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Da Kine Sounds: The Function of Music as Social Protest in the New Hawaiian Renaissance Author(s): George H. Lewis Source: American Music, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Summer, 1984), pp. 38-52 Published by: University of Illinois Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3051657 Accessed: 17-07-2019 20:51 UTC

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GEORGE H. LEWIS

Da Kine Sounds: The Function of Music as Social Protest in

the New Hawaiian Renaissance

Deep in this tortured island all alone Hear the winds cry, the mountains moan ... A culture, a land, destroyed by white man's greed Taking our pride and honor, they planted their seed ... We followed their rules much too long. Our protests are heard in our music and song ...

"Hawaiian Awakening" by Debbie Maxwell

Until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it became evident that ignoring the im- pact of popular music on social and cultural protest movements was sociological folly, there were few serious studies of the impact of popular music as political ex- pression. Although some ethnomusicologists, such as Alan P. Merriam,1 were ar- guing that "songs lead as well as follow, and political and social movements, often expressed through song because of the license it gives, shape and force the mould- ing of public opinion," there were only a handful of social scientists who took such an idea seriously enough to allow it to inform their own work. Therefore, with a few exceptions,2 most treatments of popular music as political expression were likely to be journalistic or historicaP rather than sociological.

Although the 1970s and the early 1980s saw some studies of this important phenomenon by sociologists,4 it has been a topic that, strangely, has had compara- tively little attention accorded to it, given its importance in the study of social and political stability and change.

This paper is an attempt to analyze the role of da kine (pidgin for "right on") music in an ongoing social movement that is an important and focal concern of the people of Hawaii-a contemporary movement both political and cultural in nature, which is popularly known as the Hawaiian Renaissance. In contrast to most pre-

George H. Lewis is a member of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.

American Music Summer 1984

? 1984 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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Da Kine Sounds: Music as Social Protest 39

vious studies of the place of music in social movements, this study does not focus heavily on a content analysis of lyrics, as many of the most influential songs are sung entirely in Hawaiian, a language a majority of those in the audience either do not understand or are familiar with only certain key words and phrases. Although lyric content is considered in this study, the larger focus will be on the symbolic meaning of the Hawaiian song,5 as well as on nonverbal aspects of the music and accompanying dance-an area of analysis that is sadly lacking in most studies of musical performance.6

Social movements arise not only in response to conditions of inequality or in- justice but, more important, because of changing definitions of these conditions. Those involved must recognize and define their plight as an injustice, and one that is intolerable to live with, rather than just passing it off as the result of luck or a cruel

twist of fate.7 In addition, participants in such a movement must come to believe that an alleviation of these intolerable conditions is possible and that their efforts will be important in obtaining the desired changes in political and social condi- tions.8

There are four major stages in "consciousness raising" associated with social movements. (1) Social discontent must be associated with the social conditions in which persons find themselves.9 (2) These problematic social conditions must be defined not as unchangeable and due to fate, but, instead, as due to the policies of the present social order, which can be changed-thus moving persons from social discontent to social unrest, or a readiness to challenge the political structure to change social conditions.10 (3) From this base of social unrest, a definition of what is

wrong with present social conditions and proposed solutions to these problems, as well as accepted rationales for participation, and assurances that such participation is both necessary and efficacious must be developed-in other words, a social ideol- ogy must be created." (4) Social legitimization of the ideology and the goals of the movement must be sought by tying it to the common values of the larger popula- tion in which the movement is operating.12 This process of social redefinition, or the mobilizing and eventual legitimization of discontent which turns mere dissatisfac- tion with the social order into a force for change, is a crucial and relatively un- studied topic in the literature of social movements.

Music and popular songs can play an important role in this process of symbolic redefinition and the creation of a social ideology for social movements. As Finlay13 has noted, if one examines just the lyrics of protest songs associated with social movements, one can find many examples of diagnoses of what is wrong with the present order of things, proposed solutions to these wrongs, and rationales for par- ticipation in the movement-all key elements in the definition of a social move- ment ideology.

In addition to the development of ideology through the content of lyrics, something that has been to some extent examined,14 a second important function of music in social movements is in the development of social solidarity among members and potential members.15 The songs of social movements attempt to ap-

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40 Lewis

peal to and reinforce common values and social identities among potential and ac- tive members. The fact that music is not often taken seriously as a political activity often gives musicians and singers more license to reach a broad range of audiences than would be possible for other types of political activists, something I have exam- ined earlier with respect to the "youth movement" of the 1960s16 and Afro- American protests and social movements in the United States.17 By musically ap- pealing to common values and traditional roots of a larger audience, the goals of the social movement may more easily be linked with these values and thus legiti- matized within the larger system.18 In addition, there are symbolic aspects of the music of most protest move- ments that help to both define ideology and develop solidarity that are not con- tained strictly in the lyrics of the songs themselves. The musical forms chosen by protest musicians usually involve elements drawn from the "traditional" music of the oppressed group. These elements usually involve the use of traditional melo- dies, transformed by the use of new lyrics, but which are recognized by most par- ticipants as deriving from "the people's" music.19 Also, familiar forms of musical structure may be used, such as rhythm pat-

