na makua mahalo iailallalaa mormon contributions to hawaiian music production dr ishmael stagner as he was even prior to the coming of the first missionaries for kacenakawena byuhawaiiBYU ranallhawaii pukui the strength of the hawaiian was spiritual and that nothing that he did was without cosmological or spiritual importance indeed all of life was a there Is a hawaiian saying holhohoii ana oe nana i1 ke fumukumu or go and spiritual exercise in which art ie singing dancing composing weaving look to the source the sources used in this program are recognized authorities carving and painting served two important functions first to remind men on various aspects of hawaiian culture in addition to being musicians poets of their interrelatedness with the universe and the gods who dwelled there composers and performers for many many years they also represent long long and secondly to demonstrate the kind of godlikegod likeilke behavior men should display years of devoted mormon church service thus singing dancing and performing were all part of not only entertaining in this group of kukunakupunakupu1na are doctor mary kacenakawena pukui lexicographer menen but also of instructing them for ahaaraa wallanyalianhawaiian then ththee implications of author composer of more than three hundred songs and chants and recipient of the zathz9th29th section are extremely significant all things unto me are spiritual two honorary doctorates edith kanakaole composer chanter author translator and not at anytime have I1 given unto you a law which was temporal for the poet dancer and recipient of state national and international awards in Hawahawaitanhawaiianitan indeed all things were very very spiritual ancient hawaiian dance alice namakelua composer translator hula dancer secondly the gospel uses art especially music to develop personal and slackslackkeykey guitar artist whose bestsellingbest selling album was made when she was strength it was one thing for christianity to say blessed are they that eightytwoeighty two years old alvin K isaacs prolific composer of a wide ranger of oummourn but sorrow and grief became much much easier to bear when they were hawaiian music such as hulas chants contatascontarascontatas marches hymns and movie scores tempered with the promise that 0 it shall come to pass that those that die and john K meldameidaalmeidaAl often called the dean of hawaiian composers in me shall not taste of death for it shall be sweet unto them in the in visiting with these people a number of coricoiacommoncora n threads or responses hawaiian word aloha is the promise that those parting are destined to meet emerged from discussing how they perceived the gospel as affecting their cul- again whether in this life or the next in the words of alice namakelua ture and art first all agreed that the gospel if properly understood and thank god for my music for without it I11 would have died long ago thank god practiced posed little or no threat to their culture in 1977 kamena for the church because it taught me to enjoy and appreciate the joy and beauty pukui stated that some aspects of hawaiian culture ought to be forgotten of singing N especially because the gospel offered better alternatives in her book kininininananang aunty alice Is the rule rather than the exception because the history

I1 kejicumuke fumukumu she strongly asserts that christianity gives answers to questions of the hawaiian people is a history of & basically happy people constantly awash riisedraised rather tionthan answered by the old hawaiian religion and that even orenoremore in seas of conflict and turuturmoiloliolloil certainly a people who could survive the importantly christianity helped to explain why the hawaiian was as spiritual almost total decimation of their population in less than a century mstusteustmust have

