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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 07/12/2008 : 06:59:29 AM
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Please, can any of you in the know help Paul and I with the lyrics of Hula o Makee.
The dilemma is discrepancies between the written versions in both Na Mele Aloha and on huapala.org, which are the same, with many of the sung versions on so many different recordings.
The book and huapala say:
`Auhea iho nei la `o Makee
A ka Malulani la e huli hele nei
Most of the recordings we have heard say `ia e -- at least I think that is how it would be written because the spoken or sung version is pronounced ya-eh. However, one version by Mike Ka`awa on his Hwn Boy recording clearly says "la e" as is one with Danny Akaka on Na Mele Hula Volume 1 and one with Dennis Pavao on Young Hawai`i Sings Old Hawai`i.
Since that is one of the songs the hula club dances to and for which Paul plays guitar and sings, he wants to make sure he is singing the song correctly.
Any kokua would be greatly appreciated.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2008 : 04:28:25 AM
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hi wanda,
keola d would be the source i would turn to (no pun) with huli hele ^_^) but i sing "la" meaning "there". my hawaiian is not great, but "ke huli hele nei" means "to be searching here and there", and so i translate, shakily:
A ka Malulani la e huli hele nei
as "The Malulani, there, searches here and there"
"ia" is the third person pronoun, and "e ia nei" is an affectionate term for your squeeze, which fits the kaona of the song.
perhaps this will spur some better comments...
aloha,
keith
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Edited by - marzullo on 07/13/2008 3:36:30 PM |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2008 : 01:05:19 AM
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| Keith, thank you for your help. Another knowledgeable friend has told me that la is the correct way. Goes to show you how the incorrect language can be used in a song and passed on from singer to singer unawares. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Peter Medeiros
`Olu`olu
546 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2008 : 05:14:57 AM
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The use of la is correct. In this instance la placed at the end of the phrase simply to provide rhythmic continuity. The interjection of nonsense syllables to create time is a common practice in Hawaiian poetry. La; la ea; e; ea; ea ea can be found in many songs and chants.
Form Hula Ku`i: Strophic = couplet-- each line is broken into two separate musical phrases.
`Auhea iho nei
la `o Makee?
A ka Malulani la
e huli hele nei.
Hula o Makee is a hula ku`i song, that is it is folk song which goes with a particular type of hula that was popular among the common people during the monarchy period and post monarchy. This style of music was highly participatory. At a gathering or a paina many people in the audience would either sing along or dance to the song because they all knew the most popular songs of the time.
The Makee was a metaphor for a woman who breaks up with her lover and just leaves cold without any clue as to where she has gone. The Malulani was the sister ship of the Makee. It went in search of the Makee and found it shipwrecked on the reef outside of Kapa`a Kauai. This song shares the same melody in part with another Ta Maoli. It wasn't uncommon for several songs to share the same melody -- copyright wasn't an issue in those days. The Makee was an interisland ship named after James Makee, he was a trader, rancher and whaling ship captain. He was also one of King David Kalâkaua's poker partners and buddies. He came to Hawaii in 1843 and died in 1879.
Makee Ailana is another popular song that uses Makee's name. It was a small island surrounded by brackish water in the old Kapiolani Park area near where the Honolulu Zoo is now located. It was a place where couples would go to be intimate. When they created the Ala Wai Canal in approximately 1922 - 1924 they got rid of Makee island. They drained the duckponds, lo`i, and swamp behind of Waikiki and Kapahulu to rid the area of mosquitos.
