Kaulana Na Pua

[Leo Lakio]

Sizing up reactions here...

If you are aware of the meaning of this song and the history behind it, how does this song make you "feel"?

Does it offend you? Do you swell up with pride, or perhaps righteous indignation? Does it generate any feeling whatsoever in you? Do the song's lyrics resonate with you at all, or do you just find it to be simply a lovely song?

[Miulang]

It's a sovereignty song, written at a time right around when Hawai'i was in the process of being annexed by the US government. When I hear the melody to this song, it sounds more like a lament (I know it's been characterized as a hymn).

When I read the words, it reminds me that as long as this song is played, then there is still life in the words, even though realistically, it would be very hard today to envision a time when Hawai'i could become independent again.:(

Miulang

[Miulang]

I found this very interesting comparison (http://socrates.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Humanities/chock/lit484docs/nationalism.doc) of the sentiments behind Kaulana Na Pua v. Bruddah Iz's "Hawai'i '78".

Anybody who cares about the kanaka maoli should be aware of the symbolism associated with both these songs and why they are still so important to the kanaka maoli and their friends.

Malama 'aina.

Miulang

[Leo Lakio]

Here's what it's about:

As many of you know, I have a variety of involvements with Hawaiian music - playing and singing with a halau & other groups, hosting radio shows, and programming the music mix that plays throughout the Islands (airports, hotels, malls, restaurants, etc.)

My concerns regarding "Kaulana Na Pua" were about what I would call appropriate usage, particularly in the last case. Knowing that our music mix is heard in so many places throughout Hawai`i, by everyone from tourists (who likely know absolutely nothing about the song) to kanaka and knowledgeable locals (whose emotional responses I was asking about), I really wanted to give serious consideration to whether or not the song should be in the program. At present, I found three instrumentals and one vocal version in the program (not all placed there by me.)

I started discussing this with co-workers, as we have similar talks about Christmas songs every year - how are people, both those who celebrate Christmas and those who don't, affected by the music they hear. Believe me - the emotional power of music is a key factor to our programming choices. Most of the co-workers I talked with did not know the story behind the song, and had trouble understanding my dilemma - which made me decide to expand the discussion to folks like yourselves. The discussion at work will be widened as well.

Before consulting with you folks, I was thinking "remove the vocal version, but leave the instrumentals in - since they have no lyrics." However, just like with most popular Christmas songs, hearing an instrumental will still remind you of the words (assuming you already know them), and will still trigger the same emotional response. Tourists wouldn't know, but many locals would. Since the overall response I've heard from people (on this and other discussion boards) leans strongest towards sadness, then anger, I've decided to remove the instrumentals as well.

Those are not the emotions we want our programming to inspire (and yes, we think about these kinds of things every day, with all our music programming.) I'm still comfortable playing the song on the radio, since there, we can put it in context.

Thank you all for your input.

[Miulang]

The saddest thing is many people don't care to learn about the lyrics of traditional Hawaiian songs. There is so much kaona written into the songs that you would miss if you just enjoyed the melodies. And the kaona part is what makes traditional Hawaiian music so special.

If the Grammys ever have a second category for Hawaiian music, I hope it's for traditional Hawaiian music (meaning vocals in 'olelo). That way, when people buy the CDs, they will see the words translated (as well as the Hawaiian) on the liner notes. And it will encourage more Hawaiian artists to write songs in Hawaiian and thereby spread knowledge of the language.

Miulang