A new music project launching in June, Pōpoloheno: Songs of Resilience and Joy, brings long-overlooked narratives of the Black community in Hawaii to national attention. The ten-track album highlights original compositions and tributes that combine Hawaiian musical tradition with African diasporic history.
Curated by Māhealani Uchiyama, Hawaii’s first hula master of African descent, the album features award-winning musicians from across the islands. Many songs are mele inoa (“name songs”), a traditional Hawaiian form of tribute. These honor figures such as President Barack Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Also featured are lesser-known pioneers like Alice Ball, a chemist who developed the first effective treatment for leprosy. Also, Betsey Stockton, a formerly enslaved educator who taught reading and writing to Native Hawaiian children.
The project’s first release, “A Lei for Reverend King,” draws inspiration from a historic photograph of King wearing a Hawaiian lei during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. Uchiyama recalls seeing that image as a child in Ebony magazine, an early moment of recognition and pride that later inspired the creation of Pōpoloheno. The project also responds to a comment from one of Uchiyama’s Black Hawaiian students, who questioned her place in her own community because of her appearance.
Scheduled to debut on May 1, Lei Day in Hawaii and the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the album underscores the intersection of cultural celebration and historical reclamation.
The title Pōpoloheno refers to the pōpolo, a dark-colored berry native to Polynesia and historically associated in Hawaii with people of African descent. Once used pejoratively due to colonial influence, the term is here reclaimed to affirm identity, resilience, and pride.
Author: World Music Central News Room
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I am SO EXCITED to hear that this album has been released! It is a testament to my experiences as an African American who has had a STRONG fondness for the music, hula, the history and culture of Hawai’i Nei since childhood. I first saw hula on the Arthur Godfrey TV show performed by Hilo Hattie. I remember standing up and imitating her movements. I was 5 years old at the time and did not see hula again until Girl Scout camp @ age 9. I found NO hula instructors in New York City (no joke!), but had a yearning to learn more about hula , the music and Hawai’i’s history. The wish came about in 1968/69 summer sessions and continued in 1970 when I was accepted to the Univ. Hawaii. I continued mu studies in hula, mele, oli and various cultural concepts and collected several readings on Hawai’i’s history and cultural practices. I furthered my studies at UCLA and the Univ. Washington, mostly in ethnomusicology. I have had workshops/classes with kumu hula
Auntie Emma Sharpe, Ho’akalei Kamu’u, Iolani Luahine, Puluelo Naipo Park, George Naope, Leimomi Ho and Ho’oulu Richards Cambra. I also worked with Kaupena Wong for mmt UH thesis.
I live in Seattle, but stay in touch with the Hawai’i community in the Pacific Northwest and since 1976, have returned to Hawaii as often as I am able. I am now a senior (78), have done lectures on Hawai’i’s history and performed on occasion mele and oli, although I am not dancing as much these days. I also have a collection of books on Hawaiian history and culture . I only wish I could have met you, Mahealani @ FESTPAC Hawaii last year. I am enclosing a photo of myself with Kamakakehau Fernandez. (taken in 2004) I am also on Facebook.
Me ke aloha nui,
Aunty Beverly (Beverly Mendheim)
Seattle, WA