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2008 : 10:46:24 AM
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| Peter - thank you very much for your expertise and the mo`olelo. They are greatly appreciated. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2008 : 5:53:21 PM
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peter,
thank you... can you point to a good place to read about the different kind of hula at the level you discuss here?
i love the nonsense syllables thrown in for rhythym - it's use in "Koali" in the third verse, for example, just pushes the song along.^_^
on this song - as you might have guessed from my posting on the second couplet, i'm confused a bit by the grammar. in particular, why is the a-possessive "A" used to start it, and why is it "e ... nei" rather than "ke ... nei"?
on james makee, i ended up learning about him when i embarrassed myself asking a friend, when learning "Makee `Ailana", "how come it's pronounced 'makï' instead of "make`e"?
aloha,
keith
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 12:58:43 AM
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Kindy Sproat does a wonderful talk story about this mele on his Na Mele Kupuna CD. If you do not have that CD, I highly recommend it. Most every song on there has a talk story intro prior to the song. Most interesting is the story of Hula o Makee.
Also - very notable on the Kindy Sproat recording is the lovely 12-string guitar of Haunani Apoliona. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 07/16/2008 12:59:55 AM |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 01:57:36 AM
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Aloha e Kili,
Similarly, I've heard some people use ke ... ana as well. In my textbooks and on my CD's, I have learned that it's e ... ana, however.
E Keola... e kokua ia maua!
A hui hou,
na 'Alika |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 09:44:03 AM
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Mahalo to all for the info. I figure I'll stumble over the chords enough, and mispronounce enough words on my own; best to start with as close to a correct version as possible.
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 5:39:10 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by hawaiianmusicfan138
Aloha e Kili,
Similarly, I've heard some people use ke ... ana as well. In my textbooks and on my CD's, I have learned that it's e ... ana, however.
E Keola... e kokua ia maua!
A hui hou,
na 'Alika
I've heard all three - ke … nei, e … nei and e … ana. ke … ana does not make sense grammatically there. There is a grammatical structure where ke … ana is possible, but this does not match that structure. That leaves us with e … nei or e … ana. I believe that e … nei is correct, and this is how it is printed in He Mele Aloha.
Keith, as to why e … nei as opposed to ke … nei, it's the grammatical structure - the "ke" is replaced with "e" when the verb phrase is situated in this way. For example:
Ke 'ai nei au i ka i‘a. I am eating fish
'O ka i'a ka'u e ‘ai nei. The fish is what I am eating
Wanda, regarding "lā" - it is not always a meaningless syllable. Like "ala" it can also reflect a sense of distance from the person, place or thing that it follows. So in this, a ka Malulani la can imply that the ship is a distance from the writer at the time. Some people I know believe that the use of la and ala also implies that the item being talked about is at a distance but is visible. Others say no, just that it is at a distance, visible or not. I tend to lean toward the former interpretation but sometimes have doubts.
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 02:03:28 AM
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Keola - thanks so much for your expertise. I am sure you are quite busy right now.
And welcome home! When you get some time, talk story with us about your adventures down under in the land of the long white cloud. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Sarah
`Olu`olu
571 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 03:15:30 AM
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| Keith -- I think A is "and", signifying a continuing thought, not a possessive in this instance. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 04:03:17 AM
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I think important as well, is what Peter said above about breaking each line into two separate parts. That really changes the way the song is sung as follows:
A ka Malulani la (take a breath or make slight pause)
e huli hele nei.
as opposed to what I think I have been hearing on many recordings
A ka Malulani "ya" e
huli hele nei.
It seems that many singers attach the "e" quickly right after what should be la, as opposed to phrasing it with the huli hele nei part.
That is some trouble that Paul and I have -- even though we think we know how to pronounce the words, fitting them in the meter of the song is sometimes difficult. And then when what is written in the book differs from what my ears have been hearing on many of our recordings, then I guess my brain gets all discombobulated.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 07/17/2008 04:04:11 AM |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 06:46:54 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sarah
Keith -- I think A is "and", signifying a continuing thought, not a possessive in this instance.
I believe the "a" is the a possessive because of the 'e huli hele nei' verb phrase at the end.