terns or traditional dance forms, as well as the special use of traditional instruments that are a part of the specific cultural heritage of the oppressed group, to define symbolically the music as that of the people. Finally, the style of presentation of the music, the body language of the performers, and the styles of dress they choose- usually in opposition to the established way of presenting popular music in the larger society-all serve to identify symbolically these players and their perform- ances as part of the culture of the oppressed group. In considering the presentation and performance of protest songs, one has to

take note also of the ritual nature of music and the effect of this ritual in creating

feelings of identification and solidarity in the audience. Once an individual has been brought into the sphere of a movement's activities, the use of music in gather- ings can, unquestionably, reinforce the feelings of communal belonging and social solidarity. Such social rituals, when they are effective, help to charge emotionally the interests members of these groups hold in common, elevating them to moral rights and surrounding them with a "kind of symbolic halo of righteousness."20 This function of emotionally charging the interests of group members is done more

effectively through music, a nonrational medium, than through speeches, pam- phlets, or other rational, language-based means. Thus, as Durkheim suggested in the context of religion, musical events can provide the sorts of emotional, euphoric, vitalizing, and integrative experiences that more rationalistic appeals cannot. This function of music is doubly important in the context of social movements, when one considers the high proportion of the nonliterate in most oppressed popula- tions, for whom rational, language-based arguments are, at the most, ineffective and, at the least, totally inappropriate means of communication. Therefore, in summary, music is a unique and effective force in the mobilizing of discontent within an oppressed population because: (1) it can clearly define the

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Da Kine Sounds: Music as Social Protest 41

state of social discontent and develop the elements of a social ideology to reinforce and rationalize the social movement; (2) it is less likely to be taken seriously, and thus less likely to be censored or repressed, than the more rational and literal forms of communication, such as speeches or pamphlets; (3) it can powerfully tie social protest to the traditional values and symbols of the group through the use of tradi-

tional musical forms, instruments, dress, and modes of presentation; (4) it can pro- ject a powerful emotional message that may be more effective in promoting solidar- ity than more "rational" modes of communication; and (5) music, in this emotional communication, can charge the interests of the group, elevating them to the inten- sity of moral rights.

In the remainder of this paper, I shall present an analysis of the music of what

has become known as the "Hawaiian Renaissance," a contemporary sociocultural movement that illustrates and amplifies the points made in the discussion so far.

On March 22, 1977, George Kanahele addressed the Rotary Club of Honolulu on the subject of the resurgence of interest in Hawaiian culture that had been build-

ing around the state since the beginning of the decade. "Some had called it a 'psy- chological renewal,' a purging of feelings of alienation and inferiority. For others it

is a reassertion of self-dignity and self-importance. . . . What is happening among Hawaiians today is probably the most significant chapter in their modern history since the overthrow of the monarchy and loss of nationhood in 1893. For, concomi- tant with this cultural rebirth, is a new political awareness which is gradually being transformed into an articulate, organized but unmonolithic, movement."21

This speech, published in full by the Honolulu Advertiser, has since been quoted extensively by local politicians, social activists, and those involved in reviv- ing the arts and culture of Hawaii. Kanahele entitled his speech, "Hawaiian Ren- aissance," thus giving a name to this fast coalescing value-oriented social move- ment.

The movement was anticipated in Hawaii. As early as 1959, the Kamehameha School faculty were discussing the "psychological rebirth" of Hawaiians, as they began showing interest in, and exploring, their culture.2 This interest in Hawaiian culture at Kamehameha revolved around the efforts of Nona Beamer, who fought in earlier years to establish a Hawaiian Club at the school. By the 1950s, Beamer- who had obtained a graduate degree in anthropology at Columbia while studying Hawaiian culture-was teaching part-time in Kamehameha.

"I coined the word Hawaiiana in 1949. The word 'ana' is a very important word to me, because it means to measure, to evaluate, to glean the very best of the Hawaiian culture. This is what we choose to teach, the very best of the culture. So it wasn't chosen idly. I think Kamehameha was the first to pick Hawaiian Studies as a cultural program for students, and then the University of Hawaii picked it up for their summer sessions."23

Then, in 1964, John Dominis Holt published an important essay entitled, "On Being Hawaiian." This essay, which called for a definition of identity in cultural

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42 Lewis

terms, was circulated and debated heavily in the mid to late 1960s, thus setting the stage for what was to explode from 1969 to 1972 as a genuine rebirth of awareness in, and response to, Hawaiian culture. This cultural flowering is usually identified most strongly with developments

in the field of Hawaiian music and dance in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Up to this time, Hawaiian song and dance of the twentieth century was, in the main, commercial music heavily influenced and produced by the middle-of-the-road mainland American recording industry. This commercialization of Hawaiian culture began in 1915, when a group of

Hawaiian musicians, singers, and dancers--featuring George E. K. Awai's Royal Hawaiian Quartet-were headline acts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposi- tion in San Francisco. Their popularity sparked a craze that swept the United States and, later, Western Europe.24 The popularity of Hawaiian music prompted main- land music composers, the Tin Pan Alley people, to begin writing imitative mate- rial for mass consumption. The result was a series of "phony" Hawaiian songs, many with nonsense lyr-

ics like those of the Al Jolson hit, "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula." Hawaiian musicians who came to the mainland to tour gradually incorporated these much requested songs into their repertoires--as well as rearranging Hawaiian classics to the newly popular jazz beat that was sweeping America.25 As the first tourist hotels opened on Waikiki, this commercial "Hawaiian" mu-

sic was the natural sound for the stage shows and dance bands that sprang up with the tourist industry. Ragtime, jazz, blues, foxtrot-all were used in creating songs with Hawaiian themes, but with English lyrics. These hapa haole songs, played live in Waikiki and across America by touring bands, were also broadcast throughout the world on the famous radio program, "Hawaii Calls," as well as being featured in films such as Bing Crosby's 1937 Waikiki Wedding, from which the hapa haole song,

