| Author |
 Topic  |
|
ohanabrown
Lokahi
281 Posts |
 Posted - 03/19/2010 : 6:05:52 PM
|
Aloha, TP Ohana's.
It's been forever that I've posted here. Taropatch has grown and there are a lot of great talent, ( on youtube.) and very interesting subjects.
I came across a group on youtube ( Keaolani ) from Maui. I know two of them that live in Haiku. They sang a song called Lei Nani.( the title on youtube.) After hearing them sing I noticed they sang Lei Lani instead of Lei Nani. Back in October of 09 I went to a concert at the M.A.C.C. O'Brian Oselu sang the song and gave a brief history of this mele.
He said he talked to the composers family, It was a love song and for years and years people have been saying Lei Nani ( I'm included.) until I heard the story behind Lei Lani. Lei Lani talks about a high chief, Aiwohikupua, from Kauai and his desire for La'ieikawai who was a chiefess from Hawai'i and lived in the uplands of Paliuli.
On Huapala, it is said that the composer is Charles Namahoe. But, there's a source where I got my information. She said it was her grandfather who wrote the song and his name was Sam Kuni from Kula, Maui. The family believes that who ever recorded that song first, heard it from someone else and sang it as Lei Nani instead of Lei Lani. For what I've learned, I can see the confusion, and it's good to know the story so we can make the right changes.
Me Ke Aloha
Kevin
|
Kevin K. Brown |
|
|
wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2010 : 03:10:22 AM
|
Mahalo, Kevin. We just were discussing that particular video this week from my digest of you tube links. I was hesitant to put up the video because they very distinctly said "Lei Lani" and I was not sure about whether there would be a bunch of huhu about it. I have compiled a whole listing of videos from You Tube for that mele, which happens to be my all time favorite (especially since that CUTE Ocean Kaowili sang it for me once).
Here is my listing of what is available on You Tube. Keaolani's version is the only one that says Lei Lani, but that does not mean they are the ones who are wrong. From what I understand from folks like Amy Stillman and Kihei de Silva, it is not necessarily the person who wrote the mele who is on record as having been the haku mele. I have been told that in the past, specific arrangements were copyrighted and then somehow those copyright holders got on record as the haku mele. I know that Dr. Amy Stillman is quite busy with her educational observations. I hope that maybe she might be able to sqeak minute here or there to join us in sharing her mana`o. Also, folks like Peter Medeiros, Keola Donaghy, perhaps maybe you guys have some insight.
Should I be singing my favorite mele as Lei Lani?
Lei Nani
Derek Ho`okani Higa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BODYWx1PQ9U
Cyril Pahinui & Peter Moon, Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM7q-teUfe4
Keaolani – I notice on this version they call it “Lei Lani”. Also, the Ha`ina is different than any other version I have heard in my limited exposure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpsRdX2eRT4
Honoka`a High School May Day 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp2hkGBAXII
Ku`uipo Kumukahi, Joe Winchester, Isaac Akona, dancing by Karen Aiu’s Halau Hawai`i
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-KlDRqAlpc
Haunani Poai Kaui
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyTiXIY5AvM
Don’t know who at the Blue Bridge Bash 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekbgtcXCw1o
Keoki Kahumoku & Herb Ohta, Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc1fZhGdQ0U
Dan Sadler & Greg Mock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUdZtGXHkE8
Maunalua
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dLifuF_0AM
Here is another “I don’t know who”, but great hula, especially for an old Auntie like me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov2byZnaK8M
Kumu Kealoha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S72ptzFjFM
Aunty Diana Aki
Kalena Kai & Lei Nani
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTQbq5kys2A
Emily Abrigo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NunI_kf_32g
Konabob & Aloha in Motion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY0FpkYvY_Y
Fran Guidry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvjkWyDIM20
Kirby Keough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0NfCtTTsYw
Jesse Tinsley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg5_83o7fmk
|
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 03/20/2010 03:11:15 AM |
 |
|
|
wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
|
|
wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2010 : 03:56:36 AM
|
| In the He Mele Aloha book, it says that the mele is credited to Charles Namahoe who first recorded the song, but is based on Lei Lani by Joseph Solomon Kuni in 1929. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
|
|
|
slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2010 : 07:41:34 AM
|
| It's a steeler's favorite, because of the way it moves to a IV chord right away. I have fond memories of Uncle Tico Ka'eo teaching Gabby's intro (a lot like the intro to "Never On Sunday")to thumbs and Mike so we could do it at Folklife when Da Oddah Guyz were a trio of haoles with unco as a guest performer. |
keaka |
|
|
|
Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2010 : 08:57:32 AM
|
Hey Kevin-
Great to hear from you! Always a treat when you share your vast knowledge of Hawaiian song.
