The Ha'a

Title: Ha'a Koa (Dance of the Warrior)
Performers: US Army 25th Infantry Division Hui Ha'a
Culture or Origin:  Hawai'i, in which ha'a is  a Hawaiian term for “bent knee dance.”  However, this style has been appropriated from the very similar haka, which is from the Māori people, the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Orchestration:  Rhythmic vocalizations, along with the use of slapping thighs and chest, and stomping the ground (corpophones).


This week I decided to share with all of you a video that I used for a recent lesson plan assignment in my Musics of the World class through University of Florida.  I wanted to share it with a larger audience due to its relevance to this week's class discussion.  Before we even got into this week where we have been engaged in the topic of musical authenticity as a class and in our readings in its use for music education, I included probing questions into this lesson plan for students along the line of "Is this kind of cultural appropriation acceptable or not? Why?"  Granted, this was not mentioning the exact word of authenticity, but the implications that that issue might be brought up within conversation and replies to these guiding questions is very clear.  Here you have a form, that has been transferred from one culture to another, and than assimilated into use within yet another cultural context.  When looking at this through the eyes of the four authenticity models that Koops (2010) discusses: the continuum model; the twofold historical/personal model; the threefold reproduction, reality, and relevance model; and the moving-beyond authenticity model, it poses interesting questions.

In relation to the continuum model, is the ha'a already changed to much, since the ha'a is an appropriated version of the haka from another culture, or is the fact it is widely accepted negate this aspect?  Then we have our military using it, but in native Hawaiian, and in much the same purpose as the original intent of the ha'a.  On the surface it would seem it would be close to authentic on the continuum, but it is not being performed by entirely native Hawaiians (though it was designed by US soldiers that were Hawaiian).  I think this points out some of the major flaws in the continuum model, it is very subjective as to what changes may be acceptable and which ones are not.  Moving on to the historical/personal model, because this is a relatively new ha'a, it certainly cannot be considered historical, but in it's performance there are numerous elements of authentic performance from the movement to the language (unless of course you disregard all of it because it's not a Māori haka).  Once again, it's hard to judge if this is authentically viable, due to the criteria set forth by the model.

Getting into the threefold reproduction, reality, and relevance model, I think that this is where this performance hits the mark.  Though not an exact reproduction of a previously existing ha'a, it is realistic in that it is used in much the same way as other ha'a, and the relevance in that the lyrics (see a video showing the lyrics and their meaning here) are directly tied to the group that does the performing and the organization it is meant to represent.  Within this model, this example shows something to strive for within music education.  Yes, it is new(ish) but if we can get our students to experience something that provides this much realism and relevance, and taking into account the cultural factors that connect this performance to other ha'a as in the final moving-beyond authenticity model in which contextual factors (examining question like "How was the music produced? For whom? By whom? In what context? For what purpose? With what influences?"[Koops, 2010, p. 26]) are key. 




Reference:

Koops, L.  (2010).  ''Can't We Just Change the Words?'': The Role of Authenticity in Culturally   Informed Music Education.  Music Educators Journal, 97 (23), 23-28.