Popular Hawaiian music artists

Hawaiian pop refers to music that is Hawaiian-tinged but rooted in another popular style. Outside influences have impacted Hawaiian music since foreign colonizers arrived on the island in the late 18th century, all bringing sounds from their homelands that would be adopted and mixed into the island's folk music. Hawaii's tourism boom of the 1930s popularized the island's music on the mainland while the 1940s and '50s found artists like Sol Hoopii crossing over to the pop charts by bringing jazz and big band music into the mix. Don Ho became the island's unofficial musical ambassador to the world with his easy-listening blend in the 1960s. The "Hawaiian Renaissance" movement of the 1970s favored traditional elements and traditional artists, but rock and soul music was still popular with the younger generation and remained influential into the 21st century. Besides a healthy rock scene, Hawaii is also home to a growing number of hip-hop artists who use the Hawaiian language in their lyrics. Jawaiian music - a mix of reggae and Hawaiian music - exploded on the island in the 1990s and introduced the artist Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Like many Hawaiian pop artists, superstar Kamakawiwo'ole - or "IZ" - borrowed from numerous popular genres while retaining distinctive elements from the traditional music of the island.