Music is a Choice!

History of Western Music in Hawaiʻi

On March 30, 1820, the first missionaries arrived in Hawaiʻi aboard the Thaddeus. These first missionaries were Protestants sent from Boston. They brought with them their hymns and Western musical notation. After the missionaries banned the practice and performance of native arts, hymns became “a form of recreational amusement in the void left by missionary prohibitions on indigenous pre-Christian performance practice.” Protestant hymns and traditional Hawaiian music combined to create a new genre of secular and religious music. 

Musical literacy grew quickly in Hawaiʻi, especially within the Hawaiian nobility and royalty. Western hymns translated into Hawaiian, called hīmeni, were taught in churches and schools, making Protestant hymns a part of everyday life for many Hawaiians. Hīmeni came to encompass not just religious songs, but secular songs written in the style of hymns. The adoption of Western musical notation became a vehicle for Hawaiian composers to write their own songs. Songs written by Hawaiians drew upon their own experiences, traditions, and philosophies, creating a unique sound as their music “followed Hawaiian poetic conventions, but at the same time expressed sentiments that bore affinities with a Victorian romantic sensibility.” As many Hawaiians received a Protestant musical education in some form, their compositions “share one originating characteristic: the repertoire contained therein is overwhelmingly derived from American exemplars.” The ability to notate these songs allowed Hawaiians to “perpetuate the stories of the people.” 

Four extremely prominent Hawaiian composers known as Na Lani ʻEhā, or The Heavenly Four, were royal siblings King Kalākaua, Queen Liliʻuokalani, Princess Likelike, and Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku II. Perhaps the most prominent of the four was Queen Liliʻuokalani, as she composed over 165 songs and chants, many of which were composed during her imprisonment and eventual overthrow. Many Hawaiian nobility were educated by Americans Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Cooke in Western musical performance and composition. Many of the compositions written by Hawaiian composers focused on Hawaiian experiences and traditions, allowing Hawaiians to reclaim and preserve their culture. When the Committee of Safety overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and imprisoned Queen Liliʻuokalani at ʻIolani Palace in 1893, the queen composed music documenting her imprisonment and her hope for the future of the Hawaiian people. 

Analysis of “Ke Aloha O Ka Haku” or “The Queen’s Prayer”

“Ke Aloha O Ka Haku,” also known as “The Queen’s Prayer,” was written by Queen Liliʻuokalani on March 22, 1895 while under house arrest at ʻIolani Palace during the overthrow of her government by Americans. The song was dedicated to her heir apparent Victoria Kaʻiulani and focuses on her feelings during imprisonment and prays that the Hawaiian people and their independence are protected by God.

Queen Liliʻuokalani acts as a surrogate to her teachers and Western composers. However, her compositions focus on Hawaiian experiences and storytelling, leaving behind Protestant composition styles as “the likely successors may alienate the affections of the officeholders—all the more powerfully when social or cultural differences exacerbate generational ones.” The cultural and social differences between Queen Liliʻuokalani and her Protestant teachers and Western composers creates a separation in musical styles. This new musical style combines Western musical techniques and formats with traditional Hawaiian storytelling elements. Western hymnal structures were paired with Kaona, a Hawaiian storytelling technique that, “through the clever manipulation of the figurative language, the composer can give a double entendre that is understood only by persons familiar with the circumstances of the writing.” Through this use of Hawaiian storytelling elements, Queen Liliʻuokalani acts as a surrogate to her Hawaiian ancestors. As the missionaries tried to discourage traditional Hawaiian practices, a vacancy grew in the creation of traditional Hawaiian music and storytelling. By continuing the elements of Hawaiian storytelling, Queen Liliʻuokalani filled this vacancy as “the process of surrogation does not begin or end but continues as actual or perceived vacancies occur in the network of relations that constitutes the social fabric.”

“Ke Aloha O Ka Haku” is performed by The Rose Ensemble in their album Nā Mele Hawaiʻi: A Rediscovery of Hawaiian Vocal Music as a four-part SATB vocal harmony. Nā Mele Hawaiʻi is a collection of historically informed recordings of Hawaiian vocal music considered to be “archival.” The use of this four-part vocal harmony is characteristically Western, making the general format of “Ke Aloha O Ka Haku” reminiscent of Christian church hymns. The four-part vocal harmony and a cappella arrangement makes the song reminiscent of Protestant fuguing tunes. Similar to Western hymns, the melody stays the same throughout the song while the lyrics change, though, the harmonies do change each verse.

Examining the lyrics and translation:

ʻO kou aloha nō Aia i ka lan Aʻo kou ʻoia ʻiʻo He hemolele hoʻi Koʻu noho mihi ʻana A paʻahao ʻia ʻOʻoe kuʻu lama Kou nani koʻu koʻo Mai nānā ʻinoʻino Nā hewa  o kānaka Akā e huikala A maʻemaʻe nō No laila e ka Haku Ma lalo o kou ʻēheu Kō mākou maluhia A mau loa aku nō ʻĀmene

Your loving mercy Is as high as Heaven And your truth So perfect I live in sorrow Imprisoned You are my light Your glory, my support Behold not with malevolence The sins of man But forgive And cleanse And so, o Lord Protect us beneath your wing And let peace be our portion Now and forever more Amen

Queen Liliʻuokalani wrote the song, praying to the Christian God. She praises God, asks him to forgive her transgressors, and prays that he protects her people. Ironically, those that imprisoned her and overthrew her government used Christianity as an excuse to do so. She is praying to the god of the people that colonized and overthrew her people. The lyrics are structurally and thematically similar to those found in Christian hymns as well as ending in ʻāmene, the Hawaiian word for amen, similar to prayer-type hymnals.