56 had spiritual strengths and resources of great magnitude body of hawaiian music so what gave the hawaiians the will to survive perhaps the best answer the famous hawaiian dancer the late lolani luahine was asked how she Is in the lines of the hawaiian hymn hawaii aloha na ke akuaabua e reconciled her church membership with many of the apparent pagan or heathen llamamalama mai laia oe haNs retmetmea blinoglino5 kamahaokamanaoKama hao no lono aaiaalinalmaiinai which translated aspects of her perfoperformancesmances her answer was startling she said that when she means god protects you the holy light from above did those dances they were no longer pagan because the people watching her another response to the question of the relationship of the gospel to the knew both ohpwhpwho she was and what shshe was thus for her a christian the dances hawaiian arts Is that the gospel teaches us to want to share our knowledge of now became christian if especially they were seen andanianiunderstoodunderstood in their ins- the arts and the culture with others andthatand that in doing so we become greatly tructional and entertainment contexts rather than in their original religious blessed aultyaunty edith kanakaole in her acceptance speech for her distinguished ones what aunty iovo very fifirmlyraly believed and lived as advancera danceradancer was that among O up service award fromthefrom the byuhawaiiBYUayuOYU hawaiihawalt campus on june 23 1929 advised 0 dont other things her art was reantmeant to cheer people and to allow both they and forget to especially give of yourself all that which you have itsit thethlethiethib only the dancer to have some fun for her then the gospel perception tolerance way it may come back to you a hundredfold for her then culture wasmas only and even encouragement of culture as a meansbaansbeansneansmaans of having and promoting fun was useful and beneficial as it was shared thus the gospel of jesus caristcarlstchrist and so extremely important the life of service it teaches was totally compatible with aultyaunty ediths certainly for all those who are hawaiian or who are hawaiian in heart hawaiian background there is no great conflict between what the gospel teaches about fun and what fourth the churchs doctrine of the sacredness of families struck and the culture teaches about fun continues to strike a responsive chord in hawaiian culture in a society such in an interview with kacenakawena pukui in 1977 she stated iaim a chronic as the hawaiians had the family was everything to a very large extent a scribbler by this she meant that ever s incefacetace whe was a young girl she had persons claim to immortality was through his family protection security been writing things down either in journal form or for professional publication identity and fulfillment came together when one was in a family many hawaiian one of the great losses currently being experienced in the hawaiian community chants are genealogies carefully preserved and added to from generation to Is that most hawaiians do not speak the hawaiian language and that those few generation the tradition of recording and retainingretareCa ining genealogies was oraloraiora and who do do not speak the hawaiian of earlier times means were through or songs certainly if culture helps to give a people an identity then language the either chants i 0 an aspect plays a A later trend in hawaiian culture was the use of the mele inoa or the as of culture critical role in establishing and defining bamenamnawnowname song this involved the dedication of a song to a person or to a persons that identity this appreciation of the gospel for culture has not been lost family as a sign of respect and constitute persentlype tlyaly a large portion of the on the hawaiiansHawaii ans or for that afterattermatter any efof the other polynesian peoples

57 the mormon church has always been viewed as being an encourager of the enlarge our souls her favorite saying was ulu aeale ke weltnawellnaweitna a ke aloha performing sndendand the exhibiting of hawaiian arts and crafts many of the journalsjoumalsmais or the the growth of love Is the essence within the soul of the early mormon missionaries talk about the gathering of the saints at there Is currently shoulderingsmoulderingsmoulder ing among many young hawaiianskawaiianshamaihamalKawaiHawaii ianslansans the very real conference and the great singing and dancing contests and festivals that were question as to whether they can ble both allallhawaiianhawaiian and illallaliailblibil christian they always part of those conferences perceive a& real conflict between the two for people such as aunty edith tutu indeed the laielatelale tradition of the hukllauhukilau became famous through a song kacenakawena aunty alice and alvin isaacs there was and Is no conflict art written by a visitor to a church gathering and all that takes place or should culture and the gospel of jesus christ teach us to love each other and to give take placeplage now at the polynesian cultural center to a large extent existed in thanks to supreme forcesforcesbothboth outside and within us if we are honest in this some forrorform in laleleielaielate ever since the saints began to gather there in 1865 pursuit ththenen this is all that can be asked of us by either god however he Is in fact narynanymany knowledgeable people in the hawaiian music industry credit defined and by our felfeifellowienfellowmenlowienlowmen even more importantly we should see that there the bodemmodernmodem revival of hawaiian male dancing to the efforts of professor wyliwyliewyilewylle Is conflict only when we do not completely understand and asprecapprecappreciateI1 ate both ourounou r swapp sndnd his troupe of church college of hawaii male dancers in the middle culture and the gospel 1950s19501s so we say in gratitude to people such ass aunty volrosvos aunty edith and all after thethie arrival ef the early ristianchristianCb missionaries in 1820 duchnuchbuchmuch of the kukunakupuna who have been our KUOHJ teachers ina ua like ilni 0 ka poltpottpolepoe the old hawaiian religion went either underground or disappeared totally hawaii me kou ilnifialfinivial e baumau ansana no ka lahui if we the hawaiianshamHawaHans had desires what survived of the old religion after the initial onslaught of christianity such ass younyours then we should never perish ass a people was assimilated into hawaiian cult4rcultculttpculter tp as the new hawaiian religion however the metaphysics of the earterearlier religion saw god nature and art as being aspects of each other lost somewhere was the former hawaiian belief that god and art through culture were compatible As a result for a number of years in hawaii much of the hula and its metaphysical ties to the hawaiian uniuniversiaunlversleuniversieversieverste were either taught secretly or not at all thus someone such as edith kanakaole whose chants were as much biological zoological and botanical is they eremerewere cultural MSwasmas in veryevery sense of the terrteraterm a real treasure for her the message of her hawaiian tureandcultureandculcuiculture sndand the essageessayemessage of the gospel were the amsaassaeesame ueve mstaustmust uvlivetive and iovtovloveiove unselfishly because thats the only wjkeywaymey we 5558