Hawaiian Folk Music

Hawaiian folk music includes several varieties of chanting (mele) and music meant for highly ritualized dance (hula). Traditional Hawaiian music and dance was functional, expressed praise, communicated genealogy and mythology, and accompanied games, festivals, and other secular events. The Hawaiian language has no word that translates precisely as music, but a diverse vocabulary exists to describe rhythms, instruments, styles, and elements of voice production. Hawaiian folk music is simple in melody and rhythm, but is complex and rich in the poetry, accompanying mimetic dance, and subtleties of vocal styles, even in the attenuated forms in which they survive today.