This essay concerns the activity of the Nisei amateur orchestras in Hawai'i after the Pacific War.
In the postwar period, there were more than 40 Nisei orchestras performing Japanese popular songs at events and parties held by and for Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii. Some of the orchestras also put on stage shows and produced many records. Of the few pieces composed by Nisei musicians, “Wakare no Iso Chidori, ” composed by Francis Zanami, became a big hit in Hawaii. A few years after it's release in Hawaii, a famous Japanese singer, OMI Toshiro, also recorded this song and his version became quite popular in Japan. Over the same period, several Nisei singers made their debuts in Japan as well.
The Nisei Orchestras flourished only for four or five years after the war. In that short period, they used music as a tool to express their confidence and pride as Americans of Japanese ancestry, as well as to reestablish ties with the land of their parents.
