EKK: The Lingering After Scent of Kupaoa
Even before I open my eyes and roll out of the warm comfort of my futon, I am relishing the "sweet lingering after scent" of Kupaoa which is its literal translation. Kupaoa is the also the metaphor for a refreshing young haku mele duo who deliver original lyrics wrapped up in the sweetest blend of voices that seem to have found each other out of the sea of possible voices. Serious students of haku mele, Kellen Paik and Lihau Hannahs, brought to the EKK audience an insight into the process of composing meles as it works for them. Their delightful bantering as they talk about their music is reminiscent of how comedic duos play off each other's words - laurel and hardy, sonny and cher, jerry and dean, lucy and arney. Even their humourous comments seem to be interwoven as they very often are speaking together like the vines of the maile but taking turns being straight man and funny man.
Kellen could not resist telling how the two of them met…and met…and met…and met…and that she did not seem to remember him after five introductions. She came back at him that each time he told this story, the number of introductions grew in numbers. Their bantering was fun.
The past several weeks we have been blessed with the music, life's contributions and experiences and vast knowledge of life-long musicians such as O'Brian Eselu, Ken Makuakane, Peter Apo and Palani Vaughan, but it is heartening to see the aspiring haku mele like Lihau and Kellin who are serious students of the language of Hawaiian poetry and the weaving of lyrics with music. They study every aspect of the art of composing meles under the capable tutelege of scholar/musicians such as Puakea Nogelmeier. They have not learned their craft only by singing at backyard parties where oft songs morph into what they were not originally, but they research the pronunciation and interpretations of words and try to understand the multiple levels of meanings. They explained the importance of the proper pronunciation of the words because the slightest difference in the pronunciation can change the meaning entirely. Huapala.org was sited as a great source for the correct words, pronunciation, translations of the lyrics and melody.
However, the lyrics alone do not comprise their music for they adapt and interpret the songs, with all due respect to the original composer, to make it their own and make it fit their unique style of singing. Their presentation of beautiful harmonies is refreshing and entertaining.
Because the ukulele hour has become an hour in which everyone can participate along with the instrumental folks, the singing each Monday has started much earlier than in the past. Kellen and Lihau led the group into singing the beautiful strains of “Adios Ke Aloha” by Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku in a beautiful arrangement by Kellen. Lihau Hannahs talked about her lightweight compact upright bass which she claims is a very good investment for musicians who travel a lot. It looks like the “Twiggy” version of a full-bodied Dolly Parton-shaped upright bass.
“Kukuna o ka La” (The Rays of the Sun) by Roasalie Flores and Johnny Noble was their second song for everyone to sing. They definitely chose songs that show off their wonderful voice quality but it was adapted from the original because that is how Lihau originally heard the melody. Lihau then shared a different version of the song as sung by her own ‘ohana and her close friend Marlene Sai.
“Pili o ke ao” (Brand New Dawning), composed by Puakea Nogelmeier, is the title track of their CD. This song is based on a chant of a new version and longest-to-date epic tale of Hi’iaka and Pele. In the old Hawaiian newspapers, the stories were so long that they often ran on for years. Puakea Nogelmeier has been working for years on translating the legends in the old newspapers into English and assembling the entire story into one text. This particular song talks about name places in the Nu’uanu area.
To share songs about ships, they sang a medley of songs -- “Mauna Loa” by Mokihana Fernandez and Charles E. King and “Hula O Makee” by William Ellis. Uncle Verne Kauanui came dancing up the aisle to the hula about the ship that capsized on the reefs outside Kapa’a.
Their full-bodied voices blended together so beautifully in each song they sang; arranged with their own interpretation of the melody. “Hi’ilawe,” made famous by Gabby Pahinui, was written by Sam Li’a about Waipio Valley on the north shore of the Big Island. It speaks about the squawking of the “gossiping birds” that force the young lovers to retreat to the waterfalls of Waipio. “Ahulili” is a song about Maui. Kellen’s ha’i is pretty amazing; he can really hit the rafters.
“Halele’a” is the moku (district) on Kaua’i that goes from Kilauea to Ke’e beach and names places such as Manoa, a valley in Ha’ena in habited a couple of centuries ago by the tribe of menehunes. One day they all sailed off and no one knows where they went. In the early 1900’s census, many folks on Kauai still listed “menehune” as their ethnicity. One interesting point they shared is the name of the cave close to the Haena Park, Manini Holo.
Before the intermission young Axel Menenzes was introduced as the winner of the ukulele contest at the Waimea Town celebration. He came up with one of his prize ukuleles and played his winning song by Aldrine Guerrero. Everyone called for a hana hou so he played “Let’s Dance” by Jake Shimabukuro.
During the second half of the evening, Lihau and Kellen shared the different type of mele on their CD.
They talked about a mele inoa, “Kaha’ealeiakalewa,” with lyrics by Mele-Aina Dancil and music by Kellen. A song about special places is “Koamalu” about Bruce Wichman’s cabin in Koke’e which we never heard because the time ran out. A song about love describes the emotions of a groom when he sees his bride glowing with an aura from the sun behind her, written by Joseph Badis and music by Kellen. “Lei Mokihana” is Lihau’s song about Kellen and “He Mele Pana I’a” by Kellen is a lively fun song that focuses on the ongoing feud between pole fishermen and divers.
A peek into their upcoming CD, “English Rose” and the inspiration behind the title song was precious indeed. “E Ku’u Tutu”, my dear grandmother, was written by Mary Kawena Pukui who wanted to share her view of how special a grandmother is. When they performed this song, Mary’s daughter Pat Bacon walked up to them and told them she liked how they sang her Mother’s song.
Their mele ‘ohana, “Ka Maka O Ka Haku” weaves together the names of the eight children of Julia Kamaka and James Kahaku Paik in Anini and their family home under the big kamani tree by the bridge. The north shore was very well represented on this Monday night as Kellen’s aunties and uncles came up to the front to be introduced.
As aspiring haku mele, they have less than 100 songs but are diligently working at composing more songs. They shared the way in which they work to come up with new compositions…it’s definitely a collaboration between the two of them with Lihau focusing on the lyrics and Kellen working on the musical arrangements. Depending on the song, it goes back and forth between the two of them, each contributing their mana’o until the song is birthed. Some songs are composed completely by one or the other.
It was an evening of wonderful mellow new Hawaiian music. As one person put it, "Their voices together is way more than their voices separately."
Monday, March 2, Eric Lee will return to EKK with two musicians new to EKK, Wilfred Pave and Rodney Beger. We had a chance to see Eric backing up Palani with his amazing guitar playing and vocals; this time we get to experience his skills as a composer as he will share new songs.
(s) Carol Kouchi Yotsuda, www.gardenislandarts.org -- “Celebrating 32 years of bringing ARTS to the people and people to the ARTS”
E Kanikapila Kakou 2009 -- Hawaiian Music Program is funded in part by the Hawai’i Tourism Authority, the County of Kaua’i Office of Economic Development, and Garden Island Arts Council supporters. Space made available by Island School.
Garden Island Arts Council programs are supported in part by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through appropriations from the Legislature of Hawai’i and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.