In a conversation with a technician recently, she mentioned a type of music I never heard of. It sounds too interesting to ignore. Rather than try to describe it, I'll repeat the tale she told. It's more interesting that way.

Because of her father's job with the Peace Corps, she grew up all around the Pacific, usually out in the boonies. She liked to sing and even though she couldn't always pick up the language, she always learned the songs of the area she was in. She spent a lot of time in Laos and Guam. When she was 12 or 14, they moved to one of the smaller, less developed Hawai'ian islands. Exploring the area, she followed the sound of singing to a small house where some people on the porch were passing a guitar around and singing. She thought she'd done something wrong when she began scatting along with the music and they all stopped and stared. Finally, a woman said "This is old style music, different scale from newer stuff. Haoles can't even hear where the notes are, so how can you sing this?" She learned in Guam and Laos, of course. My question is: what is this music? What is it called? Is any recorded? What are the roots? Inquiring idiots want to know. Sorry the storey wasn't told any better. I did my best.