"Sweet Leilani" won the Oscar for best song.26 This music, much of it commercially produced by non-Hawaiians, came to be

defined as authentic Hawaiian music, even by many Hawaiians, and it was mistak- enly assumed to represent and reflect the cultural identity of the people. From 1930 and into the 1960s, the "Hawaiian sound," much of it created in Tin Pan Alley, flourished commercially both on the American mainland (especially in the 1930s and 1940s) and in the lounges and supper clubs of Waikiki. Paralleling this commercial creation and definition of Hawaiian music was the

development of the hula dance style. From 1915 through the 1920s, the hula be- came a rage in vaudeville and mainland circus sideshows.27 Called "cootch" dancers, most performers (who were seldom Hawaiian) created their own steps and movements, most centered around an overtly sexual theme. By the 1930s, this form of "hula" was cleaned up and used by Hollywood in films starring Bing Crosby. Thus, it became a symbol of Hawaiian culture in the minds of many and was incorporated into Waikiki stage shows along with the hapa haole music.28 By the late 1960s, perhaps fueled by the efforts of mainland American cultural

minorities to assert their own identities, dissatisfaction with the slick and symboli-

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Da Kine Sounds: Music as Social Protest 43

cally empty commercial music and dance of Hawaii fused with social and political concerns revolving around identity to create the beginnings of a social movement in Hawaii.

In November, 1966, a local radio station, KCCN, made the decision to broad-

cast Hawaiian music only, twenty-four hours a day. Although a good deal of this music was of the hapa haole variety, some of it was authentic and traditional, the work of a few (such as Andy Cummings, Gabby Pahinui, Genoa Keawe, and Nona Beamer) who were performing in the old styles and keeping alive a tenuous and fragile musical tradition.

In 1969, the station entertained the idea of dropping the all-Hawaiian format, but abandoned their plans when they received 4,200 letters of protest in one week's time.29 In April, 1971, KCCN sponsored a four-hour concert at the Waikiki Shell that featured over fifty local musicians, many of whom played traditional music in the old styles. The concert was a sellout and a symbolic watershed in the resur- gence of interest in authentic Hawaiian music.

Much of this interest was from the young Hawaiians who were searching for some sort of cultural roots. In so doing, not only did they begin to support the mu- sic of the few traditionalists who were still performing, but they also began to play this music-and to create new music within the old traditional forms. As Krash

Kealoha, then station manager of KCCN, explained it in 1973: "Up until that point (1970) we were playing old Hawaiian music and hapa haole tunes. Then several kids started talking to me, and it turned out they were disappointed because they were writing their own music and coming up with their own style, and some were even going into the studios and spending their own money-$5,000 or whatever it cost-to produce a record. But when the record came out, it wouldn't get on any radio stations ... At first there was a lot of resistance from our steady listeners (to us playing the music), some of the older people who felt anything that wasn't sung

in Hawaiian was rock and roll."'3 KCCN, with its exclusive focus, became a key in dissemination and popularization of the music of the Hawaiian renaissance, as well as a source of information about the music and the people who were creating it.

A second key to the launching of this movement was the interaction between an aging traditional singer, Phillip Pahinui, and two young musicians, Peter Moon and Palani Vaughn. Pahinui, better known as "Gabby" or "Pops," had been active musically in the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s, playing mostly traditional music, though he was, at times, heavily influenced by mainland jazz. But his music had not been popular enough on which to base a career, and he made his living work- ing on street crews for the city of Honolulu. By the 1960s, he remembered: "I had just about given up, was working with the City and County then. The only time we'd play music was when we'd finish work on the road and sit down under a tree and strum."31 In addition, Pahinui had been a heavy drinker his whole life, and this had influenced his behavior-making him erratic enough so that he could never sustain the effort to develop a successful career.

Peter Moon, and others, attracted by Gabby's knowledge of the old songs and

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44 Lewis

the techniques of slack-key guitar playing, haunted him for lessons. "Gabby is a genius, you know. He really is. The guy still knows his stuff. And he's a storehouse of 40 years being in the business ... He's just uncanny, he baffles us four or five times a year. He'll play slack key in these real old tunings, then smile at Cyril and me as if to say, 'See, you didn't think I had it, did you?' "32 Not only was Peter Moon to learn from Gabby, he also encouraged him to record again, and eventually became Pahinui's agent and producer-launching a successful mid-life musical ca- reer that was to last until the singer's death in 1980.

