Hawaiian Music: The Ten Best Songs (music history lessons)
By Jill Engledow
Have you ever tried to figure out your favorite Hawaiian song? Practically impossible, if you ask me. How about the 10 best Hawaii songs? Still tough.
Anyone who loves Hawaiian music knows that the Hawaiian repertoire includes so many beautiful tunes, usually with equally beautiful words, that one’s favorite is likely to change at any moment.
Like, for instance, at the moment when you cue up the next CD, or open the pages of a songbook and begin to play. The one you’re listening to or singing right now is the best–or maybe it’s the one you played last night, still echoing in your mind!
But what the heck — let’s give it a try.
One place to start might be the special issue that Honolulu Magazine put out in June 2007: The 50 Greatest Hawaii Songs.
Not surprisingly, the expert panelists the magazine chose to vote for the songs they felt represented the best in Hawaii music put Aloha Oe in first place. This is, after all, the one Hawaii song that people around the world are most likely to have heard. It’s a song that raises “chicken skin” with its beauty and poignant words. The queen herself said it was a love song, but the rest of us think of it as a song of farewell and longing.
Their No. 2 choice was I’ll Remember You, by Kui Lee — another song of loving farewell and longing. In order, choices 3 through 10 were Honolulu City Lights, Hiilawe, Waikiki, Hawaii Aloha, Kuu Home o Kahaluu, Kaulana na Pua, Ke Kali Nei Au (The Hawaiian Wedding Song), and Morning Dew.
Now, those are all great songs. But I happen to favor the old-timers, particularly the Hawaiian language songs. In that list above, I’ll Remember You, Honolulu City Lights, Waikiki and Kuu Home o Kahuluu are all hapa haole songs, with primarily English lyrics.
Not that I’m opposed to hapa haole songs; one of my favorites is Haole Hula, which so eloquently expresses the yearning to share Hawaii’s beauty.
And when I asked my ukulele class buddies for their favorite songs, they listed Hanalei By Moonlight, White Sandy Beach and Honolulu I Am Coming Back Again. I’m always happy to hear any of those songs, and only politeness in a crowd will stop me from singing along any time they’re played.
But those old Hawaiian songwriters created melodies that still sound beautiful today, with words that seem to wind around each other like strands of pikake and maile in a lovely, fragrant lei.
When I look through my songbooks, and think about the songs that stick in my head, I remember the great Charles E. King, a composer of a century ago, who created songs like Lei Aloha Lei Makamae, Eleu Mikimiki and Lei Ilima.
Or how about Helen Desha Beamer, composer of a long list of songs that include Keawaiki, Kawohikukapulani and the Kimo Hula? Or what about David Nape’s Kuu Home, more commonly known as Old Plantation?
I’m just getting started here! It’s hard to say that any 10 songs are the best when it comes to Hawaiian music, never mind a single song. Ever since the missionaries brought western style melodies to combine with the Hawaiians’ poetic language and inborn musical talent, these islands have been producing great sounds.
Along with all the good old songs, we now have an outpouring of new talent producing great new songs in Hawaiian and in English.
No question about it. It’s just going to get harder to choose “the best” when it comes to Hawaiian music. We might as well simply enjoy it and be grateful that Hawaiian musicians have produced, and continue to produce, so many wonderful songs.
As for me, right this moment? My number one song today, the one that keeps running through my head, is Lena Machado’s 1946 Kaulana O Hilo Hanakahi. The line that keeps coming back to me is “O ka nani ia o ka nani ia”: It is beautiful, so very beautiful. Somehow that seems the most appropriate line to be singing as I contemplate the best of Hawaiian music.
Learn more from award-winning Hawaii author Jill Engledow about the history of Hawaii and Hawaiian music at her website, http://www.islandlife101.com.
How To Get Music On Your IPhone?
By Michael Hehn
You may well be wondering how to get music on your iPhone, especially if you have only just availed yourself of the opportunity to own one of these wonderful little gadgets. It is really uncomplicated to get all your favorite tunes and this article would tell you how. iPhone’s have become tremendously popular, so much so that retailers are worried already how they would meet the demands of the future potential customers. iPod users are already familiar with the flexibility of this hand held media center so why not add more advantages by connecting it to the cell phone?
If you have used iPods in the past, then you ought to know how to download music to such hand held gadgets. If you are newcomer to this scene, then here are some of the key things you need. To start with, you need a personal computer of any type so long as it is not an ancient hand-me-down. There should be adequate space in your hard drives for music downloads which is simple to find as music download files are normally not very heavy. You will need a lead to connect the iPhone to your computer, and you will need to have somewhere to download the music from.
If you need to know how to get music on your iPhone, the first thing you must learn is to avoid the illegal P2P sites, which could give you a criminal record. They can also leave your computer ruined by viruses and Trojans that may be in the files you download. You must bypass such sites at all costs unless you have made virus-killing your favorite pastime. It need to be remembered that there is no site on the net which can offer free and open downloads but there are some reliable sites which allow you to download any music of choice if you decide to pay a small amount as joining fee. Such sites are your aim and you would soon find that you have made a wise choice.
You would surely want to include the contents of your CD collection to the music on your iPhone but to do this you need a special program to do this. While there are plenty of these available some are even free ware, but you have to be completely compatible with the one you have to work with, so it is wise to check this factor and then get it, even if you have to pay for it. Once the file is in your hard drive, convert it to MP3 and then transfer it on your iPhone, following the same route of downloading any MP3 file. This can be done by using a lead for connectivity and opening the iTunes library. Learning how to load music on your iPhone is not that time consuming, you could give it your best shot.
Michael Hehn is a specialist in ipod music. If you want more information about ipod music, visit ipod music info.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply