Revival of Hula

[Jeffrey Kopp]

Seeing as there is no small interest in Kanaka culture and history on this list, I thought I would share this article by Constance Hale in this month's Atlantic about the emerging Hula revival, which is on-line at

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/07/hale.htm

I realized Hula was more than the trite, provocative belly dance we see in the movies, but wasn't fully aware of its role in the continuance and transmission of their oral history as well as their culture and religion:

"In pre-contact Hawaiian society, hula was the history book of a people without a written language. Hula chants were the sacred text maintaining the relationship between gods and mortals, heralding chiefs, celebrating sex and procreation, and venerating the subtleties of the natural world—the tumbling of waterfalls, the many faces of the moon, the myriad mists and rains of the tropics."

Regards,

Jeff