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ISSUE 11
Great Experiences While Living in the 808 Scene - A Letter by Doyle Purdy
Cover Thy Brother
Music as a Means of Resistance
Great experiences while living in the 808 Scene
(Zoundbox - Doyle pictured center)
By Doyle Purdy - ZoundBoX
Since moving from the 808 about 9 months ago, I have been going through“WeekendRock”withdrawals. Playing the 808 scene was very rewarding. I met many good people and made many friends. Most club managers and owners were willing to give ZoundBox a shot at playing their venue. Through perseverance and persistence, I was able to get gigs for ZoundBox every weekend and sometimes during the weekdays at clubs all around Oahu.The band worked hard compiling 2 full sets of songs. We were an original rock band with a side order of covers. At first, it was difficult getting gigs downtown Honolulu because most clubs wanted 90 percent cover songs and 10 percent original songs. This is understandable because they need to have familiar sounds to ensure the tourists are satisfied. So ZoundBox had their work cut out. Working hard means taking thegigs even if free initially. Well, needless to say, the hard work paid off. We played at many clubs around Oahu and in the city; we were able to fund a CD which was released in March of 2006 titled “When It’s Gone”; we had a couple of Drift Session video’s produced by Mike (aka ArchangelX) of Drift Session; and a few magazine and newspaper interviews.
I recently read the interview with Blane of S3M (the808scenezine.com, Issue #9, Creating a Scene Around His Band). I have to agree that it takes a lot of work to get gigs. I remember having this discussion with Blane about the 808 scene. As I stated above, it takes a lot of hard work to get gigs in Hawaii. Just don’t wait for people to call for gigs, get out there and explore what Oahu has to offer. Be persistent with club owners and managers. The multi-show venues promoted by Blane are a great addition for bands to be heard, but the new bands must make sure to explore every club on Hawaii, not just Honolulu. I remember ZoundBox driving all over the island to play gigs. I also remember hitting up Keith of Missing Dave at our “day job” to play a show. They were very receptive to the idea and we played many shows alongside Missing Dave. The Crud was another band that supported ZoundBox. We played many shows with The Crud. It was great to play alongside two of Hawaii’s most influential rock bands. My wife (Myra) and I would always look forward to the weekend because we knew it was going to be fun playing and rockin’ with these bands.
Well, my job has taken me to Sasebo, Japan. The music scene is nothing like Hawaii. However, I now have a new band called “TheDeuces”. We play for the Navy and Marine folks around base and onboard the ship when underway. We always have a captive audience, if you know what I mean. We have a few gigs lined up around Sasebo and we are starting to explore Fukuoka as well.
I want to express my sincere thanks to all the bands and the new friends I met while rockin’ the 808 scene zine. Thanks to MissingDave, The Crud, and the Supersonic Space Monkeys. You guys and galsROCK! If or when I return to Hawaii, you will see me trying to break into the scene again!
Lastly, a great thank you to my friends and brothers of ZoundBox. A few have continued Rockin’ with Grand Theft Audio (another rockin’ band in Oahu) and a few have taken a break from the 808 scene. They impressed me with their commitment of being “Original Band with a Side Order of Covers”. We are forever linked by ZoundBox and the memories will are cherished. We agree to disagree sometimes, but overall, the final output is great original music and great times. John, Tim, Joel and Mike,I miss you guys.
Rock, addicted for life!
Doyle – The Deuces
“Cover Thy Brother”
by Marcus Busekrus
It seems like the only way for a rock band to continue to exist in the local scene is to play cover songs. Most regularly gigging bands would love to just showcase their originals, but they often cannot do it without having to throw in some well-known sing-alongs to keep the crowd interested and the bar managers happy. It becomes a see-saw with the band juggling both the desire to create and perform original art and the need to make money and continue gigging.
There are some altruistic organizations in the islands like Josh Hancock’s “Unity Crayons,” and Blane Nishizawa’s “Thursdays Rocks” who are helping the local rock scene by putting on shows for bands who want to play their original songs, but have no venue to perform them at. These two groups work for free with their only goal in mind being to help the rock scene in Hawaii.