At the same time that Peter Moon was learning slack-key guitar from Gabby Pahinui, Palani Vaughn was seriously researching Hawaii's musical past, in search of material upon which to build a career. "We've had chanters and dancers in our family going back several generations. I started out just looking for songs, you know, but then I got into the origins of the music .... Peter Moon and I were in the same graduate course in Hawaiian art history. . . . We had mutual friends and I asked him if he'd like to work on an album with me. In the process, the Sunday Manoa was formed."33

The Sunday Manoa, first recorded in 1969 and the most influential of the new Hawaiian groups, originally consisted of Moon, Vaughn, Baby Kalima, and two of Gabby Pahinui's sons, Cyril and Bla.34 Also important for the early success of the group was a young songwriter who was another member of that Hawaiian art his- tory course, Larry Kimwa. Kimwa wrote five of the songs for the first Sunday Ma- noa album, and went on to become one of the most influential and prolific of the songwriters of the renaissance.

Later, as Vaughn left the Sunday Manoa to begin his solo career resurrecting musical material from Hawaii's last monarchical era, the Cazimero brothers-

products of Kamehameha School and its emphasis on Hawaiian culture-joined the group and helped to shape its distinct sound throughout the early 1970s. To- day, in addition to The Brothers Cazimero's highly successful career in Hawaiian music, Roland Cazimero also teaches music, singing, and hula at Kamehameha, while Peter Moon continues to record as The Peter Moon Band and sponsors an annual concert of traditional Hawaiian music, Kanikapila, held at the University of Hawaii since 1971.

Moon, whose considerable talents were responsible throughout the 1970s for the organization and developmnent of Hawaiian music, eventually hopes to focus on the teaching of slack-key guitar and to open a school of music. "All I've done," he says, "is organize. My real contribution has been in working with people. That is, enhancing people by developing their talents and ideas ... I know how to teach and I enjoy developing people's talents. I want to help young people grow. "3

The third factor in the musical launching of the renaissance in the early 1970s was the establishment, in February 1971, of the Hawaiian Music Foundation, set up by George Kanahele to preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian music. In 1972 the Foundation held its first slack-key guitar contest and, in 1973, began sponsoring falsetto and steel guitar contests. Since 1975, the Hawaiian Music Foundation has

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Da Kine Sounds: Music as Social Protest 45

published Hacilono Mele, a monthly (now quarterly) newsletter dealing with Hawai- ian music, and, in cooperation with St. Louis High School, offers classes in Hawai- ian music which, over the 1970s, were taken by well over one thousand students.36

As Kanahele said, looking back over the decade, in 1979: "There appears to be more young and old people learning to play Hawaiian music, more teaching and more performing it, than at any time in the past 20 or 30 years. . . . Significantly, the impetus for the resurgence in Hawaiian music has come essentially, if not en- tirely, from the local community: The lyrics are in Hawaiian, the themes are Hawai- ian, the composers, for the most part, are Hawaiian. It has not come from the out- side, nor from the tourism industry; the most popular Hawaiian groups almost disdain the tastes of the visitors."37

Along with this resurgence in the performance and the creation of Hawaiian music came a renewed interest in the traditional forms of the hula.38 The Merrie

Monarch Festival, a hula competition begun in 1964, was attracting large numbers of contestants by 1971 and, in 1972, the King Kamehameha Celebration hula com- petition was begun. Both events became increasingly popular throughout the 1970s, drawing sellout crowds by the end of the decade.

In 1969, the Nanahuli dance troupe, devoted to preserving traditional forms of the hula, was formed by lolani Luahine, who used the troupe to spearhead her successful efforts to get the State Commission on Hawaiian Heritage formed.39 The Commission, since the early 1970s, has sponsored annual dance conferences which are always sellout events.

Also, in 1972, Maciki Aiu began a school for hula instructors and, in 1973, turned out a first class of twenty-eight. Most of these instructors, graduated throughout the 1970s, began their own schools of hula during the decade.40 As Kanuhele remarked. "It is important to note that today's interest is for the ancient, rather than the modern or hapa haole, hula. The more traditional the dance, the keener the interest. It is as if people want to get as close as they possibly can to the first hula and, because of this, the Hawaiians have finally retaken the hula from the tourists."41

Thus, the hula-perhaps the world's best-known symbol of tropic sensuality and, since the early 1900s, a trademark of foreign exploitation of Hawaii-was transformed in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s into a potent symbol of re- discovered pride and one of the most important signposts of the Hawaiian renais- sance.

Although centered around music and dance, the Hawaiian cultural rebirth is not exclusive to these activities. The 1970s saw a concomitant increase in interest in

the Hawaiian language, as well. In 1972 an organization, cAhahui cOlelo Hawaici, was formed around those who wished to retain the traditional tongue. cAhahui cOlelo Hawaici grew in numbers and activities throughout the decade, sponsoring-among other things-a weekly talk show, "Ka Leo O Hawaii," on KCCN radio, conducted entirely in Hawaiian.

Increasingly, since the early 1970s, Hawaiian words and phrases have been entering the common language of Hawaii, serving as symbolic identifiers of

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46 Lewis

Hawaiian-ness. Such phrases are used in the musical patter and pidgin of perform- ers and movement people to help establish identification. If one understands-and responds appropriately-one is a "brother" or a "sister." The decade saw, as well, the introduction of classes in Hawaiian in most island

high schools and a course of instruction at the University of Hawaii. In 1978, the Hawaiian State Constitution was amended to make Hawaiian, though still under- stood and spoken by very few on the islands, an official language (along with En- glish) of the state.

