Backyard Musicians Serve It Up - Marc Rossi & Beverly Kauanui

Island School, April 2, 2007

“If it looks like I’m nervous, I am,” starts off Marc Rossi.
“We’re mostly backyard musicians…”

Beverly piped in, “Way back….way back….”

“…we’re so backyard, only the chickens come to listen to us play.”

He told us later that he plays mostly at wedding where no one listens to the musicians, but here at EKK everyone is looking at him so attentively so that makes him nervous, but on with the show…everyone was ready to hear some really fine music.

Marc and Beverly took us on a musical journey around the Hawaiian Islands, serving up over twenty songs in an evening.

“Nani Ka’ala” about Mount Ka’ala, the highest mountain in the Waianae Range on O’ahu, was fast-paced and lively with a lot of catchy repetition in the verses.

We then went to the Waipio Valley on the Big Island of Hawai’i, home of the majestic waterfall “Hi’ilawe”. His daughter’s kumu hula asked him to play it in the older traditional style which is not often played by many musicians.

Looking out over the sea of heads, many with varying degrees of gray and white coifs, Marc asked, “Are there any grandparents here?” Huge laugh. He dedicated the next song to all kupuna kane and kupuna wahine – affectionately referred to as “tutu” in the Hawaiian language.

He talked about the popular Kodak Hula Show in Waikiki where awa-drinking, hula- dancing grandmothers often removed their hankies from around their necks and used it to hike up their three-quarter length mu’umu’us to accentuate their hips. They sang a swinging sassy hapa-haole song called “Tutu E”. This song brought back images of famous dancers like Hilo Hattie and Myrtle K Hilo.

He then called on his support troupe member, daughter Puali’ili’imaikalani, to dance the hula for “Nani Kaua’i” as he and Bev launched into a lovely falsetto mele. Amazing to hear someone recovering from pneumonia reached some heights in such a lovely pure voice.

“Hana hou! Hana hou!” screamed the audience to the beautiful dancing of Marc’s daughter. She obliged with a favorite hula standard, “Papa Lina Lahihahi” (soft sweet cheeks). The singing was as sweet and sassy as the dancing, for sure.

We then went to Hana on the island of Maui where he first went 23 years ago for a Chinese Dragon Dance drumming exhibition. He recalls the breathless beauty of Ke’anae bathed with ocean spray on a misty morning. He shared that experience by singing the lilting romantic melody of “Ke’anae” so reminiscent of the early songs of Hawai’i.

He spoke about the opportunity he had via the SFCA ethnic heritage grant which allowed him to study the Ni’ihau style of playing music as an apprentice to Malaki Kanahele, one of the finest musicians to come out of Ni’ihau. At first Malaki turned him down but when Marc played for Malaki’s younger brother Moses, it opened the door for Marc to apprentice to Malaki. The song he played for Moses was “Ua Mau”.

Marc said he played “Ua Mau” for a wedding. The bride asked him to play a hymn and after he finished playing the song, he saw the bride and the pastor crying. He wondered if he killed the song, but the pastor came and told him that his great grandfather Moses Keale wrote the song “Ua Mau”. Marc then shared the same story about the first Moses Keale’s life-changing fall from a 325 foot long waterfall, a story that was also shared by Walter Keale and Dennis Kamakahi.

The next song was taught to him by Malaki and Moses, “Ke Ala O Ka Rose”, about unrequited love between two lovers. He played it in the Ni’ihau style of playing which has a relaxing melodic swing about it so typical of songs played by musicians from Ni’ihau.

“Wahine Ilikea” brought two hula sisters up to the stage – Marc’s daughter Puali’ili’imaikalani and Po’ai Galindo, our favorite EKK resident hula dancer; both dancers thrilled the audience with their graceful hula rendition to one of Dennis Kamakahi’s best loved hula songs.

The second half of the evening was packed with so many songs.

Audience requests prompted Beverly to sing a song. She asked, “Which one?” as she must know thousands of songs from her life-long entertaining in bars like Tahiti Nui and Dukes in Kalapaki among others. She then belted out a song as only the old-style bar entertainers could; the song was called “Weekend Lover”. WOW! She reminded me of the old-time wahine entertainers, the backbone of Waikiki entertainment for years, who were honored at the Mali’o Concert several years ago….a feisty sassy bunch indeed.

Marc followed this with a demo of the difference between playing “Nani Kaua’i” played in the usual traditional style in which most musicians play the song and compared it to the way that the Ni’ihauans play the song. He then played a song requested by Mr. and Mrs. Smith who were in the audience. Marc and Malaki had played for their wedding ten years ago “Aloha Ka Poi Koa O Ni’ihau”, a song about the radio operators in Ni’ihau.

“Pua Lili Lehua”, a song for Auntie Maiki Aiu was co-written by Mary Kawena Pukui and Maddy Lam. Maddy was friend of Marc’s Mom and Mary worked with Marc’s mom.

The two hula dancers again graced the stage to “Kaloke”. The audience could not get enough of the hula, so two more dancers were called up to join Po’ai and Pua -- the backyard dancers, Cary Mundon and Marc’w wife Haunani who had studied hula with Auntie Maiki Aiu. Auntie Bev’s beautiful voice was featured in “Aloha Kaua’i” written by Auntie Maiki Aiu for Auntie Sarah Kailikea, one of the highest authorities on Hawaiiana on Kaua’i who passed away a few years ago.

Of course the evening is not complete without audience singing, so we all tried singing “Opae E” and “E Huli Makou”, two of the songs that Marc had taught to the ukulele group early in the evening.

“Pau’oa/Liko Kalehua” sang in falsetto style was most beautiful. “Pretty Brown Eyes” sang as a duet by Marc and Bev was followed by “Kaimana Hila” (Diamond Head), a song always requested at Japanese weddings. Rocky Pau was invited on stage to play with the musicians. “Hawai’I Aloha” was the final number which rounded out the entire evening packed with wonderful Hawaiian standards.

Monday, April 9 will feature the music of Kenneth Makuakane of O’ahu, a well known record producer who has produced CD’s for Amy Hanaialii Gilliom, Hapa, Na Leo and many other recording artists. As a member of the Pandanus Club, he has written songs such as “E Wai’anae” and “Pili Mau Me ‘Oe” and just released a solo CD entitled Makuakane. . Among the over two thousand songs he has written, “I Miss You My Hawaii” received a Hoku Award in 2000, one of 11 Na Hoku Hanohanao Awards in his cap. He was awarded Composer of the Year by the Kamehameha Schools in 1990 and was inducted into the Kamahemeha Schools Alumni Gallery Hall of Fame in June 2006.
http://www.makuakane.com/
http://www.myspace.com/kmakuakane

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.

Carol Kouchi Yotsuda, E Kanikapila Kakou 2007

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