Music of Hawaii

Lore & Background

The traditional music of Hawaii's Native Hawaiian community is largely religious in nature, including chanting (mele) and dance music (hula). Hawaiian folk music is simple in melody and rhythm but complex in poetry, mimetic dance, and vocal styles. Chants are accompanied by instruments such as the ipu heke (double gourd) and pahu (sharkskin-covered drum), and dances may use implements like ʻiliʻili (lava stone castanets) and ʻuliʻuli (feathered gourd rattles). The older form of hula is called kahiko, while the modern version is ʻauana. Historical documentation of Hawaiian music begins in the late 18th century with the arrival of non-Hawaiians. European music, including Protestant hymns, was introduced, and Spanish-speaking Mexican cowboys (paniolos) brought string instruments like the guitar and possibly falsetto singing. Portuguese immigrants brought the ukulele-like braguinha. Puerto Rican immigrants in the early 1900s introduced cachi cachi music to the islands.

Reader's Guide

The music of Hawaii is significant for its fusion of native traditions with immigrant influences, creating globally recognized styles such as slack-key guitar and steel guitar. It has influenced country music and Hollywood soundtracks, and Peter Manuel described Hawaiian music as a 'unifying factor in the development of modern Pacific musics.' Major festivals like the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival and various slack-key and steel guitar festivals celebrate this heritage. The music's legacy includes the hapa haole song style, which uses English and superficial Hawaiian elements, and the enduring popularity of hula and chanting. The state's venues, from the Waikiki Shell to the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, continue to host local and international artists.

Did You Know?

• The music of Hawaii includes cachi cachi music, introduced by Puerto Ricans in the early 1900s.
• The Merrie Monarch Hula Festival brings together hula groups from across the world.

Sacred Roots: Chant, Dance, and the Living Tradition

Hawaiian folk music is deeply intertwined with spirituality and ritual, encompassing chanting traditions and structured dance forms. The traditional repertoire served practical and ceremonial purposes—expressing praise, preserving genealogies and mythology, and accompanying games, festivals, and other secular gatherings. The Hawaiian language lacks a single word that maps directly onto the English concept of music, yet it possesses a rich vocabulary for describing rhythms, instruments, vocal production, and nuances of style. The core of this tradition is the mele, or chant, historically divided into mele oli (a cappella individual compositions) and mele hula (group-performed dance music). Chants were accompanied by instruments such as the ipu heke, a double gourd, and the pahu, a sharkskin-covered drum. Dancers employed implements including ʻiliʻili (waterworn lava stone castanets), ʻuliʻuli (feathered gourd rattles), and kalaʻau (rhythm sticks). The older formal style is called kahiko, while the modern form is ʻauana. Highly trained chanters known as haku mele composed and performed works governed by strict rules, spanning styles from the rapid kepakepa to the enunciate koihonua. Specific chants addressed naming, prayer, surfing, and emotional expression. Despite their simplicity in melody and rhythm, scholars describe these forms as complex and rich in poetry, mimetic dance, and vocal subtlety.

Festivals, Hotels, and Stages Across the Islands

Hawaii's musical life is anchored by a calendar of festivals and a network of performance spaces spanning the archipelago. The Merrie Monarch Hula Festival draws hula groups from around the world, while dedicated slack-key and steel guitar gatherings—the Big Island Slack Key Guitar Festival, the Steel Guitar Association Festival, and the Gabby Pahinui/Atta Isaacs Slack Key Festival—celebrate the islands' signature instrumental traditions. April's Aloha Week and the Moloka'i Music Festival around Labor Day attract both locals and tourists. Jazz enjoys a dedicated presence as well: the Pacific Rim Jazz Festival fills the Hawaii Convention Center each mid-autumn, and the Manoa Jazz & Heritage Festival occupies the Andrews Amphitheatre on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus in early autumn. On the venue side, numerous hotels feature live music in afternoon and evening programs, with the Kahala Hilton, Sheraton Waikiki, Halekulani, and King Kamehameha Hotel among the most prominent.

Institutions, Craftsmanship, and the Musical Economy

Hawaii's musical infrastructure extends well beyond performance into orchestral, choral, and instrument-making traditions. It has long collaborated with the Hawaii Opera Theatre and the Oʻahu Choral Society, the latter of which sponsors both the Honolulu Symphony Chorus and the Honolulu Chamber Choir. On the instrument side, specialized businesses have grown up to serve the unique demands of Hawaiian musical styles. The Guitar and Lute Workshop emerged in the early 1970s as an early manufacturer and champion of specialty slack-key guitars, while the Kamaka Ukulele company established itself as a key builder of ukuleles for Hawaiian musical acts. These workshops and luthiers have helped preserve and disseminate the tonal qualities that define the islands' sound, ensuring that the instruments remain as distinctive as the music they produce.

Acculturation, Global Reach, and Pacific Influence

Historical documentation of Hawaiian music begins only in the late eighteenth century, when non-Hawaiian visitors first arrived on the islands. Spanish-speaking Mexican cowboys, known as paniolos, also left their mark on the islands' sonic landscape. Hawaii's influence radiated far beyond its shores. The steel guitar, born in the Hawaiian tradition, was adopted into American country music and became a defining instrument of that genre. Slack-key guitar has achieved worldwide recognition, and Hawaiian-tinged arrangements remain a staple of Hollywood soundtracks. In the early 1900s, Puerto Rican communities in Hawaii developed their own distinctive style known as cachi cachi music. Perhaps most significantly, Hawaiian music shaped the musical development of other Polynesian islands. Ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel described its influence as a unifying factor in the development of modern Pacific musics, underscoring how one island chain's traditions became a shared foundation for an entire ocean's contemporary sound.