Music of Hawaii

Traditional Hawaiian Music

Music for the Hawaiians play a big part in our culture because the chants are enhanced with their Hawaiian dances called hula and chants are stories that they tell while singing. The music is important because the sounds of their instruments accompany the dances and give off variations of rhythmic beats. 

This was apart of a Native Hawaiian's lifestyle so they could preserve it and pass it down for generations. One traditional thing that the Native Hawaiians did was to teach their own children a song by singing it then briefly explain the significance of it which creates a bond within their whole family.

Although, majority of these early musical instruments are made up of trees, plants and shells. Our music is one of the reasons why it makes Hawaii so unique based on the impact it had on other Polynesian Islands and world.

Modern Hawaiian Music

Two type of the today's Hawaiian music would be Contemporary Hawaiian and "Jawaiian" or Hawaiian Reggae music, it was introduced to Hawaii around the 1970's. Our modern Hawaiian music has a mix of modern influences and ancient. 
It got so popular that Hawaiian composers added their own twists by putting more instruments similar to guitar called "slack key" to determine the kind of music you play from the other islanders. On the other hand some Traditional Hawaiian instruments are sometimes used in the music too.
As you can see, our music draws people's ears to listen to the calm relaxing voice or a fun beat to jam to. The diverse musical influences and contributions in Hawaii made people enjoy music more for our culture.