Big Blog #2: History of Hula

 Hello! Last blog of the term, woohoo! I hope you all enjoyed my lesson on Hawaiian music today, and if not, I hope you at least learned something new. Instead of doing an entirely new culture on top of this one, I decided to do a bit of a deeper dive into an aspect of Hawaiian music-- hula. I'm going to talk about a little bit of the history of hula, its cultural purposes and aesthetics, and hopefully showing you some cool videos! Lets get started :-) 

A Brief History of Hula: 

    Hula has been around for a long time-- perhaps even longer than the island of Hawai'i has been inhabited. It is believed to have come along with the Polynesian settlers that came around 400 BC. Several islands claim to be the birthplace of hula as we know it, but the true origin of it is unknown. What is known, however, is what the original intention and purpose of hula. Hula was used to tell stories and depict the actions of various gods and goddesses in myth. A big misconception about ancient hula is that only men were allowed to perform, which is not true at all! The journals of James Cook, the first known European to visit Hawai'i, tells stories of women dancing hula as well as men. This tradition of storytelling and depiction existed for thousands of years. 
    Another misconception is that Christian missionaries banned hula when they arrived in Hawaii. While they did disapprove of hula openly, they did not have the power or political standing to outright ban it. A ban on hula was enacted in 1830 by Queen Kaáhumanu, a recent convert to Christianity. However, this law was all but ignored by native Hawaiians, and after the queens death the law was all but forgotten. As Hawaii became more and more absorbed into the American world, and Queen Liliuokalani was removed from the throne, hula's growth was stunted for almost a century. In the late 60s and early 70s, Hawaiian culture experienced a rebirth and revival as native Hawaiians began to reclaim their culture and educate others about it. Today hula is taught and celebrated around the world, especially in Hawaiian schools and universities, as well as places that are open to the community. Today there are two main types of hula: hula kahiko (traditional) that is accompanied by chant and drums, and hula 'auana (modern) which is typically done with popular ukulele or slack key guitar songs. Both are cherished in the Hawaiian culture and continue to flourish. Here's a clip that shows some hula, as well as the legend/myth of how hula first came to be, and some elaboration on some things I discussed both here and in class: 

Traditional Hula Attire 

    Simon's question in class today prompted me to do a little more research into the traditional regalia worn by hula dancers. As Dr. Vaneman mentioned in class today, the image of grass skirts and coconut bras that is portrayed in western media is incredibly inaccurate and, at some level, disrespectful to the amount of history and culture that the traditional attire has within it. A quote from a Smithsonian article I read states: "Early hula kahiko costumes for women featured skirts made of kapa, or bark cloth. Men wore the skirts, too, or just a loincloth, called a malo. A lei for the head and its counterpart for the ankles and wrists—called kupe'e—were made of plants or materials such as shells and feathers. In hula kahiko, a circular lei would be worn on top of the head, whereas in hula 'auana, the dancer may affix flowers to one side of the head." There are a few other differences in attire for the different styles of hula, that you can probably imagine: dancers of hula 'auana, being a more syncretic and modern version of hula, often wear fabric shirts and pants or skirts. This is just a brief overview into what all goes into making, preparing, and dancing in these outfits. In fact, in some halaus (hula schools) believe that in order to become a true kumu hula (hula master), you need to master the art of hand-making these outfits, as well as learn the cultural and historical significance behind each piece of them. Wow! Speaking of being a hula master, here's a short documentary on Kayli Ka'iulani Carr, AKA Miss Aloha 2016, and the training she went through to earn her title: 

Hula: Then and Now 

In this blog and in class today I mentioned how Hawaii has influences from lots of different places: being smack in between the continent of Asia and North America, two already very diverse places, it's no wonder that Hawaii has taken different bits of a lot of different cultures and brought them into their own practices and customs. Hula is no different; we've already seen a few examples of this. The idea of hula 'auana, which is performed with the ukulele or guitar, two European instruments, and also wears more traditional western attire. Hula classes are also available all around the world, and even in Hawaii are mostly available to any one of any culture, save for some very traditional or conservative teachers and/or halaus that believe it should be kept within only the Hawaiian people and culture. Along with that, in recent years there have been some more modern and experimental hula practices that take ideas from Japanese dance, as well as some from central and south American dance. This practice is not approved of by everyone, however, with a quote from the same Smithsonian article saying "hula must be kept pure, wherever it is performed. It's up to us teachers to stress that where we come from is important...If the link is not maintained as it should, then we're not passing on something that is hula and we're not being true to our culture." Here's some... modern hula for you. Happy watching! 

Citation stuff in case you're interested...

Kirk, Mimi. “A Hip Tradition.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 31 July 2007, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-hip-tradition-161029539/#:~:text=Early%20hula%20kahiko%20costumes%20for,such%20as%20shells%20and%20feathers.

“The History of Hula.” Ka`Imi Na`Auao O Hawai`i Nei Institute, kaimi.org/education/history-of-hula/.

