Hawaiian culture has always been preserved in song. The Hawaiians, through the haku mele (royal chant writers), recorded their genealogy and history in chants passed from generation to generation. H.R.H. Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii's last reigning monarch, was descendant of a line of the greatest haku mele. She was also in the first generation of Hawaiian royalty schooled in western ways.

It was Liliuokalani, with her strong attachment to her Hawaiian ancestry and her acquired knowledge of western music, who blended the two into the beginnings of Hawaii's distinctive modern musical style. In her life, which witnessed great sadness from the political changes endured by her and her people, she created a body of work of over 160 songs of great eloquence and beauty. She was simply the greatest Hawaiian composer of the 19th century.

These songs are a lasting legacy by Hawaii's beloved queen, who also left her people with a pride in their nation and an abiding devotion to justice. Let this music perpetuate her memory as a woman who embodies what it means to be Hawaiian.