Revival of Hula

[Ross Clark (FOA DALSL)]

The hula revival has been going since the 1970s at least. I saw a
sensational group led by Edith Kanaka'ole at the South Pacific Arts Festival
in 1976.

More directly in the Kanaka-Chinook connection, the Squamish people at
Capilano (North Vancouver) now have a hula group. I just missed one of their
performances when I was in Vancouver last year.

Ross Clark

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeffrey Kopp [mailto:jeffkopp at ATTBI.COM]
> Sent: Sunday, 23 June 2002 12:45 p.m.
> To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: Revival of Hula
>
>
> 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
>