Aside from these and a few other groups and organizations, the only thing holding the local rock scene together is the cohesiveness among the bands themselves. There is no room and no desire for competition. The Aloha Spirit is pervasive and the camaraderie is unrivaled. We not only need each other, but we like and love each other.
Out of this spirit comes an event where Hawaii rock bands can pay tribute to each other. This event is called “Cova’ a brotha’.” “Since we’ve all had to do cover songs to survive thus far, we might as well cover the bands in our own local scene, right?” says promoter, Marcus Busekrus who is putting on a show with four bands, where each band covers a song by another band playing that night, “I got the idea from Mike Camino.” “Cova’ a Brotha’ ” features Local rock heavyweights Missing Dave, The Crud and PimpBot who are joined by newer band Büsekrüs for a night of fun, laughs, pranks, drinks and suspense as each band watches one of their own songs being performed by their brother bands as part of their regular original set.
The show will be blowing up at Red Lion University on Friday, January 26th at 9pm sharp with only a $5 cover. This first show will be 21 and up, but counting on its success, there will be subsequent shows like it at different venues, with different bands and an 18+ limit.
Says The Crud about the show:
Cova’ a Brotha’ is such a unique and creative concept that’s a great opportunity to showcase each band's original music through each other's ears and musicianship. With the talent and close-knit community we have in Honolulu's rock scene, this show is a fine example of not just the Aloha Spirit and respect that each band has for each other, but a fun way for die hard fans of each band to enjoy the music they love to hear through other bands' guitars, drums, vocals, and talent. The Crud cannot wait to do this show because we have a few surprises up our sleeves as well!
Music As a Means of Resistance
by
Marc B. Allred
Music As a Means of Resistance
Following are lyrics from “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” which was sung along the Underground Railroad as a way of giving secret directions to slaves attempting to escape the bonds of slavery in the southern states. The song informed slaves that following “the drinking gourd,” or Big Dipper, would lead them to freedom in the north, “the river bed” when frozen is the best path to follow, and one should look for the footprints of Peg-leg Joe, an anti-slavery activist, while on your journey.
When the sun goes back
And the first quail calls
Follow the drinking gourd
The old man is a-waitin’
To carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
To carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
The river bed makes a mighty fine road,
Dead trees to show you the way
And it’s left foot, peg foot, traveling on
Follow the drinking gourd
The river ends between two hills
Follow the drinking gourd
There’s another river on the other side
Follow the drinking gourd
Where the great river meets the little river,
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is awaiting to carry you to freedom if you
Follow the drinking gourd
This paper will discuss how music, with its relation to culture, can be a means of resisting and challenging organized systems of oppression. Following Stuart Hall and his theory that the rise of industrial capitalism involves “a more or less continuous struggle over the culture of working people, the labouring classes and the poor,” I will look at how music of the Underground Railroad and the underground music scene in present-day Hawaii challenge oppression. Using examples like “Follow the Drinking Gourd” I will demonstrate music’s ability to engage cultural and physical oppression. It is not my intention to simply show that music was involved in freeing people from slavery, but through this comparison, I suggest that music is an effective tool for resisting both physical and cultural domination by others.
Unlike a weapon, music cannot be used to physically resist one’s enemy, but it can be used as a nonviolent tool to challenge the ideas that motivate physical violence and to bring about change. Music is among the many dimensions of culture, and is a part of what represents and defines people. Music belongs to our “collective practices and beliefs, [it is a part of the] repository of repetitive traditions and ready-to-hand responses.” Therefore it serves an ontological purpose as it represents a way that we provide ourselves with meaning. In this sense, music can challenge, change, and create culturally accepted practices and define what represents a people. For example, slaves working the plantations of the southern States were not allowed to speak or sing in their native language. Regardless of this fact, slaves sang songs that included cultural reference to Africa in the English language, which helped to preserve the history of their people and simultaneously preserve their culture. Thus, Africans maintained their identity through music. This attempt to preserve identity was a means of confronting the system of slavery as it attempted to dominate and define the personal identity of a slave. This is an example of how music is an often used but underestimated tool for resistance.
