 Aloha mai kākou, and welcome to another episode of Ukulele Songs of Hawaii. I'm your host, Walter Kauai-Ai'a. Today's episode will take us to the backside of Halea Kalao on the island of Maui, where we will share memories and talk story about my latest 2019 Huokai for my adult Hawaiian music and Ukulele students and classes, joining me to share in this amazing journey is my wife, Luwana Kauai-Ai'a. Aloha, Halewana. Thank you for joining me, my favorite person. Thank you for inviting me. Okay, so we're going to get right to it. We've got a lot of things to cover. But before I ask to show my first picture, I just want to give a general background. So I've been playing Hawaiian music and teaching for 50-some years traditional Hawaiian music. And as part of the method to really instill and to bring home the message behind the teaching of the different songs, et cetera, I usually do once a year, take all of my adult students, we do a Huokai, it's well planned out by the students, a lot of people involved. And we go to places, we meet with families of either the composers or for whom the song was written about. And that way it makes a real human connection. We talk a lot about making those human connections on my other show, Roots Hawaii. Anyway, so I'd like to, there was a picture that was, if I can, yeah, there we go. So that shot is back in Maui, in Hana. This is the Kahana Botanical Gardens. But what you're looking at off in the distance is one of the largest hails in all of Polynesia. This is the Pi'ilani Halehau. It's an agricultural hail. It's equivalent to a six-story building. And we were there in 1997, my wife and I, along with several of my students, to participate in the dedication. It was a 23-year process. What you saw there in that picture 23 years ago was just covered in shrub. And so I took a non-profit organization and a lot of volunteers 23 years to scale all of that shrubbery back so that we could enjoy what we see today. And the garden maintains that. Our second picture is just another shot of the Halehau a little closer up. This is kind of just a portion. And I'll show you our next picture there. Yeah, that's kind of special. You can hold that there for a second. So you're looking at this is where when Halao or people come to offer Ho'okupu to the Halehau. This is where they come. You can't see it here, but closer to the base there's a special rock that where gift offerings, Makana, is given to the gods and to the Halehau. So we participated there, gathered all my students. We had a number of Oli or chants that were performed and a dance and we sang and it was really special. I think we have another picture. Oh, there we are. Okay. So these are the two old fogies that you're seeing live on the show. But there we were taking a shot of the Halehau General Store. So yes, it's still there. And we shopped in there. You can buy some odds and ends. But I'm not too sure the history behind the Hasegawa General Store that wasn't on our tour. We just went there to pick up some last minute odds and end. Okay. I think our next picture there. Oh, yeah. I mean, we just, I think this is a selfie. So you can see the grading right behind us is a shot. And just as you get closer to the Halehau, you realize it, like I said earlier, it's equivalent to a six-story building, which is pretty amazing. I remember back in 1997, do you remember that experience we had? Yes, I do. So the lady that she's no longer with us, but she was, she ran the Botanical Gardens. It sits on the Kahandu family, Ahupoa. And on my Kawaii side, through my grandfather, Henry, were related to the Kahandu. And so she took a liking to my wife and I. And she, the ceremony was all through, and we got through playing music. And she took the two of us onto the backside, and we walked up the steps to the platform. And I think our next, there's another picture of an aerial view of that shot. If I could ask Eric, there it is. Yeah. That is the aerial shot of the P'ilani Halehau. You really can't appreciate its length, but it's equivalent to the length of two football fields. So that's 200 yards. That's enormous. Again, this is an agricultural Halehau dedicated to the gods for those purposes. And so if you ever have a chance to visit Hana if you've never been there before, it's a wonderful tour. They have a lot of historical things on the grounds itself. They have one of the largest collections of Ulu. They have the Ulu Grove, I believe. There's 300 plus Ulu trees taking up some 11 acres on the property. It's incredible. But they have every variety in the Ulu family there in the gardens. And so it's pretty amazing stuff. But one of the, you know, going back to my students, I've been teaching now traditional Hawaiian music to about 90 adults, comprising of people living on Oahu and on the island of Maui itself. And we've been doing Huakai since 2009. I've been in my 16th year. I'll be starting next year, my 17th year of teaching traditional Hawaiian