E Kanikapila Kākou Week #6 Wrap

“Road Crew Lunch Break”

featuring

Mix Plate/EKK Style --

Don Kauliʻa, Michael Keale, Walt Keale, Pancho Graham

I was bummed to miss this EKK Monday after 43 years of dedicated attendance, but with the help of the “eyes and ears” of my awesome volunteer team, I was able to bring this weekly wrap to you. Their comments in italics blue ink, combined with my narrative, will enhance this whole vicarious experience for the reader.

Walter Keale taught Nohili E in the ‘ukulele lesson, 30 minutes of unforgettable story and 3 minutes of playing. This was only a slight exaggeration. True to form, Walt is a storyteller at heart.

Trooper Lady Ipo Kahaunaele, as gracious and full-of-aloha as ever, welcomed kamaʻāina and malihini audience, and even one “foreigner” from Seattle. Oh well . . .whatever. She truly has the Hawaiian way of making everyone feel like this is where they should be.

Our carefully put-together team of four seasoned performers took the stage. Lady Ipo introduced Pancho Graham, Don Kauliʻa, Michael Keale, and Walt Keale. Michael and Walt are cousins. Don is married to a cousin of the Keale’s. Although they are related it is uncommon for them to play together, but they blended easily and well. Walt quipped that Pancho must be related, and some day they will figure out how. Each singer took turns singing in round robin style.   Pancho remarked they weren’t in a circle, so Walt said they must be “birds on a wire.”

The best part of any Hawaiian music get-together is being backstage with the musicians, and this is what the audience got as the musicians welcomed them to their round robin “dress rehearsal” and exploded into their first upbeat Oʻahu song Nani Kaʻala ; they were singing with gusto, but their collective instrumentation really set the pace for what was to come with awesome pāʻani by Donald on guitar and Pancho on upright bass.

The second song, slow and evocative. With Michael on lead vocals, the beautiful melody of Nohili E by Muriel Amalu took us to westside Kauaʻi to the iconic white barking sands of Polihale. Their harmony was exquisite!   Walt continued the ocean theme with Catching the Wave , a lively song about the joys of surfing. Lifelong surfer Pancho Graham continued the surfing theme with his original surf song Pine Tree Slack Key about hanging around under the shade of his favorite north-shore pine trees.

After enjoying the ocean songs, they moved on to the musical legacy they brought with them. Don Kauliʻa, who hails from a long line of musicians, shared the background of Tutu-man’s slack key tuning which might be called the “Triple C Kauliʻa Slack Key Tuning”. Family tunings each have their own history and are a precious legacy passed down from generation to generation. His moʻolelo about the history of the tunings went all the way back to 1840, the days of the vaqueros and monarchy.

The song titled Ē Liliʻu Ē was co-composed by John Puni Kauliʻa and Antone Kaoʻo first as a noho hula and later as a mele honoring Queen Liliʻuokalani. Donaldʻs great-grandfather John was the Emissary to Queen Liliʻuokalani, and his half-brother James Kauliʻa was the Queenʻs Attorney responsible for developing the Kūʻē Petitions of 1898 that secured 21,000 signatures protesting the Annexation of Hawaiʻi.

Walt regularly made interpretive comments, funny, quirky, insightful, and thought provoking. Was the whisky bottle next to him real or a prop? He said Don played slack key and lead guitar like a bear cutting through the bush. Walt dubbed him “Grizzly” because of the way he powered through the songs and the others kept up as best they could – shouting out chords fast and furious to help them keep up. That was an insight to jamming with the Hawaiians — Jusʻ Press! as Uncle Led would say.

Changing to a softer mood, Michael shared that as a youngster living in Kailua he and friends regularly biked to their neighbor’s home to hang out, not knowing at the time that she was a prolific songwriter by the name of Aunty Irmgard Farden Aluli. In his beautiful Frank Sinatra-style crooner voice he took us on a musical flight with the exquisite E Maliu Mai with others joining in on the harmony . . . these guys really get’um! Walt on ‘ukulele and the other three on guitars are really hot! Michael sent this song out to his sweetie Linda Lester Keale for their 14th anniversary celebrated the day before! Sweet!!!