Live music, in particular, provides a medium for personal expression and an opportunity to influence others via performance. The premise for a cultural structure of tourism is that the economic stability of the State of Hawaii relies on its portrayal of traditional Hawaiian culture. Tourism is a dominant form of employment in Hawaii and one out of every five people in Hawaii work in tourism. Its people depend on the perpetuation of Hawaiian culture to maintain the economic stability of the state. The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism stated that in November of 2006 the total amount of visitor expenditures in the month of October alone amounted to $949 million due strictly to tourism. If the Hawaiian Islands were to lose their ability to portray Hawaiian culture as the exclusive culture of the islands, it would lose its exotic attraction and its economic structure would struggle to survive. Anything that detracts from this portrayal of traditional culture of Hawaii, like punk music, becomes a threat to the financial stability of Hawaii.
In modern Hawaii, no one is physically enslaved but certain groups are still seeking to use music to define themselves and achieve cultural freedom. Hawaii is no longer a state crowded with indigenous Polynesians practicing their unique exotic culture in a traditional sense. The state has become saturated with a plethora of cultures, which creates a problem with seeing Hawaiian culture as the predominant culture of Hawaii. The development of an underground culture of music, including punk, rock, ska, and others, challenges the claim that traditional Hawaiian culture is representative of the State of Hawaii. The underground music scene struggles to resist the dominant tourism-inspired cultural structure and its denial of anything not traditionally Polynesian. Its development and continuance creates a counter culture that negates the dominance of Polynesian culture and validates its existence simply by being.
African Slaves
A brief history of the African slave shows that the slave trade was taken from a preexisting structure used in West Africa. Here a slave maintained was able maintain his cultural identity, but when brought to the Americas they were stripped of everything they possessed. The only available tool for resisting oppression was culture, and one of aspects of culture is music.
The slave trade that existed between the Americas and Africa was inspired by an African practice centered on prisoners of war. A large portion of slaves brought to the Americas from Africa were from the central and western parts of Africa – from Congo-Angola, Nigeria, Dahomey, Togo, the Gold Coast, and Sierra Leone. Africa was the predominant provider of slaves only from the sixteenth to nineteenth century. Previous to this, in the medieval world, the common slave was slavic – those originally from the Black Sea area. The Latin word for slave is servitus, but the high percentage of Slavic people in the medieval world added a new term, sclavus. This word and those that followed it, like slave in English and esclavo in Spanish, have become the common terminology for people who are the property of others in most Western languages ever since.
Slavery as a system and industry was brought about by the initial interactions between Europe and Africa. The industry of slavery in Africa has its roots in the trans-Sahara trade system. As Western exploration developed, European travelers found their way to the coasts of Africa. Upon their arrival, they found a large network and system of trade that covered the expanse of tropical Africa, which focused on kola nuts, shea butter, iron, and even slaves that were to be traded or sold. In Philip D. Cutrin’s book, The rise and fall of the plantation complex, Curtin asserts that the Europeans found a culturally accepted practice of slavery when they landed in Africa.
Most African societies made it a practice to enslave war prisoners, but the victors rarely kept these people as servants. If they came from nearby, it was all too easy to escape, perhaps killing some of the captor’s people in the process. Many, if not most, war prisoners were therefore sold to passing traders, who took them along the trade routes with their other goods to sell them in distant places where escape would be more difficult.
A system of slavery was therefore already developed and being practiced on the continent of Africa before Europeans thought to implement it into their dealings with the Americas and create an industry between the two continents.
Essentially, the American slave trade didn’t do anything original since Africa provided a systemic template for the industry of slavery, which included the dehumanization of the slave, which would eventually consume the early American continent. The practice of slavery was something new to Westerners and created its initial tensions based on precepts of religion, but the utility of slavery and the ease with which salves were acquired in Africa contributed to the development of the slave trade and how invaluable it became.
