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Makuakane
Aloha
USA
21 Posts |
 Posted - 11/06/2010 : 10:54:01 PM
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I just came across an old post on Public Domain in the Talk Story section and thought I would bring up something missing in the conversation. Here is the post I am referring to in that topic.
"The fallacy that the writer has the right to stop someone performing or recording a song is one that SHOULD be 'Put To Bed' so to speak..
Not wishing to take away from the writer's rights, they obviously are entitled to recompense for use of their intellectual property but they don't have an inalienable right to its usage."
I feel compelled to comment on this statement, because while this is true from the Westernized standpoint, it lacks credence from the cultural aspect. The book that I am currently writing finds its roots from this very subject. It is a sentiment that is echoed by just about every Hawaiian songwriter I have interviewed to this date.
For me, the lesson came when I was 21 and had just released my very first album, LP to be exact. One of the songs I recorded was Ka Lehua I Milia, written by Kawena Pukui and Maddy Lam. While promo-ing the album in Honolulu, we stopped by the Halekulani Hotel, because I had entertained there in the main showroom with Marlene Sai when I was still in high school. Well siting at the piano was none other than Maddy Lam. I was so excited as I waited for her to take a break. I approached her and told her that I had recorded her tune. She turned and started yelling at me. She said I had no right singing her song without her permission. The words were all wrong, the chords were wrong, the feel was wrong, the phrasing was terrible, and we sang it ugly. She told me not to ever sing any of her songs anymore, until I come to her to learn it the right way first.
I was shell shocked. From that moment on, I never recorded anyone elseʻs songs and began to write my own material.
Now, when you look at this story for face value, you may think that Maddy Lam was a total jerk and way out of line. But if you read between the lines, you will find that she was passing the Hawaiian values of respect and responsibility to me. During my interview with Robert Cazimero, I mentioned this story to him and he laughed saying that Maddy Lam had told him that story. Robert said that he too has come across those old folks.
Maddy (no one was allowed to call her "aunty" unless she said it was all right) carried the tradition that there is power in the word. If you read the Nā Pua No‘eau, it will say that the word brings life and the word brings death. She and tūtū Pukui were the "living resources" that carried the mana‘o of this mele. While she was living, she wanted to teach whomever was willing to learn from her the entire essence of the mele, because when she passes, then that person will carry her hā and ‘ike throughout their lives. They now have the kuleana, the responsibility as the next "living resource" to pass this mana‘o on to whomever is willing to learn.
There is so much to share regarding this practice as the haku mele or the writer. We are a people whose general tradition was to pass knowledge from one person to the next, from one generation to the next through oral history. The last vestige of this tradition is found in chant and mele, which coincidentally are the same thing.
So, if your intent is to just sing any song without paying royalties, which is why you are looking into recording public domain material, then there is nothing wrong in doing it. However, if you are interested in finding out what the song is saying, then it should be your kuleana to attempt to find the composerʻs descendants or older singers who may know the story or the composer. The craft of writing mele is like none other the the world. What a beautiful legacy our kupuna have left us. Are you willing to take the time to look them?
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2010 : 07:27:39 AM
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| Music is communication. That means that people should be understood, their songs should be understood. In a print-based, legalistic culture, it is easy to divorce the humaness and humanity from a person's endeavors. Because of historic circumstance, some cultures have preserved a more immediate humaness, being a couple three generations closer to the earth. Lawyers, plastic, pavement and supermarkets have insulated us from a lot of human experience. Cool that we can use the technology to learn and overcome our deficiencies. Jus' press. |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2010 : 11:39:38 AM
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Ken,
Thanks for dropping in to share your experience and thoughts. Nice to see the 'patch mentioned in your blog. Hope all is well with you and to see you soon.
Oh, FYI, Taropatch.net is not based in Seattle. Come to think of it, where is the 'patch based? Cyberspace? |
Andy |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2010 : 3:11:17 PM
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The timing for your post, Kenneth, is such a coincidence. Paul and I took a trip to West Virginia this weekend and were listening to a bunch of Hawaiian music on the 5-hour each way card trip. One of the songs we listened to was Na Leo singing "I Miss You My Hawai`i". We had talked about the fact that I want to learn to play this song on `ukulele and sing it, but I sure couldn't do sing it like the vocals in this Na Leo version. I mentioned to Paul about a video of you, Kenneth, singing your own song -- a video I saw on You Tube. Someone posted a comment on that video that Na Leo was the best group and the person was so glad they made the song, but that you did it pretty good, too. Me, being the mouthy one that I am, I just had to post a reply on You Tube about it that I for one was happy to hear the haku mele sharing his own version of the mele he so lovingly and artistically crafted. There is nothing as impressive to me at all as hearing the power in a song come through hearing the haku mele interpret it for us the way it was meant to be presented. To hear Kenneth sing his mele, to hear Dennis Kamakahi sing his songs, Liko Martin singing "Nanakuli Blues", etc. are gifts that I never take for granted.
Please don't get me wrong that I am dissing anyone (obviously all of us) who sings the songs of another. I love to hear Na Leo sing Kenneth's song....
but the true mana comes in hearing it from the haku mele's mouth to our ears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ZgsFvtFAE
The point you bring out Kenneth, is a point well taken. That can be why a very traditional mele can be "Lei Nani" as many of us have learned it.... or "Lei Lani" as may be the way the mele actally was written. And who knows how many other songs end up differently from how the song writer intended?
So...what I propose is that at the very least, every recording have LINER NOTES with the lyrics and maybe some talk story on how the mele came to be. I bet that's why there is a Na Hoku for that.
Thank you, Kenneth. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Legal Rights vs Kuleana
