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Sarah
`Olu`olu
571 Posts |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
 Posted - 02/26/2007 : 12:29:55 PM
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Wonderful articles, Sarah, thanks.
I think the first article with its comments about making it your own should spark real thought and lively discussion. For years I've been saying that I think we need to develop our own "slack key" - that may end up being very individual, or it may end up with some features that become typical of "mainland" slack key. I do know that I will never be able to appreciate the world through the eyes, and ears, of an island person. Urban slack key. Interesting idea. Too much rambling. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2007 : 1:11:19 PM
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When we attended the hula workshop here in the Cleveland area a couple of weeks ago, kumu hula Mapuana DeSilva said that she teaches exactly as her teachers taught her, no embellishments, no changes. Her kumu was Maiki `Ai Lake. Mapuana is very strict. Questions during the session??? Better be careful. She said before you ask a question, question yourself. Does my question have to be answered at this moment? Can you answer the question yourself? Does it really need an answer at all? Kihei would occasionally offer his insights into the mele as the students were resting on the floor, taking a water break. He spoke of how he came to write the song "Hanohano Wailea" and how he got Uncle Moe to write the music for it. It is about three mountains on the windward side of O`ahu, with one mountain standing a bit further way than the other two, because he wanted to be close to his sweetheart. He wrote the song when he was wooing his sweetheart, Mapuana. Her family just moved to that area and he decided he needed to move there, too, to be close to his sweetheart. He also wanted the kahiko place names to be remembered before they faded into oblivion. He got Uncle Moe to write the music by showing him the mele and asking him if he could please write the music. Uncle Moe told him he doesn't write music. Why you bring the song to me? A few days passed and Uncle Moe called him and told him the song was done. Kihei was very astonished because he thought Uncle Moe was not interested. Moe told him that he woke up one night in the middle of the night and had the idea for the tune in his head. He got up and wrote it quickly and called Kihei first thing in the morning. Auntie Mapu also told the students that their pa`u skirts should not be pulled down to their hips, they should be at the waist, and that you always tuck in your shirt -- no t-shirts hanging over the waist of the skirt. And you always pull it on over your head, never from the feet up. This workshop taught me self-control, and respect. It taught me patience. It taught me how fragile the dances area. Some of the dances are like when you were kids and played "telephone". By the time the hula movements for a mele got passed down from teacher to student, and on and on, they somehow varied. She is dedicated to keeping those given to her by her kumu as pure as can be. How fortunate we were to share her and Kihei's mana`o.
Mahalo nui loa Uncle Kihei and Auntie Mapu. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2007 : 2:22:10 PM
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It is interesting that one of the articles was mostly about Uncle George Na`ope. Sarah and I have a video of him in which he insists that haku mele and kumu hula should create songs and dances about current life. He said that's what their predecessors did and that's what everyone who is serious about doing this should do as well. So, go ahead Raymond - urban slack key. And that is why Sarah's current mele and composition in D Wahine is about Konekikuka (Connecticut). But, it must be done in a pono way with the proper form, suitable technique and protocol.
...Reid |
Edited by - Reid on 02/26/2007 2:24:48 PM |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2007 : 3:22:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sarah
and the other about a new hula magazine coming out of Hilo that aims to present articles by actual practitioners of hula, voices of the kumu themselves:
http://www.kaiwakiloumoku.ksbe.edu/recipe&reviews/humumoolelo.php
Amazing magazine - I believe there are only two issues out to date, and I picked them up in Honolulu last month. |
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hawaiianmusiclover06
`Olu`olu
USA
562 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2007 : 8:02:38 PM
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Mahalo nui loa for sharing those two articles with fellow taropatchers Sarah. They were quite interesting and I learned a lot from reading those articles especially how to make a lei.
Alana :) |
Aloha Kakou, maluhia a me aloha mau loa (Hello everyone, peace and love forever) |
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