikiki teaching surfing and assisting visitors, represented the epitome of the tropical lifestyle. Many were talented musicians as well such as Squeeze Kamana and Chick Daniels, who performed both in Hawai'i and in Hollywood.

Hawaiian music's big boom was between 1930 and 1960 when US Mainland orchestras and big bands played Hawaiian music and hotels had Hawai'i revues. Hawai'i composer, singer and bandleader Ray Kinney from Hilo had a huge impact on the spread of Hawaiian music. He performed at many mainland locations, but his big splash was at the Lexington Hotel in New York City where he played from 1938-1942, setting a record for continuous playing in the same location for a musical group. His performances created such demand that in 1939, the Regis Hotel in NYC opened its own Hawaiian room with Hilo Hattie as the headliner. Hawaiian rooms spread all over the country in San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans and Buffalo, and there were even Polynesian rooms in Japan and London.

Hawai'i Calls
The radio show, "Hawai'i Calls," beamed authentic Hawaiian music to the mainland from the courtyard of the still gracious Moana Hotel for 40 years. At its peak in 1952, the popular show was carried by 750 radio stations in the US, Canada, Korea, Japan, Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Don Ho and Kui Lee represented Hawaiian music in the 1960s, but it wasn't until the 1970s, with Gabby Pahinui, Keola and Kapono Beamer, The Brothers Cazimero and others leading the way, that a true Hawaiian musical and cultural renaissance occurred. It continues today as Hawaiian performers return to their roots, writing songs about Hawaiian subjects and in the Hawaiian language.

Love of music seems to be part of the Hawaiian soul. In 2005, for the first time in the 47 years of the Grammy Awards, Hawaiian music had its own category. The event marked an important milestone for the music of Hawaii and has helped to further increase awareness of our island music to listeners around the world.