For the most part, the people who were stolen or captured from Western Africa brought almost nothing with them to the Americas except themselves. They weren’t able to carry with them their existing social orders or interactions. It was forbidden for them to use their native language, practice their religion, bring any type of personal property or belongings; they couldn’t even remain in their own families upon arrival to the Americas. The experience of the Africans coming to the Americas is in contrast to the experience of the Europeans, who brought everything possible with them. Their social order remained intact, their religions, the foods that defined their culture, their style of clothing, music and songs, marriage customs, and their languages; all these things came with the Europeans as they journeyed to the Americas. Through these objects and customs they were able to preserve their culture in a way that preserved their identity. While some Europeans met opposition for their cultural practices, they did not lose their foreignness with the same swiftness of a slave.
Examples of this loss of culture are seen in how African scholars, businessmen, cattle herders, and others were transformed into American slaves overnight as they were stolen from their homelands. They were given a lifestyle and culture that was not their own and were forced to adopt it for their survival. They had to learn a language that was not their own in order to communicate with their masters and they were given European clothing once they arrived which made them do away with clothing that was familiar. African woman were reduced to an object not only for labor but also for sexual purposes that contributed to the social distortion of identity and culture, as children were then born not totally African and not totally American for labor. The complexity of personal identity of the Africa was reconstructed for the purpose of commodifying the African for labor. This was not their choice as it was forced upon them for the benefit of the slave trade.
The power to preserve culture was limited to the African, but the options that were available like song and dance were heavily implemented with the intentions of maintaining their identity. Simply existing and being African was a means of resisting the dominant culture since they personified non-Western culture. Existing didn’t require active engagement with the oppressor since simply being was a negation of assimilation. Participation in acts of culture like songs, dances, etc. was a way to resist the oppressor and this method of resistance went a step further than simply being. Music, with its magical ability to retain memory and information, is fundamental to the retention of cultural identity, since it is a way to remind the African that they are not American. In this sense, music was one of the only aspects of culture that slaves were able to bring with them from Africa that is how it became a vital tool for confronting the oppression of slavery.
Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) is said to have assisted in the escape of more than three hundred slaves during her time with the Underground Railroad. She had been lucky and was able to escape slavery in her lifetime but after escaping, at the risk of being recaptured, she returned to the plantations of the South in order to assist other slaves in their escapes. She was known as the “Black Moses,” who would liberate her people from the oppression of slavery, just as Moses freed the tribes of Israel from Pharaoh of Egypt. “Go Down Moses” is the song that she and others would sing to announce her presence to slaves:
When Israel was in Egypt’s land
Let my people go.
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let my people go.
Go down Moses, way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh,
This song uses coded warnings to inform slaves that an opportunity to escape was nearing even though it was common for “Moses” to be hiding while singing this song. Through the words of “Go Down Moses” the idea of exodus or traveling away from tyrannical rule towards the Promised Land, like the tribes of Israel, was constantly a theme of inspiration. This concept of exodus has been part of black history ever since Christianity was forced upon them. “Go Down Moses” is an example of music defining a people, in that slaves were unified behind an idea, an ideology that negated that authority of the dominant culture of oppression. Africans refused to accept the oppression that was ‘so hard they could not stand.’ This is an example of how music didn’t define a people, but the people used music to create their own meaning. What may seem to be a song that accepts the ideology of Christianity is really a deliberate use of Christianity to mask rebellion. Using Christianity, slaves were able to create their own representation of religion that mimicked the culturally accepted religion of Western society, but in reality was a refusal to assimilate. This power of music to convey multiple meanings shows how it is able to confront oppression without engaging the oppressor and can define a people culturally.
Frederick Douglass, a well-known figure in slave history, describes a song in his autobiography that was often sung about freedom and its ability to convey a double meaning.
O Canaan, sweet Canaan,
I am bound for the land of Canaan
Something more than a hope of reaching heaven.
These phrases convey the idea that escape and freedom are to be found in the land of Canaan, but Canaan is a concept that many slaves took to mean Africa. The song inspired a slave to defy the slave owner and mentions a desire to return to Africa without having to say the words ‘escape’ or ‘Africa’ in front of slave owners and incite suspicion. Also, this metaphoric reference to Africa was a means of retaining knowledge of origin. It served the ontological purpose of reminding a slave that he/she is not from America but is truly an African – it served as a means of defining the African slave in contrast to his condition and location in the Americas amidst Western culture.
