E Kanikapila Kakou: It's all about connecting...

April 9, 2007 at Island School

	Phyllis Albert from Center for European Studies at Harvard Kenneth Makuakane, Tasha Makuakane, Marty Albert from Boston University. Photo by Anne E. O'Malley.

Kenneth Makuakane got a headstart on his EKK night when he dropped in to the Princeville Resort "Living Room" on Sunday night where Mauli Cook was celebrating her birthday with members of her hula halau and ardent fans, many of whom were EKK "snowbirds" trying to stock up on Hawaiian music and culture before they took off back to the mainland.

Following Mauli's sunset storytelling with hula and chants, an attraction which happens every Sunday in the "Living Room", Hula Halau Papa Laua'e O Makana dancers filled the large room with a spontaneous seemingly endless marathon of hula danced to the sweet sounds of Pacho Graham and Kirby Keogh.

Ken was thrilled when he recognized the musical stylings of "Pacific Tunings", a CD by Na Pali, comprised of Pancho, Carlos Andrade, Pat Cockett, and Fred Lunt. Ken was delighted when Pancho and Kirby sang "Na Pali Outlaw", his favorite song on the CD written by Carlos Andrade. Musicians, like visual artists, enjoy meeting other artists whose work they know and admire. Pancho invited Ken to come up and share the mic with them since they can't get to EKK and Ken obliged with a couple of his original compositions.

		Mary Albert enjoys applause after performing a Hawaiian song he will sing at his daughter's wedding. Photo by Tashi.

Come Monday, the "snowbirds" were at Island school bright and early. As in many Mondays past, they came an hour before everyone to arrange the 200 chairs for everyone. Of course they always reward themselves with the front row seats so they could be up front and cozy with the musicians.

To start the evening, Kenneth invited his Kahu who he met by chance earlier in the day to give a "pule". This evening was dedicated to these most loyal EKK fans on their last night on Kaua'i ..."kolea birds" who fly in every January or February and stay until March or April when Spring started flowering in their mainland gardens or grandchildren started missing their grandparents. Besides EKK, they attend every function where they can enjoy the arts and culture of the islands...concerts, festivals, shows, plays, dining activities, music, dance, hula and ukulele lessons, and on and on. You can't find a single fun activity on this island to which these snowbirds don't flock.

Before the ukulele sessions started, I heard Marty Albert, one of the Boston snowbirds on his last EKK night for this year, singing and playing a song. This was a song that he was practicing to sing at his daughter's wedding when he returns to the mainland. I told him, "You need to rehearse in front of an audience....and you owe us for all these many years of providing Hawaiian music lessons for you!" After the intermission, Marty got up on stage, with very little arm twisting, to sing the song for us.

	Jane Cole, loyal "kolea" bird dances a hula and gets lei'd on her last night at EKK 2007. Photo by Tashi.

Before he started his song, he told a little story about how he and Phyllis two weeks earlier had met Ken, his wife Tasha and 16-year-old son having lunch in Tom Kats in Koloa. Marty's wife Phyllis is a "connector" and so is Ken, so before you know it, they were talking to each other and the subject of Hawaiian music came up. Ken revealed that he would be returning to teach at EKK, and the Alberts shared that they go to EKK all the time....and so, Marty sharing the stage with Ken tonight was not a coincidence; it was in the "master plan of the stars". Besides surprising all the wedding guests on the mainland with his command of the ukulele and singing such a beautiful Hawaiian song, he can brag that he shared the stage with Kenneth Makuakane. So what if it was the cafeteria gig...it's still the best place in Hawai'i to share music and make lifelong friends.

Nine credits away from a pre-med degree, Kenneth made a choice to seek a career in music, much to the chagrin of his Mother. With a second degree in English, Ken focused on writing short stories and poetic phrases, which eventually led to writing songs, mainly for hula groups. Early in his career, he played with a group called "Mangos" and still plays with the "Pandanus Club".

When Kenneth moved from Maui to Oahu, he spent three months playing gigs in small dives. One evening a group of them got together and recorded an album with $1200 they scraped together. A record producer took the recording and made 10,000 copies, and 7,000 cassettes were sold in two weeks. A total of 60,000 cassettes were sold, and thus the Pandanus Club was on the charts and "E Waianae", with lyrics by Randy Ngum and music by Kenneth, became their first hit. Kenneth said this was a major lesson for him about marketing.

	Kenneth Makuakane. Photo by Tashi.

Analyzing his life, he figured out that there are only 104 weekend days in a year to perform so he had to do some other work to survive. He made good use of the other 261 days of the year as Kenneth has written and published over 2000 songs over a thirty-year period, so he has countless stories and songs from which to choose.

"E Wai'anae" was taught to us. The verses in that song held a lesson in Hawaiian salutation which Kenneth shared with us. "Ano'ai" is a polite salutation for someone new or a stranger; "Welina" is used to greet a friend; "Aloha e" is reserved for one who has become a part of your ohana or is close to you. We enjoyed learning the meaning from the composer himself.

Songs are stories of experiences or of people he knows. "Pili Mau Me 'Oe", the second song we learned, came about when his cousin Chris gave him some English words for a song about the scent of the pikake lei on his first date with his wife. The part that is not in the songs is that the bees got attracted to the scent of his pikake lei and gave him over 50 stings on his face. Manu Boyd translated the English words into poetic Hawaiian lyrics. Kenneth added a chorus in English. The song became a hit.

