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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 03/20/2007 : 1:46:24 PM
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I was wondering about this beautiful mele. I was listening to it done by Kindy Sproat from "Na Mele Kupuna". That is a most wonderful compilation, not just because of his wonderful singing (what a range -- and I really like "Owl's Lullaby!), but because of the talk story. When he talks about U`ilani, he says he visited Lena Machado when she was in intensive care in the hospital. He only knew that a friend said there was a lady in the hospital who wanted to hear some Hawaiian music. Being the kind soul that he was (is), he obliged. He sang a few songs, and then she asked if he knew U`ilani. He said, "Oh, after a fashion, and proceded to sing it for her. He said she had tears in her eyes the whole time. She then asked him if he knew who she was. He said he did not. She told him she was Lena Machado and that she wrote U`ilani for her grandchild. He said that the lovely song had such emotion that you just knew it was written by a doting grandparent. It was such a beautifully told story, I had no reason not to believe it.
However....
I have been reading Lena Machado, Songbird of Hawai`i by Pi`olani Motta (Auntie Lena's hanai daughter)and Kihei De Silva. In the book they say she was unable to have children. She wrote the song for a friend of her husband's from the police force. She wrote the song for their first child simply because they asked her to. In the book it talks about her being able to put herself in the place of soomeone else in order to write songs that had true depth of feeling. When you hear that song, you certainly would think it was written by a loving mother or grandmother.
I guess the whole point of this missive is that the best talk story aside, you really never know about a mele unless you go to the kumu.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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