Walt, in his usual long-winded style, shared why they called themselves “Road Crew Lunch Break.” They discussed what they wanted to call themselves as a group for this EKK show and came up with "Road Crew" but it's different than road crews from the continent. Over there they get started on the work right away and maybe don't do so well. The Hawaiian style is to eat together first. After their eat and greet, they're all set to charge and get more work done. That's how they approached this event, eat and greet first. In Hawai’i, guys get together to tackle a task but first they eat, get the job done in record time and then bus’ out the ‘ukulele and sing — that’s his long story in a capsule.

This led into another 8-minute story about grandpa and a 2-minute song titled Waiʻalae by Mekia Kealakai. It’s a love song for a place, location of the home of Paul Isenberg. With Donald and Pancho throwing in great pā’ani, the music is great!

Michael and Pancho were interviewed by Linda Lester Keale on KKCR Community Radio to plug EKK where they sang the next song shared by Pancho. It’s a plug for the unique Kauaʻi north shore program called KORE where local volunteers show up once a month at Black Pot Beach Park to help persons with disabilities of any kind to catch waves on the surfboard. The next monthly event at Hanalei Bay is on March 28 and the public is invited to join in on the fun, the potluck and the kanikapila that follows. Their theme song is Mahalo for the Ride! — a truly upbeat song about an exceptionally upbeat program.   Pancho and Michael carried the vocals on this song; you could really feel the audience's appreciation for the song and the KORE program – Kauaʻi Ocean and Recreation Experience.

Lady Ipo came back on stage and demonstrated the Kamoa ‘ukulele singing the feisty ʻ Uwehe ʻAmi and Slide backed up by the whole Road Crew.

INTERMISSION: KCC PAC Theatre almost full with lots of familiar and new faces. The packed lobby was a true community meeting place with great food from Collab Café, a lively bar with specialty EKK drinks, racks of fantastic “BoroBoro Boutique” garments, new EKK tee shirts, CDʻs by the artists, a Kamoa ʻukulele donation table, and walaʻau, walaʻau, walaʻau . . .

After intermission the Kamoa ʻUkulele lucky winner was Susan Kennedy. Esther Solomon won an Eating House 1849 Restaurant $100 gift certificate.  It’s uncanny to me how some folks walk around under a lucky star and keep winning, winning, winning….

The second half was full of treats. The first was a hula by the stunning Aurora Ka’awa, a former Miss Hawaiʻi.

Walter told a story about the father of his cousin Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, Uncle Henry, a big man called “Tiny” who hung out with Uncle Ike who was a master of Lua, a Hawaiian martial arts. Walt eventually realized Uncle Ike was regularly channeling mana into Walter’s arm. The whole point of this story was to share that the hula dancer on stage was the daughter of Uncle Ike Kaʻawa, a Hawaiian martial art master.

Aurora was truly a vision of loveliness as she danced to Ka Makani Kāʻili Aloha(The Kipahulu Zephyr) by Matthew Kane. She portrays beautifully the plight of a heartbroken husband who casts a love potion into the waters of a Maui Beach to win back his wife who had deserted him. Such an enchanting dancer.

Donald switched to a lively Hawaiian tune Island Love by Peter Moon about all the ʻono fruits in Hawaiʻi with the road crew joining in with their “anything goes” style. They were really having too much fun!

Lady Ipo joined the action on stage and said they would do a “Hula Throw-down” and invited one dancer from each row to get up on stage as musicians started up the hula favorite Aloha Kauaʻi written by Maiki Aiu Lake and made famous by the Kahauanu Lake Trio . In record time, the stage was full of beautiful dancers — Queenie Daligdig, Aurora Kaʻawa, Linda Lester Keale, Pō’ai Galindo, Sabra Kauka, Elena Gillespie, Madeleine Guyett, Jeanie Michioka, Fern Merle Jones, Donna Stewart and our own carrot-top Jodi Ascuena. Lady Ipo took over Waltʻs ʻukulele and led the vocals while the awesome hula dancers thrilled the audience with their varied choreography.

