Protest songs – mele kūʻē, or songs of resistance – have a long tradition of in Hawaiian culture. Songs such as Kaulana Nā Pua, Ka Mamakakaua, Hawaiʻi ʻ78, Broken Promise, and Mele O Kahoʻolawe illustrate how Native Hawaiians have always used music to express what prose sometimes cannot.

Inspired by the on-going protest atop Mauna Kea against the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope, the band One Rhythm out of Hilo, Hawaiʻi, continues this tradition of mele kūʻē.

Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa is please to share Stand Up and Rise, an original music video by One Rhythm.

Meet the artists: One Rhythm

Stand Up and Rise, music video by One Rhythm

credits: video provided by One Rhythm, feature photo courtesy of Kahoʻolemana Naone