My Musical Culture: Music and Family

 Hello! For this blog I decided to interview my mom, who I owe a lot of my own personal music tastes to. She grew up in the 70s, she's a super awesome nurse, and her interview was a lot of fun! I hope you enjoy reading our conversation as much as I enjoyed having it. 

Music and Family Interview with Kim Carey 

Taryn: Do you want to introduce yourself before we get started? 

Kim: Do I have to? Don’t you already know who I am? 

T: It’s for my classmates, mom. 

K: Oh. Well, I’m Kim Carey. I’m Taryn’s mom. 

T: Alright, I guess we’ll get started with the questions then. Firstly: what is your earliest memory of music? 

K: Hmm… I think my earliest memory of music is probably that when I was growing up, Saturdays were always cleaning days. Mama would always cook us breakfast and wake us up, and after we ate we’d put on music and clean the house. It was just me, her and Bubba (her brother), and every week we would cycle who got to play the music. When Mama played, it was always Elvis-- she LOVED Elvis. When it was Bubba’s turn we would listen to rock and roll, like The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin. Mama didn’t like rock that much so she’d only let us listen to the “calmer songs”. When it was my turn I would play a lot of motown or soul, and as I got a little older I’d listen to AC/DC and Kiss as well. 

T: You said your mom didn’t approve of Uncle Bobby’s music. Did she like yours? 

K: She liked the Motown-- she was most of the reason I loved, and still love, soul music today. As for the rock bands, not so much. When I was a senior in high school I convinced her to take me to see Kiss in concert-- well, Bubba was supposed to take me, but he got sick, and I was so upset that she agreed to take me. I had an awesome time, obviously, but mostly I remember her looking completely miserable the entire time. At one point the crowd was passing around a joint, and someone actually had the gall to hand it to her. I just remember her holding it in her hand and staring at me, screaming over the music “what the hell am I supposed to do with this?!” and I said “well, either take a toke or pass it on!” That didn’t go over too well with her, and I think we left shortly after. I still had a great time, I didn’t regret a thing. 

T: Would you say your music taste has changed at all since you were a teenager? 

K: I don’t think so. I mean, sure, I listen to more bands and types of music now than I did back then, just because there’s more available. But I still listen to 70s and 80s music in the car, since I have the Sirius radio. You know they have the 70s-on-7 and 80s-on-8 channels. And you know we still always listened to Motown when it was cleaning day. 

T: Yep. I used to always know when I woke up that if I smelled bacon cooking and heard the Temptations it was going to be a long day. Going off of what you said earlier-- that you have more access to music now than you did back then. Is there any kind of music that’s popular today that wasn’t popular when you were growing up? Or just didn’t exist? 

K: Hmm… I don’t know if I would say a certain type of music, but I think just the culture of pop stars and the way it’s changed is really big. For example, I loved Elton John growing up. But almost everyone at my school thought he was stupid, because he was so incredibly flamboyant. Same with Prince when he got big. I remember Mama being so flabbergasted at his demeanor. But now you have stars like that all over the place. I think it's great-- it’s so nice to see more and more stars able to be themselves. Of course, there’s always going to be people who criticize and don’t like it, but hey, that’s life. It’s so much better now than it was when I was growing up, especially here in the south. 

T: Right. We’ve talked a lot about popular music. Have you ever had any experience with classical music? 

K: You’re asking the wrong gal! Other than coming to see your operas and performances, not really. I was in choir all four years of high school, you know, but I can’t say I even remember much of what we sang. We never learned all the crazy hard stuff that you guys do, and I was never really into the classical music like you. 

T: Right. You mentioned you were in choir. Did you ever do any other musical groups or play any instruments? 

K: Nope. Until Daralyn (my older sister) joined the marching band, I couldn’t have named a single instrument except the piano. I don’t know where she got all of her musical talent from. You know she played like, seven or eight instruments by the time she was a senior. Then that [redacted because its a bad word] band director had to go and make her feel so bad about herself. I’m glad you’ve stuck with it though. 

T: Thanks. I’m glad I did, too. I think. I’ll just ask a few more questions to wrap it up, then: Have you ever had a really cool musical experience, like meeting a musician or going to a really cool concert? 

K: I’ve been to plenty of cool concerts. But I think the coolest musical experience was when your dad and I were stationed in Las Vegas, and I was working at that casino. When U2 made the music video for that song, “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, it was actually right outside of where I worked. We got to watch them shoot the whole thing. I don’t think we got a lot of work done that day. 

T: Lastly, would you say that music has played a big part in your life? Why or why not? 

K: Oh, definitely. I mean, probably not as big as you and all your people up there, but you know music is so important to me. So many of my memories with Mama, your dad, and you have to do with music. Whether it’s cleaning days, going to concerts, parties, or going to see the Nutcracker every year. Listening to music just makes me feel good, especially when I hear a song and I get to relive the memories attached to it. And I love seeing how happy it makes you and how great you are at what you do. So, yeah, in a short answer, music definitely plays a big part in my life, and everyone else’s too, I think.