Musical Resistance to Settler Colonialism

Liko Martin

Another influential slack key artist who came to define the Second Hawaiian Renaissance was Liko Martin. Often compared to Bob Dylan, Martin’s music is a brilliant mixture of traditional Hawaiian folk instrumentals and politically-infused lyrics. Martin spent his formative years as an Air Force Clerk, and at the University of Hawaii during which he practiced the guitar, ukulele, autoharp and piano. After leaving the air force, Martin soon met the band Country Comfort from Waimanalo, and the group released an album. On this record was a collaboration with Thor Wold entitled “Nanakuli Blues,” (Changed later to Waimanalo Blues) Martin’s first major hit. 1

Wind's gonna blow so I'm gonna go
Down on the road again
Starting where the mountains left me
I'm up where I began

Where I will go the wind only knows
Good times around the bend
Get in my car, goin' too far
Never comin' back again

Tired and worn I woke up this mornin'
Found that I was confused
Spun right around and found I had lost
The things that I couldn't lose

Chorus:
The beaches they sell to build their hotels
My fathers and I once knew
Birds all along sunlight at dawn
Singing Waimanalo blues

Down on the road with mountains so old
Far on the country side
Birds on the wing forget in a while
So I'm headed for the windward side

Au of your dreams
Sometimes it just seems
That I'm just along for the ride
Some they will cry because they have pride
For someone who's loved here died

The beaches they sell to build their hotels
My fathers and I once knew
Birds all along sunlight at dawn
Singing Waimanalo blues 2 

This song, like many others written by Martin, touches on Indigenous Hawaiians’ relationship with land, increasingly threatened by United States private corporations and the tourism industry. 

Martin continued to be politically outspoken during the Hawaiian Renaissance as he became enmeshed in the PKO land battle as a singer-songwriter and activist. During his time with the PKO, Martin produced his famous anthem “All Hawaii Stands Together.”



Footnotes

  1.  Hopkins, Jerry. “Isle’s Troubador Liko Martin: Hawai’i’s Dylan?” Ha’ilono Mele 4, no.5 (May 1978): 1.
  2. Akaka, Moanike‘ala, et al. “Mary Maxine Lani Soares Andrade Kahaulelio.” Nā Wāhine Koa: Hawaiian Women for Sovereignty and Demilitarization, edited by Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, University of Hawai’i Press (2018): 93–122, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv7r42bc.8.
  3.  “Official Waimanalo Blues Lyrics, 2022 Version.” LyricsMode.com, March 27, 2012. https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/don_ho/waimanalo_blues.html