This is very random but I was recently watching a show depicting colonisation and in one of the scenes,there is a group of people singing almost as an act of defiance towards the colonisation that threatens their country. There are many media that depict some sort of scene like this and it begun to interest me how singing is shown as a form of defiance,an act of courage and more. I was wondering if there are any books that discuss how singing across the world/in history has helped people fight in the most non-violent way for what they believe in.
by Shoddy-Tea7263
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Don’t have a specific rec that focuses on music, but there’s a strong history of Hawaiian people claiming their identity in the face of colonialism through music.
The Kalākaua monarchs were particularly involved in the preservation of Hawaiian musical culture. Descriptions of David Kalākaua’s coronation mention that the ceremony involved hula and mele performances that were considered ‘uncivilized’ and ‘un-Christian’. And when he died overseas, the ship carrying his body home was greeted with a spontaneous mourning chant when Hawaiians saw its black adornments and realized he’d died. There’s actually an annual cultural festival in honor of King Kalākaua, the “Merrie Monarch Festival”, researching the history of the festival will definitely turn up some people talking about the importance of singing as a form of resistance. His sister, Liliʻuokalani was a prolific musician and composer, there’s a whole [wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Liliʻuokalani) on her works, many of which had obvious political themes. I also found [this](https://www.meleonthemauna.com) book on traditional music as activism in the Maunakea protests, but it hasn’t come out yet (should be soon!).
I know very little about Hawaiian musical culture, I wish I had a specific book to recommend to you that FOCUSED on this. “Defiant Indigeneity: The Politics of Hawaiian Performance” by Stephanie Nohelani Teves seems like it might be a good option, but I haven’t read it. “Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism” does address the role of music as a form of resistance, but is more about analyzing the political context of that resistance than educating the reader on Hawaiian music. Most of the book focuses on newspaper articles, but music is addressed. I haven’t read “A Nation Rising: Hawaiian Movements for Life, Land, and Sovereignty” but the lady on the cover is a [famous teacher and musician](https://www.dukeupress.edu/a-nation-rising) so it might be a good bet, anything she’s involved with will involve a degree of cultural resistance through music- no way they’d get away with putting Hina Wong- Kalu on the cover without touching on her work.