Island reggae is the reggae tradition rooted in the Pacific — Hawai'i, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Māori Aotearoa. The direct musical ancestor is 1970s Jamaican roots reggae; the local additions are Pasifika choral harmony, imagery of island life, and phrasing in Māori, Samoan, or Hawaiian. New Zealand's Herbs, Katchafire, and Six60 anchor one wing; Hawaiian jawaiian (the local Hawaiian reggae) with Ka'au Crater Boys and Bruddah IZ (1959–1997) anchors another; and US west-coast Pasifika diaspora acts like Common Kings and J Boog carry it forward. Line-ups are typically two guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, horns, and multi-part vocal harmony, often adding ukulele or pahu drum.

Herbs formed in Auckland in 1979 with Samoan, Cook Islander, and Māori members. Their 1981 protest song 'French Letter,' against French nuclear testing at Moruroa Atoll, became a Pacific-wide anthem. The band grew directly out of the political climate following the 1974–76 Dawn Raids in New Zealand and the Pasifika civil-rights movement that followed. On the Hawaiian side, Ka'au Crater Boys and Bruddah IZ established the jawaiian template; IZ's 1993 recording of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World' became a posthumous global standard after his 1997 death.

On Herbs' 'French Letter,' five or six voices sing in tight parallel harmony rather than in isolated Marley-style lead-plus-backing — that density is imported directly from Pasifika choral tradition. Katchafire's 'Get Away' has a shuffle drum feel and bassline that would sound at home on a Kingston record; the fidelity to Jamaican roots is deliberate. Six60's 'Don't Forget Your Roots' folds Māori-language phrasing naturally inside English pop, which is the 2010s Pasifika R&B-reggae signature. Bruddah IZ's four-string ukulele on 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' produces a sound closer to Hawaiian soul than to reggae proper.

Herbs 'French Letter' (1981) as the political-anthem origin. Katchafire 'Get Away' (2003) as the roots-reggae fundamentalist form. Six60 'Don't Forget Your Roots' (2011) as the current NZ Pasifika R&B-reggae. Bruddah IZ 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' (1993) as the global jawaiian standard. Bright sun, or a coastal evening.

Bruddah IZ (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, 1959–1997) is the central figure of Hawaiian-Pasifika music. He suffered from obesity and diabetes his whole life and died aged 38. After his death Hawai'i lowered its state flag to half-mast; his body lay in state at the Hawai'i State Capitol for 22 hours and over 100,000 people paid their respects. His 1993 recording of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World' was released on CD in 1996 and slowly became a global hit after its use in ER (2001), 50 First Dates (2004), and other films — a rare case of a posthumous slow-burn standard. Herbs' 'French Letter' predates the July 1985 French bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour by four years, and was later re-read as prescient of that event.