Ancient crafts, such as featherwork and traditional lei making, were revived in the 1970s, as was canoe racing and traditional forms of surfing. Interest in canoes reached a high point in 1975, with the creation and sailing of a double-hulled canoe,

the Hokuleca, to Tahiti-thus recreating, in reverse, the initial voyage of discovery of the first Hawaiians.

This voyage, the materialization of Hawaii's cultural heritage, was commemo- rated in a song cycle written by members of various renaissance musical groups and performed by them, banded together for this purpose as Hokuleca. Kelici Tauca, a member of Hokuleca, explains. "When the canoe was dedicated I was part of the ceremonies. I was the assistant Kahuna to the rituals, the chanting and all. And that's where I was inspired to write my first song on the general feeling of the launching. ... Anyone who has seen the boat, to say 'wow' or something can't be enough to capture what you feel inside. . . . Because it is still living today, it is so instrumental and very important to us, to everyone who wants to feel Hawaiian, to take from it and understand for themselves. . . . It's like a shrine."42

The new songs of Hawaii have much in common with the songs of many pro- test movements, performing ideological, motivational, and integrative functions. They are nationalistic and celebrate the traditions of native Hawaiians in opposi- tion to the cultural domination of the mainland United States and the entertain-

ment needs of the booming tourist industry. Groups formed in the 1970s refused to continue the tradition of "cute" names

of the past, like the Royal Hawaiian Serenaders or the Waikiki Beachboys-names that conjured up images of happy-go-lucky brown lackeys of the Hawaiian films and nightclubs. Instead, they named themselves after Hawaii, the land: The Sun- day Manoa, Hui Ohana, the Makaha Sons of Nicihau, Olomana.

This concern with the land is a theme strongly reflected in the lyrics of the new songs (such as "E Kuu Morning Dew" and "Nanakuli Blues"), which celebrate the beauty of various island places and lament their destruction by contemporary off- island concerns, or the fact that the land-once Hawaiian-is now owned by for- eigners who refuse to treat it with the care and reverence it demands. As the late

George Helm, musician and political activist, said in description of these songs: "Hawaiian views on nature are the subject of many songs and contain a true re- spect for nature. Many of the songs now openly express, if one understands the words, the language-pain, revolution; it's expressing the emotional reaction the Hawaiians are feeling to the subversion of their lifestyle."43

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Da Kine Sounds: Music as Social Protest 47

Such songs have been written and sung in support of political demonstrations since early 1970, when protesters sought to prevent the Bishop Estate from evicting a pig farmer from their lands in Ohaucs Kalama Valley. Such crusades against actions of the large landowners and real-estate developers gained momentum through the 1970s and are a major consideration in the political equation of Hawaii in the early 1980s. As Olomana's Jerry Santos put it: "Kawela Bay and Turtle Bay have been rezoned for resort areas, and the people who lived there for 20 years have to move out because their leases were traded suddenly to an insurance com- pany on the mainland. And nobody even knew about it. . . . But if you sing a song about it, all kinds of people will know. .. ."44

Perhaps the most significant social protest of the 1970s that involved both con- cern for the land and the support of the new music was the movement to get the U.S. Navy to stop using the island of Kahocolawe for bombing practice, something they had been doing for many years. Activists such as George Helm and Walter Ritte, supported by local musicians, held huge rallies in protest of the Navy's poli- cies and, in January 1976, crept onto the island and "occupied" it in protest. Among other efforts in support of this occupation was the recording of a traditional chant by Kelici Tauca, a member of Hokuleca, and the writing of such new songs of protest as Debbie Maxwell's "Hawaiian Awakening," and Harry Mitchell's "Mele O Kahocolawe."

Such efforts have been critical in legitimatizing the goals of the activists and obtaining popular support for them. The Kahocolawe movement is now accepted even by members of the traditional Hawaiian Civic Clubs, who earlier took out newspaper ads in opposition to it. Even more significant is the fact that the earlier militant image of the movement has now taken on mystical and spiritual overtones and its goals have become almost a cultural demand of the people, a phenomenon aided to a great extent by its legitimization and incorporation as a part of the cul- tural renaissance. "What we needed was to get Hawaiians active. . . . Music is the easiest way I know, because people tune into music. . . . That's what I use music for."45

Another related topic addressed in the lyrics of the new music is hostility to- ward tourists and criticism of their impact on Hawaii in terms of land use, real- estate development, and bastardization and cooptation of traditional Hawaiian culture. "I hate tourists. Oh, I don't hate the tourist person-I hate the industry. We have no control over that industry. It's like a giant malignant cancer and it's eating up all our beaches, all the places that are profound for our culture. It's grabbing them. They take the best."46

Songs like "Hawaii '78" can be quite blunt in their condemnation of tourism, or they can be very subtle, focusing on the daily lives of people in some romantic past before the influx of tourism, making their points in the traditional Hawaiian style of Kaona, or hidden meaning. "Hawaiian music reflects the attitudes toward life and nature. These are basically clean protests and not harsh, but with a deep hidden meaning, which Anglo-Saxon reasoning cannot appreciate."47

