Hawaii - Music and Performing Arts

Hawaii is indelibly associated with hula, the story-telling dance style invented on the island of Molokai. Every spring, the Big Island city of Hilo celebrates hula at the Merrie Monarch Festival. The week-long event includes art exhibitions, craft fairs, hula lessons and performances, a parade and a three-day international hula competition.

The Annual Ukulele Festival, every summer in Waikiki, showcases Hawaiian music’s signature instrument, invented there in the 1880s. The festival includes free concerts by world-class ukulele players and an all-ukulele orchestra.