With references to Canaan and heaven, which had multiple meanings like freedom, the North, and Africa, music took on the purpose of retaining cultural identity. Words of songs would make reference to things and objects that stayed African amidst the struggle to assimilate to slavery in the Americas. Using the phrase, ‘drinking gourd’ is a direct reference to the tools that were used in Africa to carry and hold water. Music becomes a tool, a method of survival against slavery that aids in the retention of cultural practices and ideologies – it helps one to remember.
One of the most powerful aspects of music is its ability to retain and convey memories. Listening to or singing a song can create a deep connection to a person. This connection and the memories associated with it return when a song is repeated. The location the song was first heard, the people associated with the song, the time and place, even smells can be associated with a song. These memories are relived once the song is repeated. The power of music to be a reservoir for memory, an unseen and safe container was fundamental to the survival of the African slave.
Music as cultural agency
On the surface, music may not appear to be an effective tool to resist oppression and bring about change. Interestingly, music is used in almost all types of protest. Slogans, cheers, songs, and chants are commonly seen at the site of a strike. There are numerous songs throughout history by bands of international reputation that challenge the perpetrators of injustice. Mana from South America sings about los desaparecidos of Argentina, Bob Marley from Jamaica renounces war and racial hatred, NOFX from the U.S. has numerous songs that denounce George W. Bush and his administration, and Anti-Flag of the U.S. describes the riots of Seattle, where people went on strike against the World Trade Organization. There are countless examples of how music has been used to denounce those who oppress.
In this globalized world, much of our attention is focused on terrorism, genocide, poverty, and repression, national leaders often turn to diplomacy, sanctions, or war as their primary solutions. But, music as a tool within the structure of culture is an effective means of bringing about change and cultivating an identity that challenges oppression. Sommer explains in Cultural Agency in the Americas, how culture (which includes music) is a tool that can be used to bring about change. Amidst societies of conflict where differing cultural identities are a concern, there arises a gap or “wiggle room” in which those who seek to transform or redefine society can effectively produce change using culture. More clearly stated, “Where structures or conditions can seem intractable, creative practices add dangerous supplements that add angles for intervention and locate room for maneuver.” The creative practice of music is something that can be inserted into this gap within the discourse of cultural identity because it is not readily seen as a threat within this struggle for meaning; this provides room to maneuver.
The power of music lies in its ability to confront oppression in this cultural dialogue in a method that is nonviolent. Bob Marley alludes to this form of nonviolent confrontation in a famous lyric from his song “Trench Town Rock”, “One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain.” Regardless of the fact that music is not a physical tool or weapon of violence like a gun or sword, it is effective in that it has the ability to “hit” and force introspection. Music provides a platform for the oppressed to be heard. It is a format of dialogue that is most likely, the only opportunity available for discussion. The value of music in this discussion of oppression is that it avoids physical confrontation to deal with a physically violent matter. Music provides the option of dealing with the subject of oppression without having to directly confront the oppressor and this is inspiring because it avoids the possibility of repercussions to those who are being oppressed. This method of confrontation could be misconstrued as weak in that it doesn’t confront the oppressor directly, but it should be seen for what it is - as an opportunity for the articulation of a subjugated people who have no other means of resistance.
Hawaii Underground Music Scene
Unity Crayons is a non-profit organization based out of Honolulu Hawaii that was organized on July 28th, 2003 by Josh Hancock and Jake Foster. The name, Unity Crayons, is a reference to crayons of all colors, like people of all colors, working together to create art. Its mission statement on unitycrayons.com reads:
Unity Crayons non-profit organization exists to promote events and showcase artists, musicians and performers in positive, drug free, all ages environments. Unity Crayons also assists other non-profit organizations with event planning, production and fundraising. Working within the community we strive to bring together the diverse music and art scene and expose young people to positive and constructive forms of expression.