The audience vehemently screamed hana hou so Lady Ipo quickly launched into Dennis Kamakahi’s Wahine ʻIlikea about the white mist from the triple waterfalls of Kamalō on Molokaʻi which is a metaphor for a beautiful fair-skinned woman. Pōʻai, Elena, Sabra, and Aurora portrayed in their hula the mystical white mist of Hālawa that moved Dennis to compose this song.

There is something to be said about the wonderful color and excitement that our hula dancers bring to the EKK program – always moved to share their love of hula, each with her own choreography. Soon to retire from teaching, Aunty Sabra Kauka has been a staunch supporter of EKK and always willing participant. Keep it coming!!

A new song by Michael Keale became an instant crowd favorite as he launched into Go Tutu Go ! It’s about an all too familiar traffic predicament so common on Kauaʻi’s single highway situation – bumper to bumper traffic jam -- with the added complication of “urgency”!   Everyone could relate to being stuck behind a slow driving kupuna while suffering from a heavy liquid diet . . . auwē! Funniest thing is he always forgets the lyrics to his punch-line verse!

Song writing has evolved over recent decades as composers have been encouraged to capture in their mele topics that share about their life today; how much more relevant could Michael’s tongue-in-cheek composition be about life on Kauaʻi (and everywhere)! What a combination – romantic crooner with a hilarious sense of humor!

Following another long-winded story by Walt about how Kōkeʻe was written, the foursome sang one of Kauai’s favorite songs by Dennis Kamakahi, Kōkeʻe , with both Donald and Pancho adding their special touches on their instruments; they collectively brought the song to a beautiful ending.

Walt spoke about Kalalau being Niʻihau’s “Safeway”, a source of food, namely kalo, which grew plentifully in lush Kalalau Valley but not on arid Niʻihau. When the wind switched directions, Niihauans would jump into their canoes to harvest kalo in Kalalau. Humor transitioned artfully to the touching song by Carlos Andrade about Piʻilani and Koʻolau, presented by Pancho Graham.

Donald shared that his wife is related to Piʻilani from Niʻihau. (See box below)

Pancho shared the story and song about Na Pali Outlaw who fled to the remote cliffs of Kalalau Valley to escape capture by the authorities. Carlos Andrade based his song on scholar Frances Frazier’s translation of the story from the old Hawaiian newspapers in the archives about Pi’ilani, the devoted wife of Koʻolau through whose voice this poignant story is told.

When Donald was assigned as general manager at Grace Pacific on Hawaiʻi Island, his general foreman was really into the global travel of the Hokulea, so in 2004 he created the song titled Hōk ū leʻa Mālama Honua , interlocked with Christopher Crossʻs “Sailing”. This song was a tribute to Don’s friend and foreman, Milton “Shorty” Bertelmann who recently died. This inspired Walt to follow with Hōkūleʻa , Star of Gladness. 

Lady Ipo deserves a hula mahalo for so willingly jumping right in to kokua when her special skills are needed. A super talent, a respected Kahu, a longtime supporter of many Kauaʻi cultural presentations, she just says “okay”, no questions asked, and pulls it off like the champion she is. Mahalo!

Lady Ipo wrapped up the concert beautifully by reintroducing the seasoned performers, thanking the wonderful KCC PAC staff and the awesome team of EKK volunteers for making sure everything ran like clockwork, and called for the  hana hou number which was dedicated to Carol. Michael sang Lei Mokihana by John Almeida; the auditorium all joined in for the finale Hawaiʻi Aloha .

Contributors to the wrap: Anita Cook, Vigil Alkana, Lindie Simone, Bev Montel, Sabra Kauka, Linda Lester Keale, Sabra Kauka, Shannon Hiramoto and Jodi Ascuena,

Photos by Mike Teruya, Kathleen Ho, Sabra Kauka

Words by Carol Kouchi Yotsuda

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