You around the end of April? Annie and I are coming to Maui on the 23-May 4th . Jack (Slipry1) will be there, too, for the Steel Guitar Festival on the west side the weekend of the 23rd of April..
Hope to see you, my friend.
Sending aloha to you and your family. |
|
|
|
ohanabrown
Lokahi
281 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2010 : 09:25:36 AM
|
Aloha, Mark
Call me I'll be on Maui until the Aloha Music Camp in Kona.
My aloha to Annie. Looking forward to the jam sessions.
Malama, Pono!
Kevin
|
Kevin K. Brown |
|
|
|
dr. cookie
Lokahi
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2010 : 10:00:18 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
In the He Mele Aloha book, it says that the mele is credited to Charles Namahoe who first recorded the song, but is based on Lei Lani by Joseph Solomon Kuni in 1929.
This is very interesting . . . I'm guessing that this song must have been written some time before 1929.
According to the note with the youtube clip, Johnny Noble recorded this song in September 1929. Odd, don't you think, that he'd already have messed up or modified the signature part of the lyrics if it had been written that very same year?
Noble also published it as "Lei Nani" in 1929 in his "Johnny Noble's Collection of Hawaiian Hulas and Songs." Again, it just seems unlikely that this is a 1929 composition (i.e., if Noble had already learned it as "Lei Nani," and he had already snagged it for publishing and a copyright). Would he have changed it FOR the copyright? Did he do that kind of thing?
I don't collect data on old recordings, so I don't know when/if Charles Namahoe recorded it . . . but I'd like to know . . .
All of Amy Stillman's entries in her database use the title "Lei Nani," credit Charles Namahoe, and indicate Noble as the earliest publisher of the lyrics. She has no entries for "Lei Lani" (or "Leilani" for that matter).
The Bishop Museum's archives include this song as "Lei Nani" in the Mader and Roberts collections, but nothing is indexed for "Lei Lani." One entry for "Leilani" is not the same song.
It wouldn't surprise me in the least that a song written as "Lei Lani" could eventually morph into "Lei Nani" . . . we've all seen how lyrics change over time and place . . . it's just hard to imagine that change happening the same year the song was written. Unless the change was intentional, in which case Noble's publishing and recording it as "Lei Nani"---both in 1929---is very interesting.
So, anyone have a clue as to how old this composition really might be? When might Sam Kuni have written this (or the Rev. Joseph Solomon Kuni . . . is this the same person?)?
Lastly: "Lei Lani" or "Leilani"?
I love a good mele mystery!
Don
|
Edited by - dr. cookie on 03/20/2010 10:01:38 AM |
|
|
|
thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2010 : 12:05:39 AM
|
| I heard Bill Tapia tell of "Hula Blues", credited to Johnny Noble, say that Sol Ho'opi'i actually wrote the tune and sold it to Johnny for $50. Selling tunes has been common in the past. |
|
|
|
wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2010 : 01:02:40 AM
|
Don - some good sleuthing you did! I love a mystery like this, too. But really, I think it is so cool that we question what's going on in a song we hear on You Tube, someone on Maui sees the same vid, knows the people involved, and they know who the tutukane was who wrote the mele, I mean that right there gives me chicken skin.
Sometimes mele were also given as gifts. If the mele was given then it belonged then to the recipient, not the haku mele.
I wish I had the wherewithal to really delve into this from Ohio, but auwe. When we next go O`ahu you can bet I am going to Bishop Museum. That place holds many wonders. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
|
|
|
ohanabrown
Lokahi
281 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2010 : 11:15:05 AM
|
Don and Wanda wrote,( Love a Mele Mystery.) Heres one I'd like to share.