The art scene in Hawaii does not cater very often to people of all ages, and it was because of this reality that Unity Crayons founders decided to make a commitment to making art and music available to everyone. ‘All art! All ages!’
In its mission statement Unity Crayons recognizes that Hawaii does not generally cater to people of all ages or art activities of all genres. Their intention is to provide locations/venues for the development of the arts, which have been struggling for recognition in Hawaii.
Since the creation of Unity Crayons there have been countless concerts organized on a weekly basis in multiple venues, usually in local bars. It has been difficult for the organization to maintain a consistent venue since there isn’t a venue that is dedicated to the promotion of local artists who portray non-Polynesian art or culture. This is due to the dominating cultural structure of Polynesian tourism. The only opportunity that local musicians have, who don’t perform Polynesian or reggae-influenced music is in a bar where the entertainment is considered secondary to the sale of alcohol. Unity Crayons struggles to find a suitable venue for all age activities on a weekly basis because bars will always focus on the sale of alcohol instead of providing a venue for local non-Polynesian music.
Unity Crayons is not the only group struggling to provide an opportunity for local non-Polynesian entertainment in Hawaii. The Vans Warped Tour, which is a national tour with multiple bands usually playing punk, rock, or ska, failed completely in Hawaii. With the fall of Radio Free Hawaii 102.7FM in the 1990’s, which failed in part because it played only what the people wanted to hear and that wasn’t culturally traditional music, the Vans Warped Tour had no local support. The tour visited Hawaii in 1997 and 1998 and then refused to continue visiting Hawaii regardless of the numbers of people that flocked to its daylong concerts. This was partly because it did not find enough promotional or financial support in the state for their event, an event that could definitely be considered a threat to the image of the exotic state of Hawaii.
Regardless of the fact that tours like the Vans Warped Tour or the Big Mele have discontinued their visits to Hawaii, there are a number of musicians and bands that have created an underground following because of Unity Crayons. This would not have happened without the help of a group whose goal is to cultivate a subculture that is considered secondary in Hawaii. The tension develops when this underground culture of music, that is non-Polynesian, begins to create a following large enough that it undermines the image of exotic Polynesian traditions. Examples are seen in punk rock clothing instead of aloha shirts, people with non-Polynesian tattoos, music that doesn’t involve traditional Hawaiian styles, or entertainment that doesn’t represent Hawaiian culture in general, these begin to undermine the developed industry of tourism because it showcases a culture other than one of Polynesia. If Hawaii is no longer known for its tourist attractions like the Polynesian Cultural Center, which has over 2,000 visitors a day, but for its punk rock night life then it will lose its reputation as a tropical paradise of Polynesian traditions and the economic structure that is in place will be threatened. This is the clash that is seen between the cultural structure of tourism in Hawaii and the underground music scene, Unity Crayons in particular.
Some of the obstacles that Unity Crayons has experienced are constantly relocating venues due to claims by business owners and residents of vandalism, graffiti, and theft. They have also being harassed by the Honolulu Police Department and local business owners for drawing crowds of teens onto the sidewalk and thus blocking access to neighboring but closed businesses.
I had the chance to ask Josh Hancock a few questions via email concerning his experiences in Unity Crayons and how they continue to change locations for events:
“When my band first started playing in Honolulu we had to play in the basement of Club Pauahi which was a rat infested storage room where we were completely hidden from the public eye. When those shows ended and the crowds would funnel back into the city lights they blended in with the miscreants and derelicts of downtown China Town which is an acceptable location for them to reside. Ironically, all the new clubs that were showing interest in hosting shows…were places in China Town. The rebel music of the Honolulu punk rockers was not welcome…and now we were returning to China Town. Thus, the song title ‘We’re going back to China Town.’”
Over the last five years Unity Crayons has lost the chance to perform in these venues: Pink Cadillac in Waikiki, Coffee Factory in Waikiki, Coffee Talk in Kaimuki, and Detox in downtown Honolulu. The organization has had to constantly return to places like China Town in downtown Honolulu where they don’t have to be seen as detracting from the image of a culturally Polynesian Hawaii.
