Kanikapila is a style of
Hawaiian music produced in an impromptu
jam session
A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...
, most commonly taking place at a beach, or family gathering. The term comes from ''kani'' which means
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...
. and ''pila'' which means any string instrument in the
Hawaiian language
Hawaiian (', ) is a critically endangered Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family, originating in and native to the Hawaiian Islands. It is the native language of the Hawaiian people. Hawaiian, along with English, is an offi ...
.
Over the last few decades it formed into a conceptual style reflecting more emphasis on
acoustic instruments including the
ukulele and free following speed to reflect the emotion of the players. The term has started making its way in the dialog of mainland US musicians as well.
One way that the kanikapila style music has made its mark in popular culture is songs like "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole where he takes two songs ( "
Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "
What a Wonderful World" ) mashes them together to form an entirely new song. This is common element of the kanikapila style.
It is a popular custom to end kanikapila sessions the same way with the song "
Hawaii Aloha" written by 19th century Christian minister,
Lorenzo Lyons. Kanikapila groups include the
Experience Paradise Project.
References
{{Reflist
Music of Hawaii
Bibliography
*Clark, Gregory. "“A Child Born of the Land”: The Rhetorical Aesthetic of Hawaiian Song." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 42.3 (2012): 251-270.
*Gonsalves, Dennis. "The wayward Hawaiian boy returns home." Annual Review of Phytopathology 53 (2015): 1-17.
*Kruse, Nathan B. "‘without u, it’s just kulele’: expressions of leisure and ‘ohana in an intergenerational ukulele club." International Journal of Community Music 6.2 (2013): 153-167.