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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
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Auntie Maria
Ha`aha`a
USA
1918 Posts |
 Posted - 10/09/2008 : 04:58:41 AM
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When in doubt, turn to huapala.org, but it sez:
"No ka betera nani a ke Akua
(For the beautiful house of God)
"Kapa `ia ka inoa Pu`uanahulu"
Named the standing light of life
...huh?? "betera" = house?????
So I went to the liner notes of Kindy Sproat's "Clyde Halema`uma`u Sproat Sings...", and mystery solved, I think.  For this phrase, his liner notes state:
"No ka Petera nani o ke Akua
(Beautiful Peter of the Lord)
"Kapa `ia ka inoa `o Keolamauloa"
(Given the name, "live everlasting")
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Auntie Maria
===================
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2008 : 06:24:33 AM
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| Auntie Maria: I think then in the context of the rest of the song, which is praising Pu`uanahulu, "Beautiful Peter of the Lord" makes no sense. Az y hahd. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2008 : 10:51:03 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Auntie Maria
When in doubt, turn to huapala.org, but it sez:
"No ka betera nani a ke Akua
(For the beautiful house of God)
"Kapa `ia ka inoa Pu`uanahulu"
Named the standing light of life
...huh?? "betera" = house?????
So I went to the liner notes of Kindy Sproat's "Clyde Halema`uma`u Sproat Sings...", and mystery solved, I think. For this phrase, his liner notes state:
"No ka Petera nani o ke Akua
(Beautiful Peter of the Lord)
"Kapa `ia ka inoa `o Keolamauloa"
(Given the name, "live everlasting")
Doesn't make sense that way. You wouldn't use "ka" before Betera/Petera if it was a person's name. Not sure what the house reference would be. I'll ask Larry Kimura, he's very knowledgeable about that side of the island. |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2008 : 12:42:29 PM
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"Betera" means "mo betta" (at least when I use it).  |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2008 : 1:24:05 PM
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| Actually, Craig, that is sorta what I had thought for the word as used in this context. By jove, I think you may be right! At least it sorta fits in. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2008 : 1:38:22 PM
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| Aue! I first heard this by The Gabby Pahinui Hawaiian band back in '78. It is beautiful. Brings back good memories. |
keaka |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2008 : 6:13:41 PM
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This has been fascinating. According to Larry Kimura, Kalamakūokeola was the name of the church at its original location in Kīholo, near the coast. It was later moved upland to Pu'uanahulu.
Betera is Bethel, a city near Jerusalem. It is Hebrew for "House of God". You must recall that the Hawaiian Bible was not translated from an English Bible - it was translated using Hebrew and Greek texts. I'm assuming at this point that the use of "ka" in front of Betera, which I thought was unusual because Betera would be a proper name, is because of the literal translation being "house of God" and not "the House of God", therefor the composer added the determiner "ka" for "the" to the literal meaning of Betera. Without the use of "ka", the reader may assume that Betera is the name of the chuch. Again, this is just my educated guess at this point, I may be proven wrong or change my mind tomorrow. :-)
Na ka Betera nani o ke Akua, kapa ʻia ka inoa (ʻo) Kalamakūokeola.
For the beautiful house of the Lord, named "The Light of Life."
I searched the Hawaiian newspapers and found a few references to "ka lamaku o ke ola". While I didn't find any that referred to the church specifically (only about 5,000 of the newspaper pages are text-searchable), I did find the phrase in a few places, and in the context it seems pretty obvious to me that the reference is to the "Light of Life" - Iesū Kristo.
BTW, the "Joe Maka‘ai" credited along with Larry for the translation on Huapala is Larry's late uncle, Joseph Maka'ai, who was from the Pu'uanahulu area.
I hope this adds to everyone's appreciation of this beautiful mele, it certainly did for me. |
Edited by - keoladonaghy on 10/10/2008 08:25:25 AM |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 07:00:27 AM
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Keola - thank you so very much for the research you put into this topic. You, sir, are the light! And what resources you have avalable to you! Now it all makes perfect sense.
This is, indeed, a most beautiful song. The tune is beautiful by iteself. I have heard so many instrumental versions of it. However, with the words, the mele is much more beautiful. I love to listen to mele pana. I find it most interesting to see what the haku mele had to say about the special place they are writing about. It gives one a glimpse into the song writers heart and mind at the time they wrote the mele.
Thanks, again, Keola, for helping us to understand the song and enabling us to accord it the mana with which it was written. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 09:28:53 AM
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| Mahalo e Wanda. BTW, there are inaccuracies in both the Hawaiian text and translation at Huapala. I've asked Larry to look at and correct the text as it was given to him by Uncle Joe, and I'll pass it onto Ka'ilani with the request that she post it. |
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