Most people are only familiar with the tourist side of the Hawaiian Islands. You know, foamy surf, white sand beaches and mega-hotels, year-round sun, year-round fun. It is the classic American holiday. But to native Hawaiians it's called home. And most "haoles," or mainlanders, don't know the true history of how Hawaii became America's playground.

These stories and others, however, are kept alive in a musical tradition known as slack key guitar. This style of guitar playing came about when native Hawaiians began experimenting with strange guitar tunings to further evoke the deep feelings from nature and the deep lament caused from losing their land. Oftentimes employing the "drop D" tuning of many metal and blues guitarists, the term "slack key" comes from the strings being strung more loosely due to the lower tunings.

Hawaii was ruled by a sovereign monarchy until 1883, when local European merchants banded together for economic reasons and overthrew the unprepared and vastly outclassed guards of Queen Lili' Uokalani, Hawaii's last monarch. Having been controversially annexed in the name of the United States, the process of westernizing the indigenous culture began. Some have fought it and others have embraced it.

"It is important to remember that you can't change the past," said 52-year-old traditional Hawaiian slack key guitarist George Kahumoku Jr. via telephone from his mainland home in Santa Cruz. "You have to take the good and move on. There are many that still believe that the water and land rights should be theirs. There are some that would still fight for sovereignty if they thought they could win. I have relatives in jail for not wanting to pay taxes. But that is just one of the reasons that slack key is so important to families like mine. It gives us hope and keeps us together. More importantly, the music preserves our culture. Most realize that the way to bring about change is not to physically fight but to spread 'aloha,' or love and compassion. Slack key style is Hawaii's own acoustic music and is a great way to express and spread 'aloha.'"

The first documented accounts of guitars being brought to Hawaii were in 1832, when Spanish and Mexican vaqueros were brought over by King Kamehameha III to teach the Hawaiians how to raise cattle. It didn't take long for the Hawaiians to make the instrument their own, but the tradition was dying out when King David Kalakaua and his sister Queen Lili' Uokalani sparked a revival in the late 1800s. They wrote many of Hawaii's greatest and most beloved slack key style songs.

"Our culture is based on borrowing and incorporating things from the many visiting cultures to the islands," said Kahumoku. "We wouldn't have the guitar if this didn't happen. And many of our greatest songwriters wouldn't have written the way they did if it weren't for what they were seeing around them: the ocean, plants, animals and the annexation. We held these slack key tunings as sacred, and only family members knew how to play them. But now it is time to spread aloha and share the light we have to give to the world. That is why I will teach slack key to anyone who wants to learn. It's time to let the past rest. I believe we can have sovereignty within the sovereignty of the United States. We can preserve the past and move on. And slack key helps us do both."

Similar to the reasons why black slaves derived the blues, or why the Rastafarians of Jamaica bonded with reggae, slack key is the Hawaiian cultural response to the oppression levied on them since 1883. The music is as beautiful and peaceful as it is rebellious. Take Kahumoku's most recent Dancing Cat recording "Hawaiian Love Songs" (nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album 2001, with songs featured on the "Joe Somebody" soundtrack). From the eerily sweet Lili' Uokalani instrumental "The Queen's Prayer" to the updated and bluesy version of the ancient "Hawaiian War Chant," "Hawaiian Love Songs" is a soulful and subtly evocative collection of acoustic guitar songs on the level of the world's best.

* Chico Enterprise-Record -the buzz * January 17-23, 2002