A third theme, that of an urgent concern for preserving the traditional ways of

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48 Lewis

Hawaii, and even the Hawaiian race, is the subject of a good number of these songs, such as "All Hawaii Stands Together" and "E Na Hawaici." As Palani Vaughn said of his work: "By the third album, the content got rather political, say- ing things like 'The race is dying, we must survive.' In fact I've been called a racist, but my answer is the Hawaiian race is a dying one and I don't find it a crime to foster its survival."48

With respect to this third major theme, the song cycle about the canoe Hoku- le Ca is a clear and significant example-as is the more recent (1982) song cycle writ- ten by Roland Cazimaro on Pele, the goddess of fire, or Olomana's song which ends with: "Why must they always wipe out all our past?" Jerry Santos, of Olo- mana, notes: "The new interest in the music is tied to the diminishing factor of the Hawaiian lifestyle. With the buildings and the condominiums and the thousands of people, a lot of the old things vanish very quickly. There is more of an urgency to remember the old values correctly."49 Many of these songs are written and sung in Hawaiian. This is of special im-

port because-even with the increased study of the language evidenced in the 1970s-the majority of Hawaiians do not understand it. Thus, they rely on transla- tions given by performers during their live shows or, in some cases, appearing as liner notes on their record albums.

Because of this, songs are more likely to be recognized by their melodies than by their titles, and the fact that they are sung in Hawaiian takes on the larger and more general symbolic significance of a protest against the destruction of the lan- guage and its replacement with English. In this way, the very act of singing or lis- tening to songs sung in Hawaiian becomes an act of social protest at the same time that it is a reaffirmation of cultural identity.

Many of the songs use musical forms that are associated with native tradition-from the chants of early Hawaii to the song stylings of the slack-key gui- tarists. Many also will use some lyrics from the older songs, brought into the cul- tural repertoire of the new composers by artists such as Gabby Pahinui or Genoa Keawe, with only parts of the lyrics changed to "update" the songs for their pur- pose. Thus, the new songs are located in a well-established tradition of the people's music, which enhances their appeal to a wide range of listeners and provides a ba- sis for identification with the movement.

The instrumentation of the new songs is also an important characteristic of their appeal. Many of the most popular performers, such as the Beamer Brothers or

Hokuleca, use indigenous folk instruments in their arrangements-instruments that had not been a part of popular music until their introduction in the 1970s.

The slack-key guitar regained its central place in the music of the 1970s, but along with it came strings like the tiple and the requinta and percussions like the ipu

(a gourd drum), cili cili (stone castanets), pahu (a sharkskin drum), and a culili (triple gourd rattle). The music played on these instruments is more polished than tradi- tional rural songs and chants, and many of them are played in ways that would never have occurred in traditional settings. Nevertheless, the use of these instru- ments has emphasized nationalistic pride in the traditions of the people and is

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Da Kine Sounds: Music as Social Protest 49

aimed at establishing an identification with those traditions and people. Too, the use of such instruments is a self-conscious act in opposition to the forms of instru- mentation found in mainland "pop" music or the tourist lounges of Waikiki. Thus, the selection of instruments is also a political statement about the need to respect Hawaiian traditions and to oppose mainland domination and cultural cooptation by the tourist industry.

Many of these musical groups will perform with hula dancers as interpreters of the music into the symbolic form of the dance or, in other cases, as a traditional

musical accompaniment for the dance, thus tying the two cultural forms together as symbolic expressions of new ethnic pride and identity. The Cazimero brothers have a halau of dancers, trained by Roland, who have become part of their regular

show5? and, since the late 1970s, the music journal Hacilono Mele has been devoting equal time to both music and hula. Many of the new groups will perform musically for various halaus in the Merrie Monarch and King Kamehameha competitions and support the dancers at many local shows and benefits.51

Finally, mention should be made of the general style of presentation of the singers, groups, and dancers. In dress, they often wear the simple clothing of the Hawaiian working class or the traditional clothes and leis of the Hawaiian past-as opposed to the flashy uniforms and suits of many of the Waikiki performers. As Israel Kamakawiwaole of the Makaha Sons of Nicihau says; "We just us, man. We wear our own clothes, what our momma made for us. You don't like us, that's

tough. You better leave, yeah?"52

The development of a "new" music in Hawaii in the late 1960s and early 1970s and its focal position in what has been termed the Hawaiian Renaissance clearly illustrates the points made concerning the place of music in social movements made in the first part of this paper.

The new music, in its choice of lyrics, its use of the Hawaiian language, and its modes of presentation, serves to identify sources of discontent of the local popula- tion and to address, to a great extent, three major issues prominent as social con- cerns in Hawaii: (1) land use issues, (2) ecological and cultural impacts of mass tour- ism, and (3) the destruction of traditional culture and the dying out of the Hawaiian race.