3 years ago my dad was diagnosis with cancer, he was 83. He was at Kaiser Moanalua on Oahu for 1 week. They did different kind's of test that made him weak. One day I flew in to Oahu and visited my dad, I brought my guitar with me. My uncle who lives there was in the hospital he had his ukulele so we both sang our hearts out, my dad loved his Hawaiian music. I noticed as we sang each song they were getting older and older ,songs that were'nt to familiar. Then my uncle sang this song that I never heard before, he sang it twice to my dad and they both were crying at the same time. The song had only a few verse. I waited awhile and asked my uncle what was the name of that song. He said, "Waiehu Smiles" I looked at him and said I know just about all the songs that was written for Waiehu, but never heard of this one. My uncle said Daddy wrote it, I looked at my dad and he smiled, I told my dad when did he write the song, he said he was 14 or 15 years old. I told my dad we never, ever heard you sing that song before. He said because he did'nt finish writing the song, and he looked and pointed at me, You have to finish it.
That's why my uncle keep singing the same verse over and over. This is the verse my dad wrote. ( Waiehu smiles so fair and true, only for you, only for you, the people say pehea'oe W-A-I-E-H-U, wai-ehu.) I asked my uncle if he could sing it again, this time my dad sang along. That day was a priceless moment with my dad and uncle. This was May 27,07 he passed away June 27,07.
My uncle and aunty came for the funeral, my brothers and I and my uncle sang Waiehu Smiles for my dad. Before going back to Oahu, I took my unlce and aunty to a Luau show that my son and I perform at. On our break I was walking to the table where my family was sitting. I noticed on one of the tables there were a few local's sitting down, so I stopped and talked with them, they came from Oahu.
They were all brothers and sisters in there 70's and 80's, one of the sister's said we have family on Maui, when I was young my mother always sent me to Maui to stay with my grandma for the sunmmer. She said she use to run around with a few of the boy's and had a lot of fun. She said, when they would get together they always sang this song called Waiehu Smiles, and that she was a good friend to this guy who's name was Hale. I looked at her trying to hold back, I said what do you know about the song Waiehu Smiles? she said this guy she knew him as hale, he and his friends always sang the song, and thats how she knew the song. I looked at her and said, My father wrote the song, his name is Harry,( in hawaiian, harry is called, hale.) She said after awhile she lost track of everyone but could only remember one person and that was Hale. I brought my uncle and aunty over to the table and they ended staying there the whole night. I told the lady about my dad's passing, and how I had just learned about the story and song, Waiehu Smiles. On our way home from the luau I told my wife what are the chances of running into someone that knew my dad and the song.
I remembered what my dad said,( you have to finish it.) So I was on a mission. My dad was born april 27, 1923, so I figured 1937 or 38 he wrote the song, when I first heard it, the music sounded a little familiar, So I wanted to research it further. I did and found out in the 60's or early 70's a group called the Bunny Brown trio recorded a song called Keaukaha Smiles, and also found out there is a song called Kauai Smiles. I'm wondering now, maybe in that era, that melody was familiar all over the islands, and people just wrote there own lyrics, I wish I asked my dad more about the song Waiehu Smiles. I can see now, how the older song's can change in lyrics and melody. I'm still looking into to this and working on finishing the song.
Me Ke Aloha
Kevin
|
Kevin K. Brown |
|
|
|
wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2010 : 11:42:45 AM
|
Kevin - that is an amazing chicken skin story. But isn't amazing that the music can unite strangers? We will all be so happy to hear the mele when you are finished with it. Wow, its your kuleana now.
Gosh, I need my kleenex. You got me all misty-eyed now.
Mahalo for sharing that touching story with us. And may God guide your hand and your heart as you complete your father's mele. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
|
|
|
rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2010 : 12:38:49 PM
|
I guess he gave you a gift of memory. What a precious memory that will always be. No music I have ever been exposed to but Hawaiian has ever come with such wonderful stories.
Unko 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 |
|
|
|
dr. cookie
Lokahi
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2010 : 3:30:34 PM
|
Great story, Kevin, thanks for sharing it.
Is that the same "Keaukaha Smiles" recorded by Kapena? Just found their version at mele.com. If so, I can see how people in different places might want to make it their own. You may end up finding a multitude of verses floating around the islands . . .
It'd be especially grand to discover that the song started with your father, wouldn't it? At least you found people who specifically remembered Hale's version/verse, though!
Have fun with the unraveling the mystery of "Waiehu Smiles"!
Aloha,
Don |
Edited by - dr. cookie on 03/21/2010 3:31:44 PM |
|
|
|
wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
|
|
alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2010 : 06:02:32 AM
|
| Don't know if this has already been said, but I suggest you e-mail Ka'iu at Huapala and give the accurate information you wrote in your first post. Mahalo! |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Lei Lani