music to these folks. And we're all getting older. So it's becoming a lot harder. Our first Huakai was on the big island. We actually did three separate Huakai to Mokokiawe. We divided it up into three separate quadrants. It was an amazing experience. And, you know, sometime in the future I might share some of that with you. And then we went to Molokai the following year. And then we did two separate Huakai to the island of Kaua'i. This year, this past September, we did our first of two to the island of Maui, this again being the backside of Haleakala. They are in covering the districts or the towns of Hana, and then on to Kipahulu and then on to Kaupo. And so that covered a period of Thursday, Friday, I think two full days of Huakai. And it was very exciting. But, you know, before I get into the next set of pictures, this really brings home and throughout the course of the year, as I'm having classes and teaching my students, I constantly remind them about how important it's going to be when you get to these places and meet the families for whom these songs are written for or about. It'll never be the same again, because you'll have that source of reference, that imagery in your mind when you sing the song going forward into the future. They've been with me long enough. They've experienced all of these different types of Huakai. So they know. Our next picture there, Eric. Okay, so we're still in Hana. And I think this is Thursday evening. We're leaving the next morning to go to Kipahulu. But that's my wife and myself, and I hired the space player, a local brother from Hana there, to join us that evening. We were asked to play in the main dining room. And it was great. The dining room was packed. Half of it was my students, because I required it of them. And the rest were made up of hotel guests and people from the Hana community. We had a great time that evening. It was wonderful. Let me ask you, Luwana, you've gone on almost every Huakai that we've gone on. Can you remember? I remember the one that we did in your Oni Hana of Kohala. Was there anything special that you remember, perhaps about that or anything else? Well, that is the land of my birth in Kohala. So it was very special because we did the Kohala Kumu Otur. Kohala Kumu Otur. And each of the locations, as I was growing up, was of great importance to me. But especially nearing the end when we were at Polulu Valley, overlooking Polulu, we sang this song that the students were not aware that we were going to do this for them. And it was called Lovely Is Kohala. We danced, as my husband sang. And here we were sitting on the edge of a precipice that went down into Polulu. But we were on the Sprout Family property. That was my uncle Dale's family. And it was so beautiful. And when we performed, you couldn't see a dry eye there. It was so beautiful because they were looking at the surrounding area, which is absolutely gorgeous in Polulu Valley and the whole area of Kohala. And as we danced and we sang, they internalized that. Like in all of these, that we go on. And when we teach the songs, well, actually my husband, when he teaches the songs, they internalize it. And so it's extremely important for the individual who is learning because then it becomes a part of who they are when they sing the song again. And that was one of the songs they learned is Lovely Is Kohala. From that point on, they learned that song. I didn't mean to put you on the spot, but thanks for sharing that. And as she was describing that, so any of you that have been to Hawaii Island on North Kohala, you know that when you travel the Okonepuli Highway, it ends there at the lookout at Polulu Valley. When you're standing there, on a beautiful day, Polulu is on the, I guess we'd call it the western end, northwestern side of Hawaii Island. And then between Polulu, all the way going down the Hamakua Coast through Waipio, I believe it consists between Polulu and including Polulu and Waipio Valley. There are a total of 12 or 13 valleys. And in ancient times, these valleys were occupied with Hawaiians who lived there. You might say, you know, when you look at the pictures of that coast and you look at these valleys, we think today, why would anyone want to live there? Well, it's a different time. None of us would want to live there because we're so used to the nature of the environment that we live in. You know, we're city folk. And our country folk, this is a different kind of country from back in those days. But why would the Hawaiians want to live there? For a couple of reasons. They had the ocean. Hawaiians depended on the ocean for food, source, and they were close enough to the water supply that those Kohala Mountains brought to them. So it was really the perfect setting. So I'm going to ask my wife, we're almost up to our break time. She's going to share a story. So we go down to Kippahulu. Actually, I'm going to ask my Eric if he could put up the next video. I think this, I'm not