Celebrating Hawaiian Music in the Archives of the American Folklife Center

The sheet music of Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawai’i is a treasure of the collections of the Library of Congress. Liliʻuokalani, the only queen regnant and last monarch of Hawai’i, ruled the islands from 1891 until the overthrow of her kingdom, by those loyal to the United States, in 1893. In addition to her royal duties, Queen Liliʻuokalani was a prolific and popular composer. Liliʻuokalani wrote “Aloha ‘Oe” in 1878—still one of the most popular songs in Hawai’i—in addition to over 165 other songs and chants. The Queen notated her compositions on sheet music, often adorned with beautiful designs and lettering, for broader distribution. Today, this treasured collection is stewarded by the Music Division at the Library of Congress and available for research in the Recorded Sound Reading Room. The collection can be particularly moving for native Hawaiians. On more than one occasion, I have seen visiting Hawaiians shed tears while looking at the Queen’s sheet music—a testament to the power of cultural preservation and to the afterlives of sovereignty denied.

Even though she composed as an individual, Lili’uokalani understood the collective power of Hawaiian music. In her autobiography, Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, Liliʻuokalani argues that music is vital to Hawiian people. She also questions why, given music’s importance, Hawaiian music remained underdocumented in the late 19th century. She writes, “The Hawaiian people have been from time immemorial lovers of poetry and music, and have been apt in improvising historic poems, songs of love, and chants of worship, so that praises of the living or wails over the dead were with them but the natural expression of their feelings. My ancestors were peculiarly gifted in this respect, and yet it is remarkable that there are few if any written compositions of the music of Hawaii excepting those published by me” (1898: 30). Since 1936, the American Folklife Center, and its predecessors[1], has responded to Lili’uokalani’s observation not through written compositions, but by acquisitioning several collections of recorded Hawaiian music, inviting Hawaiian artists to perform at the Library of Congress, and supporting Hawaiian cultural documentarians. Indeed, one can argue that the American Folklife Center’s collections of traditional, Hawaiian music are also a treasure of the collections of the Library of Congress. In this post, I share a detailed look at these collections in celebration of Hawaiian people who sustain these cultures and traditions, and in honor of Queen Lili’uokalani’s musical legacy.

 

National Heritage Fellows (presented by the National Endowment for the Arts)

The American Folklife Center’s collections include several items from Hawaiian musicians who have received the National Heritage Fellowship—the highest honor in the United States for the traditional arts.

Ledward “Led” Kaapana

In July 2017, the American Folklife Center welcomed Ledward Kaapana—a living legend of Hawaiian music—to the Library of Congress for a concert and interview. Born in the town of Kalapani in 1948, Kaapana is a master of the ukulele and slack-key guitar, as well as a gifted baritone and falsetto singer. For Kaapana, music was a family affair. Kaapana learned to sing from his mother, Tina Kaapana, and the slack-key guitar from his uncle, Fred Punahoa—a respected, yet under-recorded, master of the instrument. Ledward’s brother, Nedward Kaapana, was also a frequent musical collaborator. In fact, the two founded the band Hui ‘Ohana (“Family Group”) with Dennis Pavao in 1972. The group released fourteen albums and are credited for their contributions to the Second Hawaiian Renaissance—a movement in the 1970s where Hawaiians reclaimed the Hawaiian language, hula, traditional crafts, and other cultural practices, to counter negative stereotypes. After Hui ‘Ohana, Kaapana founded another group, I Kona, and worked as a solo artist. He is the recipient of four Grammy Awards and, in 2011, was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship. In the player below, enjoy Kapaana’s 2017 performance in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress.

Before the concert, John Fenn (Head of the Research and Programs at the American Folklife Center) interviewed Kaapana about his life and career. In the video below, the two discuss the technique and tunings of Kaapana’s slack-key guitar style, music-making in his family, and how he learned to sing falsetto.

In September 2024, the American Folklife Center acquisitioned the collection of photographer Tom Pich. For over thirty years, Pich has taken stunning portraits of the National Heritage Fellows in celebration of their accomplishments. Two legends of Hawaiian music—“Aunty” Genoa Leilani Adolpho Keawe-Aiko and Clyde “Kindy” Sproat—are featured in Pich’s collection.

“Aunty” Genoa Leilani Adolpho Keawe-Aiko

“Aunty” Genoa Leilani Adolpho Keawe-Aiko (1918-2008) was a beloved singer and ukulele player, who helped to build and sustain pride in Hawaiian traditional music. Born in the Kaka’ako area of Honolulu, but raised in the town of La’ie, the young Keawe’s first musical experiences were in a choir for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At the age of sixteen, she married and moved into the house of her husband’s family. There, Genoa Keawe learned the Hawaiian language from her mother-in-law. Later in her career, Keawe would frequently incorporate it into her music. One of Keawe’s first breaks came when she was asked, by Johnny K. Almeida, to perform on a KULA radio show. This opportunity led to Keawe being signed to the 49^th State Hawaii Record Company in 1946, where she recorded existensively and with a number of ensembles. Keawe’s popularity grew throughout the 1960s and 70s, as she was a frequent performer on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. Even in the last years of her life, Keawe maintained a weekly performance at the Waikiki Marriot Hotel. She received the National Heritage Fellowship in 2000 and an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Hawai’i in 2005 for her life’s work.

