#and yes some songs were written to promote tourism but that doesn’t necessarily make them less meaningful or important

[slayter-kinney]

brief break from my usual posting. bit random. but. hawaiian music is such a unique and beautiful form of music and i just really wish it had more recognition outside of Hawai’i as being more than just the background music at a tropical resort. it’s very existence is political; many older hawaiian music was written at a time where hawaiian kids were beaten by their teachers in school for speaking ‘ōlelo Hawai’i. some songs describe landscapes and places that don’t exist anymore due to colonization. not saying that it has to be your favorite genre cause i know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea (as with any genre in the world). but like so many other aspects of hawaiian culture it’s become so commodified for the tourism industrial complex that it’s become divorced from its original meaning and form.