video, but a picture. Okay. So before we left Hana, we sang a song, Waikaloa, composed by John P. Lenny Watkins. And this is what you're looking at is the area known as Waikaloa. And that lady sitting there with a beautiful red outfit on, her name is Mahno Smith. And she is family to the composer of that song, John P. Lenny Watkins. And she lives there and grew up there. Generations of her family. And our next picture there, Eric. Okay. So before we go a break, I wanted to show this. We're in Kippahulu now. And we're standing outside of a church. The name of the church is called Palo Palo Omao. And the people that are joining, my wife and I, off to my right, you're looking at it, your left, is a gal by the name of Faun Helakahi. And she's part of the family and she knows the story behind this particular song. And so we're going to take a 60-second break when we come back from the break. My wife is going to share a portion of the story that defines Kamakani Kaili Aloha, which in Hawaiian translated means love snatching wind. It's a beautiful story that Luana will share with us and we'll come back from the break. She'll do that. And then following her sharing of the story we'll talk a little bit more and then she and I will sing a song live. And so this year on Ukulele Songs of Hawaii, your host, Walter Kawaiaya, and joining me, my lovely wife, Luana, will be back after this short break. Aloha, my name is Becky Samson and I'm the host of It's About Time. On the Think Tech Hawaii, a digital nonprofit organization that's raising public awareness. Join us on Wednesday at 2 p.m. where we talk about real issues. Some of the topics will include entrepreneurship, health, life skills and growing your business. So once again, this is Becky Samson on It's About Time. On Wednesday at 2 p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii. Mahalo. Aloha, I'm Jane Sawyer with the Small Business Administration and one of your hosts for Adventures in Small Business. A partnership with Think Tech and with the Hawaii Small Business Development Center, the MINK Center for Business and Leadership and the Veteran Business Outreach Center. All serving small businesses in Hawaii and telling you the story about their strategies, their ideas, their drive and the way they help Hawaii succeed and be a bright light in small business. You'll find it here every Thursday at Think Tech. Thanks for joining us and we hope to see you soon. Aloha mai and we're back talking sorry with Luwana and recounting this year's Huokai 2019 here at Ukulele Songs of Hawaii. I'm your host, Walter Kawaiaya. So before the break we're just kind of you showed you a picture there of the frontage of this little Hawaiian church called Palo Palo Omao and just for reference the church sits on the Lindbergh, Charles Lindbergh property and his Charles Lindbergh's granddaughter, Erin Lindbergh, lives there and she manages and takes care of the property and she allowed us to come that day at Friday morning and to pack, we literally pack the inside of the church. We sang a couple of spiritual songs and brought everyone to tears and so then I introduced Erin she shared a little bit about the place in the background and then I introduced this wonderful Hawaiian lady Juan Helakahi who gave us a tremendous insight into the composition of this particular song Kamakani Ka'ili Aloha that we're going to sing for you in a little bit but I'm going to ask Luwana if she would share the story of the love Thank you. This is a story it's told of a young girl and boy who grew up caring for each other and eventually marrying they lived happily for many years and the woman grew restless and desired to end their relationship the man was torn because of his love for his wife so he sought a kahuna who counseled him on what to do he was to take an ubeke a gourd which was cut in half and to place in it all the important mementos of his love for his wife and to take it to the beach and let the umeke go along with his sweet memories of his beloved as fate would have it the woman was walking along the same beach and saw the umeke in the ocean she picked it up and opened the cover and suddenly a brisk wind Kamakani Ka'ili Aloha a matching wind enveloped her and as she looked in the umeke she recognized the mementos of her husband her beloved husband and suddenly that familiar feeling of love overwhelmed her and as she saw her husband their love was rekindle so we share with you the song Kamakani Ka'ili Aloha not bad one oh my goodness you know while I was singing or we were singing that song together I couldn't help but reflect back on the message behind the song and you know I think there's a message for all of us today I think we all know people if not ourselves we know people couples that have perhaps the love has fallen out of the marriage because for anybody we've been married for 47 years and it takes work you raise three children we have five grandchildren and one great grandson it