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Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch of Hawaiʻi, was also a prolific songwriter. Imprisoned in ʻIolani Palace in 1895, she wrote Kuʻu Pua i Paoakalani about the flowers a supporter brought her from her garden, wrapped in the newspapers she was forbidden to read.

Liliʻuokalani

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The story behind the card

Liliʻuokalani came to the throne in 1891. In January 1893 a group of American and European businessmen, backed by US troops, overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom. After a failed rising to restore her in 1895, she was arrested, forced to abdicate and held in an upstairs room of ʻIolani Palace for about eight months. Denied political news, she followed events through the newspapers wrapped around the flowers. She wrote more than 150 songs in all, including He Mele Lāhui Hawaiʻi, the kingdom's national anthem from 1866 to 1876, and Aloha ʻOe (1878), still one of Hawaiʻi's best-known songs. The United States annexed Hawaiʻi in 1898.

Türkçe oku
Hawaii'nin son hükümdarı Liliʻuokalani, aynı zamanda çok sayıda şarkı besteledi. 1895'te ʻIolani Sarayı'nda tutsakken yazdığı Kuʻu Pua i Paoakalani, bir destekçisinin ona bahçesinden getirdiği çiçekleri anlatır. Çiçekler, okuması yasaklanan gazetelere sarılı gelirdi.

Liliʻuokalani 1891'de tahta çıktı. Ocak 1893'te ABD askerlerinin desteğini alan bir grup Amerikalı ve Avrupalı iş insanı Hawaii Krallığı'nı devirdi. 1895'te onu yeniden tahta çıkarmak için başlatılan ayaklanma başarısız olunca kraliçe tutuklandı, tahttan çekilmeye zorlandı ve ʻIolani Sarayı'nın üst katındaki bir odada yaklaşık sekiz ay tutuldu. Siyasi haberlerden uzak tutulduğu için olup biteni çiçeklerin sarıldığı gazetelerden öğrendi. Toplam 150'den fazla şarkı yazdı. Bunlar arasında 1866'dan 1876'ya kadar krallığın millî marşı olan He Mele Lāhui Hawaiʻi ile bugün de Hawaii'nin en bilinen şarkılarından Aloha ʻOe (1878) vardır. ABD, Hawaii'yi 1898'de topraklarına kattı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Liliʻuokalani
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