Although not pointing specifically at modes of solution to these problems in most cases-the Naval bombing of Kahocolawe being a strong exception-the mu- sic is more apt to imply solutions in a more traditional and subtle manner of Kaona,

or hidden meaning in the lyrics and the style of presentation. That it has been effec- tive is implied in the comments of John Waihee, leader of the 1978 State Constitu- tional Convention, at which amendments were passed to establish the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and to address problems of traditional Hawaiian rights, educa- tion, and lands. Waihee stated flatly that the renaissance was "the glue that kept the package together," and that "you cannot understand how it all happened with- out understanding the renaissance.""53

In addition, by tying these pressing social issues to the traditional cultural and

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50 Lewis

musical forms, the artists have also tied them to the central values and symbols of the Hawaiian people, giving them at the same time cultural legitimacy and emo- tional urgency. "The Renaissance was the incubator for a lot of the sympathetic feelings that Kahocolawe received from among Hawaiians, especially young Ha- waiians. . . . The protest songs written by young composers were part and parcel of the resurgence of Hawaiian music. The rhetoric of aloha caina symbolized the whole movement of going back to the source, listening to our kupuna, finding our roots."54

As George Kanahele implies, the new music is also extremely effective as a unifier, a vehicle through which general social solidarity can be achieved. Kanahele has remarked elsewhere, "We are seeing the 'Great Gathering' of the Hawaiians-- at hula competitions, musical concerts, song contests, . . . and church meetings. There are far more occasions for Hawaiians to gather today than at any other time in recent memory, and consequently, many more are being thrown together, lead- ing to better communication and acquaintanceships-what the Maoris call 'group rhythm.' "55

That these social rituals, with Hawaiian music and dance as the focal point in many cases, have been effective in helping to establish a common consciousness and concern with pressing social issues on the part of Hawaiians can be seen in many areas of life in the state. The Honolulu Advertiser remarked in an editorial on March 23, 1982: "A movement which some people dismissed as short-lived and superficial has become well established in many areas. Political changes have been the most visible. The unique office of Hawaiian Affairs is now a reality and fact finding by the Native Hawaiian Study Commission is well underway. . . . Most people here have a special concern for the Hawaiian people and culture, stemming in part from a sense of injustice at the disadvantaged circumstances in which many find themselves."56

The contribution of the music of the Hawaiian Renaissance to the social

changes underway in the state should not be overlooked. Before dismissing music as "epiphenomenal," as some do, one should at least consider the question of whether it may be of more basic influence as an impetus to social change and as a support and legitimizer of social protest movements-as the case study reported on in this paper clearly suggests it to be.

NOTES

1. Alan P. Merriam, The Anthropology of Music (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1964), p. 147.

2. R. Serge Denisoff, Great Day Coming: Folk Music and the American Left (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971); R. Serge Denisoff and R. A. Peterson, The Sounds of Social Change (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1972); Archie Green, "American Labor

Lore: Its Meanings and Uses," Industrial Re- lations, 4 (1965), 51-68; Charles Keil, Urban Blues (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966).

3. Phillippe Carles and Jean-Louis Cor- nolli, Free Jazz, Black Power (Paris: Champ Libre, 1971); Joe Ferrandino, "Rock Culture and the Development of Social Conscious- ness," Radical America, 3 (1969), 11-34;

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Da Kine Sounds: Music as Social Protest 51

Jerome Rodnitzky, Minstrels of the Dawn (New York: Nelson-Hall, 1976).

4. Ernest Cashmore, Rastaman: The Ras- tafarian Movement in England (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1979), pp. 1-134; Marco d'Eramo, "The Rhetorics of Protest: Brassens and Dylan," Cultures, 2 (1975), 53- 104; Barbara Finlay, "Nonverbal Aspects of Nationalism in Musical Protest," (Corval- lis, Oregon: unpublished); George H. Lewis, "This Bitter Earth: Protest and Style in Black Popular Music," National Forum, Summer (1982), 37-41; Joseph Nalven, "Some Notes on Chicano Music as a Path-

way to Community Identity," The New Scholar, 5 (1973), 73-93; Tim Patterson, "Popular Culture and Organic Intellectual- ity," Insurgent Sociologist, 5 (1974), 67-72; John Robinson, R. Pilskain, and P. Hirsch, "Protest Rock and Drugs," Journal of Com- munication, 25 (1976), 125-36.

5. George H. Lewis, "Popular Music: Symbolic Transformer of Meaning in Soci- ety," International Review of the Sociology of Music, 12 (1983), 247-58; George H. Lewis, "The Meaning's in the Music: Popular Mu- sic As Symbolic Communication," Theory, Culture and Society, 3 (1983), 56-68.

6. Norman Denzin, "Problems in Ana- lyzing Elements of Mass Cultures: Notes on the Popular Song and Other Artistic Pro- ductions," American Journal of Sociology, 75 (1970), 1035-38; George H. Lewis, "The So- ciology of Popular Culture," Current Sociol- ogy, 26 (1978), 26-28.

7. David Aberle, "A Note on Relative Deprivation Theory as Applied to Millenar- ian and Other Cult Movements," Reader in Comparative Religion, Lessa & Vogt, eds. (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), pp. 84- 98; Neil Smelser, Theory of Collective Behavior (New York: Free Press, 1963), pp. 36-57; Ralph Turner, "The Theme of Contempo- rary Social Movements," British Journal of Sociology, 20 (1969), 390-405.

8. John Wilson, Social Movements (Bos- ton: Basic Books, 1973), pp. 12-74.

9. David Aberle, Reader in Comparative Religion (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), pp. 214-36.

10. Anthony Oberschall, Social Conflict and Social Movements (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973), pp. 7-38.