Clyde “Kindy” Sproat

Clyde “Kindy” Sproat (1930-2008) was a ukulele player and singer, born in the remote valley of Honokane Iki in the northern Kohala region of the Big Island (Hawai’i). Kohala is home to large, ranching lands, and to rich Hawaiian cowboy—or paniolo—traditions of stories, craft, and music. Paniolo is the Hawaiian word for cowboys, derived from “español.” Some of the first cowboys in Hawai’i were Spanish vaqueros who arrived in the 1830s to teach locals how to care for cattle. In fact, it is believed that Sprout’s great-grandfather (on his paternal side) was one of the first vaqueros to arrive on this island (Martin and Trimillos 1990: 14). Sproat was raised in a musical family. His mother was a banjo player and singer, and his sister, Beatrice (Bea) Lau’ae Ayoso, was also a singer. Following service in the US Air Force, Sproat began performing for larger audiences and developed a repetoire of over 400 songs. Sproat received the National Heritage Fellowship in 1988.

 

Na Mele Paniolo

Clyde “Kindy” Sproat is also featured prominently on Na Mele Paniolo: Songs of Hawaiian Cowboys, a two-cassette production with extensive liner notes. In 1987, the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts organized a traveling exhibit, titled Na Paniolo o Hawai’i, to celebrate the folk arts and history of ranching in Hawai’i. Na Mele Paniolo, one component of exhibition, gives a representative sample of traditional music from the ranching areas of Hawai’i, Maui, Moloka’i, Oahu, and Kawa’i. The dynamic duo of Lynn J. Martin, a folklorist and then-Folk Arts Coordinator for the State Council for the Arts, and Dr. Ricardo D. Trimillos, an ethnomusicologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, were the primary researchers, writers, and producers for Na Mele Paniolo.

The American Folklife Center played a small, but important, role in this production. The Center provided Martin and Trimillos with a Nagra IV Tape Recorder and Seinnheiser microphones for the project’s field recordings. The relationships—between the AFC, Martin, and Trimillos—are likely why the archive of the American Folklife Center holds a series of beautiful photographs from the project’s research. These images, taken by Lynn J. Martin, capture musicians recorded for Na Mele Paniolo—including Bill Ka’iwa, Peppie Cooke, and Janice Baisa—playing songs and posing for portraits, sometimes with verdant ranching land in the background.

Boots Lupenui

Recently, the Hawaiian musical collections of the American Folklife Center expanded through the work of Mark “Boots” Lupenui. In 2022, the AFC awarded Boots with a Community Collections Grant for his work to document the “heirloom songs” of Kohala on the Big Island of Hawai’i. With grant support, Lupenui interviewed several musicians, recorded their songs, and digitized their sheet music—all in an effort to sustain the rich musical traditions of Kohala. In 2025, Lupenui’s work resulted in a magnificent collection, titled Unearthing the Lost Songs of Kohala.

Kohala’s natural environment and histories related to the region’s people are common themes in the area’s music. For example, in Lupenui’s interview with slack-key guitarist and songwriter John Keawe, the Kohala-native explains the inspiration for his song, “Tutu Man”:

The moment that song idea came was, during COVID, I was sitting on my property [in Kohala] playing my guitar in the back under some pine trees, and my oldest granddaughter . . . she came and sat down on the chair next to me. She told me, “Poppa, how was [it] in the old days?” And, I looked at her and I go, “Oh, that’s right. My young days are her old days.” At that very moment, I thought about my grandpa. What if I had the chance to ask my grandpa, “Grandpa, how was before?” My grandpa was born in the 1800s and died in 1940-something, so that was a big change back then – Hawai’i was still strong. He spoke [Hawaiian] fluently, as it was his first language. I kinda feel that I missed out on that part—the one-on-one. So, how would he feel? How would he feel about what is going on and how it has changed? So, that was the inspiration for “Tutu Man”—what would he think, and what could he tell me, about the old days?

At 12:52 in the video below, listen to John Keawe sing “Tutu Man,” as recorded by Boots Lupenui.

Boots’ collection also features an oral history interview and field recordings with Hope Keawe (John’s wife), Richard Soloman, as well as photos and sheet music of compositions by Kumu Raylene Ha’alelea Kawaiae’a, performed by her friends.