'Auhea iho nei la ‘o Makee a ka Malulani e huli hele nei
It's difficult to literally translate the "a" there as a single word, but the phrase is "where is Makee (the island) that Malulani is searching here and there for". Sometimes you can use the possessive ka‘i "kā" in these kinds of sentences, but since Makee is a proper noun you can't. For example (and I'll simplify the sentence a bit)
Aia i hea ka mokupuni a'u e huli hele nei - Where is the island that I am searching everywhere for.
Aia i hea ka'u mokupuni e huli hele nei - Same translation.
Since Makee is a proper noun it isn't preceded by a ka'i (determiner), therefore you have to use the "a" form, what we refer to as an 'ami nono'a.
In spoken/written Hawaiian, there are some guidelines as to when you use the "o" and "a" possessive. In mele, you will commonly see "a" used when "o" would be spoken. For example, when inanimate objects (anything but people or animals) possess something, they use the "o" possessive. You'd think that the Malulani would fall into that category, but because it is in mele, and perhaps because the act of searching here and there is something that you would not normally attribute to an inanimate object, the "a" is used instead. |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 07:45:03 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
I think important as well, is what Peter said above about breaking each line into two separate parts. That really changes the way the song is sung as follows:
A ka Malulani la (take a breath or make slight pause)
e huli hele nei.
as opposed to what I think I have been hearing on many recordings
A ka Malulani "ya" e
huli hele nei.
It seems that many singers attach the "e" quickly right after what should be la, as opposed to phrasing it with the huli hele nei part.
That is some trouble that Paul and I have -- even though we think we know how to pronounce the words, fitting them in the meter of the song is sometimes difficult. And then when what is written in the book differs from what my ears have been hearing on many of our recordings, then I guess my brain gets all discombobulated.
Wanda, the example you pointed out is something I wrote about in my MA. The a'[] is something that can be added at the discretion of the singer. Somewhere along the line, and fluency in the Hawaiian language decreased, people would only mimic previous performances and did not realize that this was something that could be used to personalize a performance. For example, in one of John Almeida's song he sang the same verse twice, but it was different the second time.
Ka maile lau liʻi o Hiʻilawe
Ka maile lau liʻi a'o Hiʻilawe
When you hear him sing the first verse, you can hear a rest before the "o" in his first performance, and in the second, it phrases more smoothly. I believe that the addition or omission of the a'[] is purely aesthetic.
The a'e can also be added to the e that marks the beginning of a phrase, such as in A'oia:
'A'oia a'e lilo ana 'oe ia'u
It can also precede the "i". I don't recall hearing an example of this in the dozen recordings I transcribed of JKA, but have heard others. I've used it myself:
Ho'opumehana a'i ku‘u poli
In all of the examples I found, there is a pattern. If you look at the words or phrase after the o, e, or i, and count the syllables. If it is an even number of syllables, you can add the [a'] in front of the o, e or i and it will sound natural. The [a'] will also fall on a strong beat, which it should, and the first syllable following the a'o, a'e, and a'i will also. If there is an odd number of syllable, it will phrase oddly. I've heard at least one contemporary composition that tried this and the phrasing sounded very strange.
I'm not saying that people should do this at every opportunity. It's an 'īna'i - a seasoning. And too much seasoning can ruin the meal. But done once in a while, like changing an occasional "k" to "t" or "s" can have a profound affect on the performance.
In your example above of a performance from Makee, yes, you could add the a'[] in front of huli hele nei, because the way it is phrased when sung ne-i is heard as two syllables, to you can get the a'[] on a strong beat, hit the "hu" in huli on a down beat. However, I personally would probably try to keep it all in one phrase, and if you add the a'[] in this line, you'd probably have to rush through it, or sing the a'e at the end of the preceeding line. It can be done, but I would probably try to keep the phrase all together.
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Edited by - keoladonaghy on 07/17/2008 07:51:53 AM |
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Sarah
`Olu`olu
571 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 09:36:43 AM
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| Mahalo e Keola for explaining the possessive, I see how it fits now. |
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