Traditional Hawaiian Songs Collection

Description

Samuel H. Elbert and Noelani Mahoe

Softcover, 110 pp.

This book is a collection of 101 songs, all post-missionary but owing their musical origin to missionary hymns, although only a few are religious. They date from the mid-1850s (most are from the time of the monarchy) to 1968 (the date of Mary Kawena Pukui’s translation of Christmas songs). Nearly all of these songs are sung today and are well known to Hawaiian singers.

There is an exhaustive introduction, which includes classification and arrangement of the songs; a note on the composers; and analysis of the structure, symbolism, and meanings of the songs; and a note on the translations and on the poetic vocabulary of the Hawaiian words.

Explore more from our collection.