Collection of sheet music of Hawaiian songs for ukulele, guitar and steel guitar.

Here for the first time is a large collection of Hawaiian songs in an authoritative text with translation (music not included). The texts have never before been written consistently with the glottal stops (indicating syllabic breaks between vowels) and macrons (indicating long vowels and stresses) that make the words pronounceable by those unfamiliar with the Hawaiian language. Many of the songs have not been translated before or have only been freely adapted rather than translated. These 101 songs are all postmissionary and owe their musical origin to missionary hymns, although only a few are religious. None are technically chants, though some are chants that have been edited and set to music. They date from the mid-1850s (most are from the time of the monarchy) to 1968 (the date of Mary Kawena Pukui's translation of Christmas songs). Nearly all of these songs are sung today and are well known to Hawaiian singers. Included are love songs, and Christmas songs. There is an exhaustive introduction, which includes classification and arrangement of the songs; a note on the composers; and analysis of the structure, symbolism, and meanings of the songs; and a note on the translations and on the poetic vocabulary of the Hawaiian words.

A collection of 30 traditional Hawaiian songs for folk harp; songs 1-15 are arranged for large folk harps tuned to E flat with a full set of levers while 16-30 are the same songs arranged for small harps tuned in C. Many are playable on harps without levers, and some require levers on F and G. Also included are chords for ukulele, guitar and harp, as well as lyrics (in Hawaiian, listed separate on the last two pages). Companion CD includes all songs.

Folk Songs Hawaii Sings is a sparkling compilation of melodies from the islands of Polynesia together with a variety of folk songs that countless Asian people have brought with them to their new home in the Hawaiian Islands. In one sense it is a musical picture of the renowned harmonious blend of people who reside in Hawaii today; in another, it is a colorful record of ties with the Eastern world and ancestral heritage in line with the same American tradition that saw songs of the soil and the sea brought to the United States from Europe in an earlier age. All the songs and more, whether from Hawaii or Samoa, China or Japan, the Philippines, Okinawa, or Mongolia, are melodic bearers of traditions and aspirations, or vehicles of simple pleasures that form the background of the people who today share the hospitable sun of the Hawaiian Islands with their Caucasian neighbors. These melodies and rhythms have found their way into the many festivals and musical presentations that are so much a way of life in the welcome addition to the American Union.