Kanakaʻole, or “Aunty Edith”, as she is commonly known, was a renowned practitioner of and authority on modern Hawaiian culture and language. She learned hula from her mother, who was instructed by the acclaimed dancer Akoni Mika.
Kanakaʻole believed that the oli, or Hawaiian chants, formed the basis of Hawaiian values and history. She started composing oli in 1946 and choreographed hula to go with many of her chants.
In the 1950s, she toured the contiguous United States, western Canada, and much of Asia with a hula group named after her daughter Nalani. She also founded her own hālau (hula school), Halau O Kekuhi.
Kanakaʻole assisted in the development of the first Hawaiian language program for public school students at the Keaukaha School in Hilo. In the 1970s, she created college courses and seminars on subjects including ethnobotany, Polynesian history, genealogy, and Hawaiian chant and mythology.
In 1979, she received the Distinction of Cultural Leadership award, the state’s highest honor. It is given to an individual who has made significant outstanding lifetime contributions to Hawai’i in areas of culture, arts, and humanities.
Edith Kanakaʻole died on October 3, 1979. Her teachings, beliefs, and practices are maintained by the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation (EKF), a Hawaiian cultural-based non-profit organization established in 1990.
