This volume features a selection of the ancient Hawaiian mele (songs and chants) collected and recorded in 1923 by anthropologist and musician Helen H. Roberts. The  Roberts Mele Collection, housed at the Bishop Museum Archives, is the most extensive compilation of Hawaiian mele from the early part [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Hula ‘ala‘apapa is a little-known hula genre of the Kamehameha dynasty which predates "modern" hula ku‘i of the Kalakaua era. It is a type of hula in the ancient performance stream, in which the mele is chanted rather than sung, the movements are vigorous and bombastic rather than soft and la [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

Hula Pahu are sacred chants and ritual movements performed with pahu, the sharkskin-covered drum. Because of its origins in legendary times, its religious connections, and its powerful sounds, the pahu is of singular importance in Hawaiian culture. In this thoroughly engrossing study, Elizabeth Tata [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

Hula, a vital expression of Hawaiian culture, has gone through many changes since the arrival of the missionaries. This study traces its course over two centuries, from the period of first European contact to modern times. It provides historical perspective necessary to assess the role of hula, incl [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

Hula Pahu: Hawaiian Drum Dances, Volume 1: Ha‘a and Hula Pahu, Sacred Movements. Hula Pahu are sacred chants and ritual movements performed with pahu, the sharkskin-covered drum. Author Adrienne Kaeppler analyzes dance movments and explains their evolution from early ha‘a (ritual) traditions. Sh [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

…the program we present at HBMF is a kind of living anthology, and this thought led naturally to conceiving our program as a continual update of the Hawaiian Renaissance. In other words, our program would be dedicated to presenting the best of classic Hawaiian culture along with the best and most thriving Hawaiian culture today.

Read the rest of this entry »

The mele contained in this book are fundamental to hula Pele and reflect a vast and dynamic Hawai'i worldview. These mele have been preserved for centuries via oral traditions, the sacred hula of Hawai'i, and, more recently, in twentieth-century written texts. Lele Kawa offers original translations [...]
Read the rest of this entry »