However, “Ke Aloha O Ka Haku” has many Hawaiian storytelling elements and aesthetics. The lyrics and title have kaona. The word haku can be translated as Lord or God, to compose, to braid (as a lei), a stone core, to rise up (as the moon), and my chief. Thus, this gives the title several meanings, the surface meaning being “the love of the Lord.” However, the other meanings come to be “the love of composing,” “the love of bringing the people together” as flowers was a way of referring to the children of Hawaiʻi, “the love of the people” as people are the core of a monarch, “the love of rising up as the moon,” and “the love the people have for their chief.” This layered title is characteristic of Hawaiian storytelling kaona. Although the song is about the Christian God on a surface level, it has a greater meaning of the love shared by her and her people for their culture and sovereignty. 

Just by knowing the deeper meaning of the title of “Ke Aloha O Ka Haku,” the song lyrics begin to take on another meaning. When she writes “ʻOʻoe kuʻu lama/ Kou nani koʻu koʻo (You are my light/ Your glory, my support),” she is addressing both God and her citizens. Although she is imprisoned, she continues to stay strong because of the love of her people and the love for her people. In the third verse, she asks God to forgive those that overthrew her on the surface, however, she is truly saying that she forgives her transgressors and hopes that they will realize and repent for their sins. In the fourth verse, she is declaring that she wants peace for her people and will do what she must to protect their safety. In “Ke Aloha O Ka Haku,” Queen Liliʻuokalani states that although she is being imprisoned and overthrown, she will always be the true queen of Hawaiʻi and, as the queen, she will always protect her people. This interpretation becomes more clear under a historical context. When Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown, the Committee of Safety offered her an ultimatum: surrender and go under house arrest or have her people face violence at the hands of the Committee of Safety and the Americans. She gave up her throne in order to ensure the safety and health of her citizens. Therefore, she is writing this song using her Western musical education to reclaim her status 

Hawaiian Vocal Music Today

Nola A. Nahulu is a Hawaiian choral director who oversees both youth and adult choirs in Hawaiʻi. She believes that Hawaiian vocal music remains important today because it conserves Hawaiian stories about the land and the people. By continuing to teach and compose Hawaiian vocal music, Hawaiian culture and history stays alive and the people of Hawaiʻi are empowered. As the compositional skills of Hawaiian composers continue to grow, Hawaiian choral music continues to develop. Since the time of Queen Liliʻuokalani, operas and oratorios have been written that focus on Hawaiian stories and legends such as those written by composer Herb Mahelona and Neil McKay. Examples of these Hawaiian operas include Laʻiekawai: Princess of Paliuli, an operatic retelling of the mythological princess Laʻiekawai who was hidden away at birth, Auliʻi: The Last Menehune of Nuʻuanu Valley which tells the story of a menehune, mythological forest dwellers, who gets left behind by his people when they leave to a new land, and Emalani which documents the life of Queen Emma, wife of King Kamehameha IV and founder of Queen’s Medical Center and St. Andrew’s Priory School for Girls. Although Hawaiian music was influenced by the music of American missionaries, it has retained traditional storytelling elements. Western vocal music has been reclaimed by Hawaiians as a way to continue their stories.

Bibliography

Hall, Dale E. “Opera and Operetta in Nineteenth-Century Hawai`i.” The Hawaiian Journal of 

History 31 (1997): 71-93.

Lanzilotta, Leilehua. “Radical Indigenous Contemporaneity in ‘Ke Aloha O Ka Haku’.” Forge 

Project, January 8, 2024. https://www.forgeproject.com/forging/radical-indigenous-contemporaneity-in-ke-aloha-o-ka-haku.

Mercer-Taylor, Peter. “Mendelssohn in Nineteenth-Century American Hymnody.” 19th-Century 

Music 32, no. 3 (2009): 235-283.

Nahulu, Nola A. (Hawaiian choral director). Interview by Mayuko Ikeda, May 4, 2024.

Nordyke, Eleanore C. and Martha H. Noyes. “‘Kaulana Nā Pua’: A Voice for Sovereignty.” The 

Hawaiian Journal of History 27 (1993): 27-42.

“OPERAtunities – HYOC’s landmark youth opera program.” Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus. 

https://hyoc2.weebly.com/hyoc-in-opera.html.

“Queen’s Prayer (Ke Aloha O Ka Haku) – by Queen Liliʻuokalani.” Kalena, compiled by 

Kaiulani Kanoa-Martin. https://www.kalena.com/huapala/Q/Queens_Prayer.html.

Roach, Joseph. “Introduction, History, Memory, and Performance.” In Cities of the Dead, 1-4. 

New York City: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Stillman, Amy K. “Beyond Bibliography: Interpreting Hawaiian-Language Protestant Hymn 

Imprints.” Ethnomusicology 40, no. 3 (1996): 469-488.

Szego, C.K. “Nā Mele Hawai`i: A Rediscovery of Hawaiian Vocal Music.” Review of Nā Mele 

Hawai`i, by The Rose Ensemble. Ethnomusicology 55, no. 1 (2011): 155-158.

The Rose Ensemble. “Ke Aloha O Ka Haku.” Written by Queen Liliʻuokalani, by Amy K. 

Stillman and Jordan Sramek. Recorded 2007. Track 27 on Nā Mele Hawaiʻi: A Rediscovery of Hawaiian Vocal Music. YouTube.