One of the most striking and noticeable phenomena of Hawaiian culture is the hula dance. This is a unique Hawaiian dance, accompanied by recitative to the rhythmic beating of a gourd or music and singing.
Hula preserves and transmits the history, traditions and culture of the Hawaiian Islands. Hula, especially in its ancient form, conveys the Hawaiian sense of rhythm and tone. Modern hula, having adopted Western musical traditions, demonstrates the special talent of Hawaiians to weave elements of other cultures into their own. Dancers carefully select tropical flowers and a palette of costumes, the smallest details are filled with rich symbolic meaning. At its core, hula is the art of storytelling and poetry. It is a story about a unique past that is inextricably linked with the present.
Hawaiians did not know music before contact with Western civilization. Various versions of recitatives (meles) were vocal or accompanied by rhythmic beating of a gourd or drum or clapping of hands on the chest. In the 19th century, with the appearance of the guitar in Hawaii, traditional Hawaiian music appeared. It is performed in the Hawaiian language, and is based on old songs and recitatives. Modern Hawaiian music is based on popular American music. It is performed in English and Hawaiian and has become popular in America since the 60s of the last century. The most famous instruments of Hawaiian music are the ukulele, slack-key guitar and steel guitar (Hawaiian guitar). The ukulele (Hawaiian for “flea”) is a four-string guitar that gained worldwide fame after films with Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. Slack-key (loose strings) is a manner of playing the guitar with loose strings. A special “open tuning” went well with the velvety voices of the Hawaiians. The secrets of the special tuning were carefully guarded by Hawaiian clans. Hawaiian guitar (steel guitar) is a way of playing the guitar in which, holding the instrument on his lap, the guitarist moves a metal block – a cylinder – along the strings with his left hand and presses the steel strings to the fingerboard with it.