Another song that he wrote for his cousin Skippy called "Okey Dokey" was about the sovereignty movement and his parent's life of not being able to speak Hawaiian because the Hawaiian language was deemed illegal. Although Kenneth did not particularly care for the words, "Kapena" recorded the catchy song and it became a hit.

Davelyn DeFries of Anahola shares a hula and two songs while "on call" in her scrubs. Photo by Tashi.

"Dance Another Hula" was a song written to celebrate the efforts of members of a halau who entered a competition just so the girls could experience a competition, something that less skilled hula dancers would never have a chance to do. When Ken found of they were the least skilled dancers in the halau, he was miffed because he worked so hard on his songs. The girls also worked very hard, and their performance at the competition was nothing short of magnificent, winning them the top award in the competition. Crying for joy at their accomplishment while feeling so shabby about his earlier attitude, Ken was inspired to write a song for these halau members. Such an uplifting song which holds an important lesson.

On the other end of the hula spectrum, he wrote a song for an outstanding halua in the Kamehameha competition called "Under A Hula Moon."

In the 1970's - 1980's a recording star that he idolized asked him for some of his songs. One of the songs was actually written for his white van which he loved. She recorded it, never knowing it was about his van, but it became a success. He recorded two albums for her.

He went to a hula competition in Las Vegas and lost all his money on the first day, so he had to just sit and watch the gorgeous moon rising in the purple evening skies. Missing Hawai'i, he wrote "I Miss You, My Hawai'i" which was recorded by Na Leo and won Kenneth a Na Hoku Hanohano 2000 award.

For nearly thirty years Kenneth has been producing CD's for many musicians who have built fine reputations for themselves. One day he sat himself down, thought about it, and realized that being a record producer felt like watching everyone else fly off into the sky and he's left behind on the ground smelling the jet exhaust. Even with 11 Na Hoku awards tucked in his belt and even with being inducted into the prestigious Kamehameha Schools Alumni Hall of Fame, Kenneth wanted to fly, so he recently produced his own solo CD entitled "Makuakane".

He wanted to celebrate reaching age 50 by recording 50 songs and selling a 3-disk album for the price of one, but this did not sit well with his record producer, so he limited it to 20 songs. He sang a few songs from that album.

The second half was Kanikapila full-on as Kekai Chock and Rocky Pau joined Kenneth on stage. Kenneth switched from guitar to his ukulele and...wow!...can he make that instrument sing. "Ke Aloha Ku'uipo", "Leahi", "Hi'ilawa" were a few songs they played

Here's an early morning email re Kekai that I received:
thanks carol. last nite was fun and SOOOOO succcessful this has become.wowowowow on you, girl! who is this phenomena kekai chock?? he's sooooo highly skilled he'd be an act by himself,no? does he live here? thanks for all you do. Miki.

Po'ai Galindo, who shares a hula each week, graced the stage with her graceful "Nani Venuse". This is a hula that we rarely see. Sabra Kauka and Karuna Thal joined Po'ai and danced "Nani Kaua'i". Even snowbird Jane Cole got up to dance "Aloha Kaua'i" with her hula sisters on her last night at EKK 2007.

Davelyn DeFries could not resist the music and got up to dance in her hospital scrubs. Ken queried, "You came from work or you went to K-Mart for your scrubs?" Davelyn answered, "Hey, I'm on call tonight...Ma, check my pager!" It's amazing to see a dancer in scrubs make the hula appear so sensuous. Nothing like having your ultra-sound done by a graceful hula dancer. In addition to the hula, Davelyn is really into singing now so she joined the group on stage to sing "No Ke Ano Ahiahi". An appreciative audience won't let someone sit down without a hana hou, so Davelyn obliged with a second song.

"I came tonight because I found out that we're related to Kenneth" How many times have I seen musicians meet at EKK and because Hawaiians introduce themselves through their geneology, many find that they are related to each other. The conversation might go like this..."so-and-so's uncle is second cousin to so-and-so's great grand-aunt on my mother's side." Kenneth even carries his geneology or family tree charts around with him in his trusty Titanium "Mac-Kuakane" along with his 2000 songs.

After EKK, Kenneth and Davelyn continued their geneology discussion further, over bowls of saimin at Hamura Saimin, adding to the family tree as they identified other family members. It's all about the connections...and Kenneth really connected with his audience tonight.

On Monday, April 16, we introduce new presenters -- the phenomenal young falsetto singer Cody Pueo Pata with Leimana Abenes of Hilo and Mark Palakiko of Maui. On April 23, we have Keoki Kahumoku who's on this year's Grammy winning CD, and for our final nights, April 29 and 30, we have legendary Jerry Santos and his cousin Hoku Zuttermeister and Barry Kimokeo.

Carol Kouchi Yotsuda, E Kanikapila Kakou 2007
Celebrating 30 years of "bringing ARTS to the people and people to the ARTS

E Kanikapila Kakou Hawaiian Music Program is funded in part by the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, the County of Kaua'i Office of Economic Development, and Garden Island Arts Council supporters. Space generously provided by Island School.

Garden Island Arts Council programs are supported in part by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai'i and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.