Originally heard on OPB's Weekend Edition on May 15, 2022.
Singing in Hawaiian is a relatively new part of Waiaʻu Walker’s repertoire. In the late 1800s, the language was outlawed in the Hawaiian Islands and that ban was only officially lifted in 1986. Because of that, the language almost died out. Waiaʻu Walker says it wasn’t spoken in her childhood home and her father was discouraged from learning it.
“My dad had to work through his own relationship with the language because he had been taught for so long that the only way that the world would take you seriously and you could survive as you had to not [use the language],” says Waiaʻu Walker.
In recent years, attitudes have shifted and opportunities to learn the language have expanded. That extends to Waiaʻu Walker’s family and her art.
“Honestly, the more my dad has found healing in connection [with the language], it’s been like a ripple effect in our family,” she says.