Video recordings of Kohala and its musicians comprise the core of Unearthing the Lost Songs of Kohala. Boots used these materials to create a documentary film, which paints a cinematic portrait of Kohala and the people who sustain its traditions. See Boots’ film in the player below.

Unukupukupu Hālau Hula

On June 26, 2012, the American Folklife Center welcomed Unukupukupu Hālau (meaning “school”) of Hula to the Coolidge Auditorium for a noon-time performance. The group, associated with Hawai’i Community College in Hilo, Hawai’i, was directed by Dr. Taupōuri Tangarō, now a Professor Hawaiian Studies at the same institution. For this event, faculty, staff, and administrators from Hawai’i Community College, as well as families and community members associated with the institution, aged from nine-years-old to those in their sixties, were the group’s performers. This composition demonstrates the inter-generational transfer of cultural traditions within the ensemble. For their performance, Dr. Tangarō authored a profound biography for the group, demonstrating how hula is vehicle for connecting its practitioners with each other, and with the natural environment:

Unukupkupu means “Shrine of Ferns [Rooted in Fresh Lava]”, and the name is anchored in the steep and very ancient explosive hula traditions of ʻAihaʻa Pele, or Ritual Dance of Volcanic Phenomena of Hawaiʻi. An earth-centric hula tradition bequeathed to Dr. Taupōuri Tangarō by Hālau O Kekuhi, one of Hawaiʻi’s noted schools of traditional dance, Unukupukupu continues to evoke through dynamic hula (dance), oli (chant), ʻaʻahu (regalia), ʻaha (rituals), kaʻao (myth) the life ways of one of the world’s most isolated peoples living in kinship with one of the world’s most sacred landscapes. The vision of Unukupukupu is to bring into a modern global context an awareness of the role and the spirit of hula as one of the world’s sacred dances of environmental kinship. Our traditional myths, together with our scientific DNA, suggest one simple truth: we are all connected. To contribute to this truth in a way that is empowering, liberating, profound, and environmentally reciprocal is a great reason to pursue this work.

In the performance recording below, watch how Unukupukupu turns the Coolidge Auditorium into a ceremonial space to celebrate Hawaiian cultures through song, dance, and chant.

KCCN Hawaiian Radio Collection

From 1982 to 1987, KCCN Hawaiian radio organized a series of programs dedicated to the musical heritage of Hawai’i. The show featured performances and interviews from some of the islands’ most important performers including Eddie Kamae and the Sons of Hawaii, Aunty Genoa Keawe, the Brothers Cazimero, Palani Vaughan, the Kahau’anu Lake Trio, five generations of the Beamer family, Peter Moon, Uncle Sol K. Bright, Sr., R. Alex Anderson, Johnny K. Almeida, Andy Cummings, Benny Kalama, Hula Master, Leina’ala Haili, Sterling Mossman, Martin Denny, Billy Gonsalves, Kealoha Kalama, Marlene Sai, Ohta-San, Melveen Leed, Charles K. L. Davis, Royal Hawaiian Band, Walter Clarke, Alfred Apaka, Ed Kenney, Al Harrington, Emma Veary, Jack DeMello, Farden family, Vicki I’i Rodrigues, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, George Paoa, Kumulipo, Haku Mele, the Lei Sellers, and Loyal Garner. The series was hosted by Jacqueline Leilani (the “Honolulu Skylark”) and produced by Phil Upton.

The American Folklife Center’s collection of KCCN Radio materials includes eighteen sound tapes and six audiocassettes. Three folders of documents in the collection include promotional materials from the radio program, relevant newspaper clippings, and correspondence about the collection.

This overview is far from comprehensive. To learn more about the American Folklife Center’s Hawaiian materials, visit our Research Guide on Hawai’i. Additionally, all of our collections of Hawaiian traditional music are available for research in the Reading Room of the American Folklife Center. We welcome scholars, musicians, and others interested in these traditions to visit us or to contact a Reference Librarian about using these important materials.

 

Works Cited:

Bergey, Barry and Tom Pich. 2018. Folk Masters: A Portrait of America. Indianapolis and Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Liliuokalani. 1898. Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen. Boston: Lee and Shepherd Publishers.

Martin, Lynn J. and Ricardo Trimillos. 1990. Liner notes to Na Mele Paniolo: Songs of Hawaiian Cowboys. Hawaii State Foundation on the Arts.

Collection Connections:

Performance by Gary Haleamau, featuring Hawaiian music in Las Vegas.

Research Guide to Hawai’i Collections across the Library of Congress.

Research Guide about Hawaiian maps available in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress.

Footnotes:

[1] The archives of the American Folklife Center first began as the Archive of American Folk Song in 1928. At that time, the archive was housed in the Music Division of the Library of Congress. The archive’s name later changed to the Archive of Folk Culture. Following the creation of the American Folklife Center in 1976, the collections moved into the American Folklife Center’s archives, where they remain today.