11. Mayer Zald and J. McCarthy, The Dy- namics of Social Movements (Cambridge, Mass.: Winthrop, 1979), pp. 1-12; Louis

Zurcher and D. Snow, "Collective Behavior and Social Movements," Sociological Contri- butions to Social Psychology, Rosenberg and Turner, eds. (New York: Basic Books, 1981), pp. 247-61.

12. Malcolm Spector and N. Kitsuse, Constructing Social Problems (Menlo Park, Ca.: Cummings, 1977), pp. 111-29.

13. Barbara Finlay, "Nonverbal Aspects of Nationalism in Musical Protest" (Corval- lis, Ore.: Unpublished, 1980).

14. d'Eramo, "The Rhetorics of Protest: Brassens and Dylan," pp. 53-104; Joe Fer- randino, "Rock Culture and the Develop- ment of Social Consciousness," Radical America, 3 (1969), 11-34.

15. Cashmore, Rastaman pp. 64-124; Wil- liam Gamson, The Strategy of Social Protest (Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey, 1975), pp. 51-89.

16. George H. Lewis, "The Structure of Support in Social Movements," British Jour- nal of Sociology, 27 (1976), 311-26.

17. George H. Lewis, "Social Protest and Self Awareness in Black Popular Music," Popular Music and Society, 4 (1973), 37-42; Lewis, 'This Bitter Earth: Protest and Style in Black Popular Music," pp. 37-41.

18. Malcolm Spector and N. Kitsuse, Constructing Social Problems (Menlo Park, CA: Cummings, 1977), pp. 47-89.

19. Lewis, "Social Protest and Self Awareness in Black Popular Music," pp. 37-42.

20. Randall Collins, Sociologist Insight (New York: Oxford, 1982) p. 71.

21. George Kanahele, "Hawaiian Renais- sance," Honolulu Advertiser, March 24, 1977, p. 1.

22. Jerry Hopkins, The Hula (Hong Kong: Apa, 1982), pp. 14-18.

23. Nona Beamer, "Interview," Da Kine Sound (Hawaii: Press Pacifica, 1978), p. 142.

24. George E. K. Awai, "Interview," Hacilono Mele, 3, 8 (1977) 5.

25. Jerry Hopkins, "Hawaiian Music and Dance," Insight (Hong Kong: Apa, 1980), pp. 319-28; Johnny Noble, "Hawaiian Mu- sicians in the Jazz Era," Paradise of the Pa- cific, 45 (1943), 22.

26. Tony Todaro, The Golden Years of Ha- waiian Entertainment (Honolulu: Tony To- daro, 1974), p. 17.

27. Hopkins, The Hula, p. 5-8. 28. Nathan Kent, "A New Kind of Sugar," A

New Kind of Sugar (Honolulu: East-West Center, 1977), pp. 172-77.

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52 Lewis

29. Krash Kealoha, "Krash Kealoha Tells Why He Left KCCN," Hacilono Mele, 7, 4 (1981) 1 and 6-8.

30. Krash Kealoha, "Interview," Hono- lulu, 10 (1973), 35.

31. Phillips Pahinui, "Interview," Hono- lulu, 13 (1978), 38.

32. Peter Moon, "Moon Bridges Gap," Hacilono Mele, 3, 2 (1977), 7.

33. Palani Vaughn, "Interview," Hono- lulu, 14 (1979), 146.

34. Moon, "Moon Bridges Gap," p. 6. 35. Peter Moon, "Peter Moon: A Man For

All Seasons," Hacilono Mele, 1 (1981), 5. 36. Hacilono Mele, "HMF's Tenth Anni-

versary," Hacilono Mele, 7, 3 (1983), 1-8. 37. George Kanahele, "Hawaiian Renais-

sance Grips, Changes Island History," Hacilono Mele, 5, 7 (1979), 4-5.

38. Jerry Hopkins, "Interview," Hacilono Mele, 7, 7 (1981), 9-11; Hopkins, The Hula p. 136.

39. Ibid.

40. Jerry Hopkins, personal conversa- tions, Honolulu, 1983.

41. George Kanahele, Hawaiian Renais- sance (Honolulu: WAIAHA Press, 1982), 15.

42. Robert Kamohalu and B. Burlingame, Da Kine Sound (Hawaii: Press Pacifica, 1978), p. 122.

43. George Helm, "Language-Pain Revo- lution," Hacilono Mele, 2, 6 (1976), 3.

44. Olomana, "Interview,' Da Kine Sound (Hawaii: Press Pacifica, 1978), p. 47.

45. Helm, "Language-Pain Revolution," p. 3.

46. Walter Ritte, "Interview," Honolulu, 15 (1982), 68.

47. Helm, "Language-Pain Revolution," p. 3.

48. Vaughn, "Interview," p. 147. 49. Olomana, "Interview," p. 45. 50. Roland Cazimero, "Interview," Da

Kine Sound (Hawaii: Press Pacifica, 1978), p. 113.

51. Israel Kamakawiwaole, personal con- versation, Honolulu, 1982.

52. Ibid.

53. George Kanahele, "Hawaiian Renais- sance Grips, Changes Island History," p. 7.

54. Ibid., 8. 55. Kanahele, Hawaiian Renaissance p. 30. 56. Honolulu Advertiser, "Editorial,"

March 23, 1982, p. 8.

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