Hawaii

Hawaii's official state anthem, Hawai`i Pono`î, happens to be a waltz in form although no one would think to dance to it.  It is performed with the same seriousness granted to another similar waltz, God Save the Queen. Hawai`i Pono`î (the title translates from the Hawaiian language as Hawaii's Own True Sons) was introduced in 1874. The lyrics were written that year by King David Kalākaua (full name: David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua), the last King of the Kingdom of Hawai'i.  The music was composed earlier, 1872, by Captain Henri Berger, the King's royal bandmaster. Berger based the tune on the Prussian National Anthem, Heil Dir Im Siegerkranz, which itself is based on God Save the Queen.  While the three are rhythmically almost identical, the melody of Hawai`i Pono`î is different enough to be distinguished from the other two.  It was made the official Hawaiian state anthem in 1967 but before that was national anthem of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the national anthem of the Republic of Hawaii and the adopted song of the Territory of Hawaii. A popular version from YouTube is shown below.  A simplified score and lyrics are included at the bottom of this blog post.

As to waltzes with Hawaii in the title, a search found only two:

In 1959, Fred Astaire introduced a set of five LP's which contained dance music used in his franchised dance studios.  Each LP contained an instruction book and if you took the instruction book to one of his studios, you got a free dance lesson.  The LP titled American Waltzes on the RCA Camden label contained a song titled The Hawaiian Waltz.  It is performed by the Fred Astaire Dance Studio Orchestra but details of the background of that orchestra or the composer of the song have not been found.

The second is an original by Canadian finger-style guitarist and luthier, Simon Budd, titled Hawaii ala Waltz. It is found on his 2006 recording, The Wait is Over.

What is not included:

There is a genre of Hawaiian music which includes many waltzes but there are very few which share the words "Hawaii" or even, "Hawaiian" and "waltz" in the title. A classic example of this is the 1914 recording of Hawiian Waltz Medley on the Victor label by Pale K. Lua and David K. Kaili

There were also a number of "false positives" is the search for Hawaii Waltz.  One of my favorites was Michael Bøgebjerg Petersen's Hawaii Waltz which turned out to be his own interpretation of Peter Kraus's  Swartze Rose, Marie.

A second probable "false positive" is from Hammond organ specialist, Klaus Wunderlich, which appears in this YouTube video titled Hawaii Waltz. It is a waltz, actually a medley of waltzes and although there is perhaps a Hawaii Waltz somewhere in that medley, no other evidence that he recorded such a waltz could be found (and he recorded many, many tunes on the organ).

There are many recorded waltzes related to Hawaii which contain the identifier " - Waltz" for example Hawaii Love - Waltz or There Is No Beer in Hawaii - Waltz. None of those are included here.

And finally, here is a simplified score and lyrics for Hawai`i Pono`î:

Hawaiʻi ponoʻī
Nānā i kou mōʻī
Ka lani aliʻi,
Ke aliʻi


Chorus:
Makua lani ē,
Kamehameha ē,
Na kaua e pale,
Me ka ihe

Hawaiʻi ponoʻī
Nānā i nā aliʻi
Nā pua muli kou
Nā pōkiʻi



Chorus

Hawaiʻi ponoʻī
E ka lāhui e
ʻO kāu hana nui
E uʻiē

Chorus

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