Kumulipo

Audience

The immediate audience for any genealogical chant was the family to which it belonged, as well as anyone the family wished to impress with the length and possibly the divine nature of its pedigree. In the case of the Kumulipo, the chant was performed and later published for a much larger audience than was usual—namely, the Hawaiian people and anyone else interested in Hawaiian culture—because of the social and political importance of the family in question.