A band that has been instrumental in the development of the underground music scene in Hawaii is Black Square, which is fronted by Josh Hancock. The members of Black Square have been involved in the constant struggle to have the underground music scene recognized as valid, and this was their inspiration for the lyrics of “We’re going back to China Town.”
I remember playing the basement of Pauahi
No one to bother us there
Cause the cops don’t like us in the nice part of the city
So looks like we’re going back there
We’re going back to China Town, Going back underground
Everyone says the shows are good for the young kids
But not in their neighborhood
So they push us back, push us back into the ghettos
Into the crack deals and hookers hood
We’re going back to China Town, Going back underground
There’s no place to go when you’re under twenty-one
No place for the young kids to go for some fun
But deep into the alleys of old down town
Under the sidewalks, underground
A powerful tool of the oppressor is to maintain the ignorance of the oppressed. By defining the oppressor, the cultural structure of tourism, the underground music scene of Hawaii can now effectively confront the source of their problems. Their main struggle is to be recognized as a valid and developing culture that is non-Polynesian. In order for that recognition to come about there needs to be a change in the economic system of Hawaii, one where tourism is no longer the fundamental means of financial stability for the state. Only then, will the sub-culture of the underground music scene be able to thrive and realize its potential. When I asked Josh Hancock what his reaction will be when that change happens, he said “we’ll be there singing about it.”
Conclusion
Music has a rare power to bring about change and influence people because it creates an emotional response. Songs of the Underground Railroad like “Follow the Drinking Gourd” helped resist slavery as it conveyed secret instructions for escape and retained cultural practices of Africa. “Go Down Moses” used Christianity to mask rebellion so as to trick slave masters into thinking that working slaves were docile and subdued by stories of the Bible, but were really creating their own meaning based on Christianity. Music of the slaves solidified culture and aided in their ability to resist the bonds and affects of slavery. “We’re Going Back to Chinatown” identifies the struggle of a sub-culture in Hawaii that is not being recognized as a valid culture. Songs of the underground scene are vital in that their very existence represents a denial of that claim that traditional Polynesian culture is the defining culture of Hawaii. Music of the Hawaii underground ultimately denies the cultural structure of tourism that says Polynesian culture is the only culture representative of the people of Hawaii.
In both cases, slavery and the underground music scene of Hawaii, music undermines the oppressor in its struggle “to disorganize and reorganize popular culture; to enclose and confine its definitions and forms within a more inclusive range of dominant forms.” Hall proposes that the dominating class will constantly strive to control the lower class, in this case slaves and the subculture of music in Hawaii. It is within this discussion of dominance of culture that music plays a vital role in confronting oppression.
Phillips, Chuck. Follow the Drinking Gourd. November 27, 2006. http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cphillip/DG%20Lyrics.htm. University of Arizona.
Hall, Stuart: Notes on Deconstructing the Popular. Peoples History and Socialist Theory. London 1981, p. 227.
Sommer, Doris: Cultural Agency in the Americas. Durham and London 2006, p. 13.
Lawrence-McIntyre Charshee Charlotte: “The Double Meanings of the Spirituals.” Journal of Black Studies. 17.4 1987: p. 379
Liu, Theodore. News Release. November 29, 2006. http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/main//news_releases/news-release-0633. Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Stuckey, Sterling: Slave Culture. New York 1987, p. 10.
Curtin, Philip D.: The rise and fall of the plantation complex. Essays in Atlantic History. New York 1990, p. 29.
Rawick, George P.: The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. From Sundown to Sunup. Connecticut 1972, p. 7.
Bennet, L., Jr.: The Shaping of Black America. Chicago 1975, p. 164.
Douglas, Frederick: The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Hartford 1881, p. 197.
Sommer, Doris: Cultural Agency in the Americas. Durham and London 2006, p. 3.
This was the concluding comment made by Josh Hancock in our email interview.
Hall, Stuart: Notes on Deconstructing the Popular. Peoples History and Socialist Theory. London 1981, p. 233
