I have far too much stuff to post about my Hawaii trip all in one post, so I’ll be dividing the posts up to one a day this week, divided roughly by category. Today’s theme: Hula and Hawaiian music!
Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.
I had the pleasure to walk in on this free hula event, which featured highly talented girls of all ages showing off their hula dancing skills. They are all trained by the same teacher, (the woman playing ukulele and singing in the back) and they compete in nationwide Hula competitions. Cool! (Also, check it out… Not really related, but… Hawaiian Roller Derby Girls!?)
There’s also a very strong sense of cultural pride in this ancient tradition, one of the few that has survived the sad watering-down of the Hawaiian culture due to tourism. There are still many places where you can find more “honest” luaus held by locals that don’t have all the kitch of the touristy ones, and if you are given the chance, you can see some local girls (and sometimes even boys- hula is NOT a girl’s only tradition, despite what a lot of non-Hawaiians think!- showing off their skills in preparation for competitive events and historical celebrations.
This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.
Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.
This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.
I think it was in memory of the last Queen of Hawaii. The famous Merry Monarchs played, while a group of young girls performed the hula. The cutest one was this TINY little Japanese-Hawaiian girl, who looked very unsure about what she was doing most of the time, and kept looking to her mom in distress. Aww. There was one older girl who was very smug and had a feisty attitude- when her father (who had been bragging about her to us throughout the performance) told her to smile more, she stuck out her tongue at him. XD
On the subject of Hawaiian musical culture, I bought a few CDs while I was visiting, to round out my family’s Hawaiian music collection. I noticed they don’t have ANY Hawaiian ladies, just IZ and the Cazimero Brothers, who are admittedly probably the most famous contemporary Hawaiian musicians. I wanted to support some lesser-known, but still very talented sistas: Raiatea Helm and Brittni Paira.
Anytime I travel to a foreign country, I try to pick up some local music, particularly in support of women musicians. We girl artists gotta stick up for each other! For that same motivation I made the logo and will soon be making the website for Kimly, the musician friend of mine who I recorded with in LA two weeks ago. I’m looking forward to getting the final cut of our song, so I can post it here! =)
Also, this is unrelated, but too awesome to share. My New year’s resolution will be to do everything I can to make my life more like a Bollywood Music Video.
That Bollywood video is almost as epic as this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44IFYB1icx0
i really love the Hula
that’s why I love Lilo&Stitch x3 oh… and a Japanese teacher of mine, before returning to Japan, on her goodbye party, she made a hula dance with a very nice sad song <3 i really really loved it!! i doubt there's a place where to study Hula in Argentina, but i'd surerly love to.
The Bollywood video is great xD you should totally watch a Bollywood movie named "Kaal Ho Naa Ho" (Tomorrow may never come, or something like that) it's very sad… but the songs and dancing is great! xD
Haha, Bollywood is the best, their dance moves are priceless. I wish I knew what they were saying though :O
From A Island Girl who Loves Island Music:
http://www.mele.com/music/genre/female+artists/
If you listen to any song listen to “Falling” by Keahiwai
I first learned some hula when I was a little kid, visiting my father in Hawaii. Many years later, here in Japan, we had a big nation-wide luau that brought together people from Hawaii living all over Japan, and several teachers in northwest Kyushu formed a hula group that we named “Halau o Kapakahi” (Crazy Mixed-up Hula Group), because our (male) leader was Hawaiian, I was mostly from Texas, and the six women in the group were each from a different country. We danced “Pua Hone” by the Bros. Cazimero (which has different moves for men and women that blend really nicely in a mixed-gender group), and after a LOT of practice, we got pretty good. The guest of honor was Jesse Kuhaulua, aka Takamiyama, aka Azumazeki Oyakata, one of the most successful of the early wave of Hawaiian sumo wrestlers. One of the girls flirted with him shamelessly during the dance, and he played along, and their interaction was very entertaining for the big Japanese audience.
By the way, the Merrie Monarch festival actually honors King David Kalakaua, the second-to-last Hawaiian monarch. Very interesting guy–he wrote a book of Hawaiian legends, made a world tour to raise the Kingdom of Hawaii’s profile, and proposed marriage between his daughter and the Japanese Emperor’s son. (Imagine how history would have changed if that had worked out!)
My favorite female Hawaiian singer: Robi Kahakalau