takes work and sometimes in the process of raising those children as this couple did back in Kippahulu very easy to forget about those early days you know when you fell in love and so that's part of the process we all have to work to always rekindle and do those things necessary to do that so there you have it Kamakani Ka'ili Aloha the love snatching win I guess that would mean that from the result of the story the way the story ends there's always hope there is hope and so make sure brother man you don't have to go get one Umeki and put all of the memories inside and hope she's on the other end of the beach you know high risk on that one alright Eric our next our next picture there okay so there it is this is a sign and this is pretty cool this is recent they have these signs that indicate in this case you're entering into Kippahulu it says Ka'ina o Makani Ka'ili Aloha land of the love snatching wind of Kippahulu so perfect and now you know we journeyed after that time at the church there we all left and we were heading out about a 45 minute drive to our next destination which was the Hu'i Aloha church out in Kippahulu and so let me just give you a little background my family the Kawaii'ia family comes from that area so my great great grandmother who she was a direct descendant of Kekalike and his son Ka'ikeeli and the area in in Kaupo known as Mokulao there's about a 27 acre property right there on the ocean side that is the Kawaii'ia family property it's maintained by my cousin Sam Aina Sam's mother was anti-jenny Kawaii'ia and I believe Sam is cousin Sam is the only human being that lives in Kaupo today and you can see his home because it's very distinct of Moka because there's no other homes on that back side of Haleakala well he has two other there are two other homes but they're his homes you know and he has children but none of them live there some live in Hana and some live in the Wailuku area and so we journeyed because we left the church and off to Kaupo I could ask Eric I think there it is that's Mokulao and there's Hu'ila'ua church and that whole property that 27 acres is the Kawaii'ia property now the historical significance of that place that is the closest point from the island of Maui to the island of Hawaii so if you if we were standing there looking across you would see Hawaii Island and that during the 1700s that was in all the and battling what was going on between the Kohala chiefs and the Maui chiefs that was the route that was taken on both sides our next frame there okay so we're going to pause there for a second because I know our time is getting close so we we gathered there we got into the church and my cousin Sam shared the history that I just shared with you about the place and how he he's committed his life his retire he was in the military traveled all over the world again he's the only human being that lives in Kaupo and trust me when I say this if you've not been to Kaupo there's literally nothing there there's no store there's no gas station so he's very well taken care of he knows he knows how to survive and he knows how to live out there and we had a nice time and so we shared and I invited we're going to close out our show very shortly with a video it's about three minutes long but it's I taught my students a song that my mentor Kahawana Lake wrote so in that last shot you saw we were looking up at the back side of Haleakala that area is known as Poo Lani about 47 acres and that 47 acres belong still does belong to the Lake family and so I taught them this song and the idea we were going to perform it there just outside of the the Huyaloha church because you can't physically get up to Poo Lani so you're just looking at it and so I asked excuse me I asked a very dear friend Akumahula who lives in Maui she's a Lake biologically her father was John Keola Lake who I knew very well grew up with that family know them know all of them well and I asked Sissy and her halal some of the dances from her halal if they were willing to come out and she was more than willing and so were the dances and I know how this works because when they learn a new song like she did three years ago or at least to choreograph the hula they always look for a place to take their students to the actual location so they can connect as they learn the hula and so this was the occasion for them and so I'm going to ask I think we're close to our time so I'm going to ask Eric if he would you're going to be watching it's a 3 minute and 41 going to hear music and my students myself playing and the halal dancing the title of the song is Kaupo That was lovely thanks for allowing us to share that I know we've run over time folks and so once again we're out of time we hope you've enjoyed our talk story time about Dishio's Huokai to the backside of Holiakala and the historic Wahi Panna of Hana Ki Puhulu and Kaupo join me next time on another episode of Bukalali Songs Over Way until then everyone take care Allah knows