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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 10/27/2011 : 12:55:08 PM
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Dennis David Kamakahi and Stephen Inglis have made an absolutely amazing CD "Waimaka Helelei". The music is superb, but the story they tell, the people they celebrate, oh my goodness, it gives chicken skin, it makes you cry, it makes you smile and feel good, it makes you rage in anger at the horrible things that happened to these people, the people with mai lepela. I will go on record as saying this is the most emotional and magnificent Hawaiian recording I have heard. It does what Hawaiian mele have always done and it does it so well. The mele tell stories, they tell the histories. Thank you Margaret Mallett Rhodes (Marggrace) for getting the CD for me from one of the California performances by Dennis & Stephen. Thank you, Dennis for your music, your kind soul and your mana`o. and thank you Stephen for music and for all the people you thanked on the cover of the CD. It is a very beautiful and emotional listening journey. If you do not know the history of Kalaupapa, I would suggest you get Henry Kalalahilimoku Nalaielua's amazing autobiography "No Footprints in the Sand" and learn his personal horror and his personal triumphs. And make sure you get the CD. http://stepheninglis.com/waimakahelelei/
When I talked to Dennis about the title mele being in a major key with a happy sounding melody, but from the lyrics I read before I heard the music, I expected a minor key and somber sounds, he explained:
When I sat with a terminally ill woman patient at Kalaupapa in 1975, I saw in her a deep happiness radiate from within. She had no arms, no nose, but a bright smile and when I finished singing a song to her she smiled and applauded with what was left of her arms. Two stumps that the Disease had left to her. Yet, the sound of her applause was louder than the sound of thunder. I was overcome and burst into tears. She had shown me that she accepted her deformity and her soul was about to be released. She passed away that day. And so the song is a joyous one because I knew that in the next world she would be whole again. And that changed my life. There is no sadness in a place built on it. There is only hope and faith.
After reading Dennis' explanation, I cried. It touched me so much.
You won't ever hear me complaining about heart disease or diabetes or kidney disease ever again.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 10/27/2011 3:45:18 PM |
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Dennis Kamakahi & Stephen Inglis - Waimaka Helelei
