There is a bittersweet longing in Aloha ‘Oe (Farewell to Thee). It was written by Queen Lili'uokalani of Hawaii in 1877, after seeing the farewell embrace between an American colonel and his Hawaiian girlfriend. Sixteen years later, Queen Lili'uokalani was deposed by American pineapple and sugar magnates, with assistance from the U.S. Navy. She was not a bad ruler. She just had the audacity to push back against the increasing power of the U.S. companies and draft a new constitution which would give more rights to Hawaiians who were, well, from Hawaii. This was unacceptable.
Hawaii became a “republic” controlled by the United States, and then they stopped pretending and just made it a territory. Queen Lili'uokalani never abdicated. She was placed under house arrest for five years, during which time she wrote her autobiography and a songbook’s worth of music in Hawaiian.
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