Visions of Hawai’i & the Art of Adrienne Mierzwa

An Invitation to visit the artwork of Adrienne Mierzwa
at Roy’s Poipu Bar & Grill in Kola, Hawaii

Ray Kane October 1925 – February 2008

Slack key guitarist Raymond Kane died February 27. Kane, who was 82, had been hospitalized for three months with respiratory difficulties. Raymond Kaleoalohapoina’oleohelemanu Kane was born in 1925 in Koloa on the island of Kaua’i. His middle name can be translated into English as “the voice of love that comes and goes like a bird and will never be forgotten.” It describes his outgoing personality, which has earned him status as one of slack key’s most beloved and colorful characters. Ray grew up in Nanakuli on O’ahu’s rugged Wai’anae coast where his stepfather worked as a fisherman. On his mother’s side, Ray was related to many famous Hawaiian musicians, including Andy Cummings, Genoa Keawe and others.From an early age Ray Kane immersed himself in the traditions of Hawaiian culture. His natural father, Herman “Manu” Kane, was by all reports an extraordinary slack key player, but left home when Ray was only two. At age nine, when Ray felt a call to play slack key, he had to turn outside of his family for lessons. This was very difficult at the time. “Back then people wouldn’t teach you unless you were family,” Ray said. “But I was a good diver, so I made a deal with Albert Kawelo. I gave him fish and he gave me lessons.” Ray also credited Henry Kapuana and the radio with teaching him songs in the early days. “Back then I used to take my guitar everywhere,” Raid said. “My favorite spot was Zablan’s beach. It was so quiet at night. There was nobody around. I’d sit and play and watch the moon shine down on the waves.”

In the 1940s, Ray joined the military and traveled to Europe and the Mainland. When he got back home, he heard the first records by the legendary slack key guitarist Gabby Pahinui. “That inspired me to start playing again,” he said. “After Albert, for me, it’s Gabby. He had the true Hawaiian style; his voice, his timing, his touch: you can really feel it in the heart. I play a lot of his songs. I owe him a lot.” In 1961, the Tradewinds label invited Ray to make his first recordings. “It was a great experience, but there was no money in it,” he said. “I had a family, you understand, so I just played out a little on the weekends.”

The 1970s brought new attention to traditional artists in Hawai’i, often elevating them to the position of media celebrities and role models for the young. It all began for Ray in 1973 when the newly created Hawaiian Music Foundation asked him to give formal concerts. This was something new for slack key. It brought the music and musicians to an entirely different audience. “I don’t know why they picked me,” Ray said. “I wasn’t famous. I wasn’t playing steady anywhere. I was just trying to stick to the style I learned back in the 1930s. Maybe that’s why, but the next thing I knew people were asking me to play all over the place. All kinds of people came to those concerts. They’d just sit there and listen, then applaud after each song. I was in a state of shock.”

Ray’s humor delighted concert audiences. His soft, romantic music made them relax and even cry. “Hey, sometimes it makes me cry too,” Ray said. Unfortunately, at the height of his new-found fame, he had to quit playing due to serious medical problems. In the 1980s he resumed playing and teaching. “I like to teach one-on-one,” he said. “I tell all my students to do it your own way, from the heart. And don’t talk stink about the other guy. Humble yourself. Play the best you can and share what you know.”

Ray began recording for Dancing Cat Productions, a label specialized in Hawaiian guitar music. “Meeting the folks at Dancing Cat was a dream come true,” Ray said. “They’ve helped me, my family and all the slack key guitarists in so many ways. They really love the music and it shows. They’re taking real good care recording us and taking our music all over the world.” Punahele, Ray’s first album for Dancing Cat, came out in 1994. Mixing familiar standards with songs Ray had never previously recorded, it quickly became a local favorite. His second release on Dancing Cat was titled Wa’ahila (1998). The album featured Ray’s wife, Elodia Kane.

Listen to the Music of a Kanile’a Ukulele

Kanile’a ‘Ukulele is family owned and operated by Joseph & Kristen Souza. Together, they have grown to become the industry leader in custom handcrafted ‘ukuleles and have re-defined what a quality instrument is. All of their ukuleles are built using the highest grade, well-seasoned woods. Each ukulele is scaled to have a perfect intonation and is meticulously assembled under the watchful eye of master ukulele builder Joseph Souza. Their instruments are well known for their easy playability and beautiful tones that are second to none. Joseph & Kristne Souza welcome visitors to view theire instruments online.

Kanile’a means “joyful sound”. Experience it for yourself when you hear the joyful sound that is a reflection of the Hawaiian Islands that Joseph & Kristen call home.

Tahitian Choir

A thousand miles southeast of Tahiti lies the last piece of land before the South Pole. The island of Rapa Iti . It is home to approximately 320 people of Polynesian descent. Their church music has been influenced by Christian hymns but it remains very much an ancient polyphonic music that is sung in quarter-tones. This ancient music is kept very much alive by the whole population on Rapa Iti. The music on this CD is sung by the island’s 126 voice choir. Prior to this recording, the only one found by Pascal Nabet-meyer, the ethno-musicologist who did this recording, was a wax cylinder from 1906 found in the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. This form of Polynesian music is so unique it is almost impossible to describe. There are haunting similarities to an ancient unrhymical forms of Hebrew Cantillation which date back to the Temple in Jerusalem. And there is another early singing style called heterophony found in the Western Isles of Scotland. This is truly world music.

Dancing Hula in Kapiolani Park

Hula was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by their original Polynesian settlers. Although many ethnic groups have come to Hawaii since the first European contact in 1778, the hula has remained largely uninfluenced by other ethnic dance traditions.

The word hula means movements and gestures. Hula involves mele and is performed with mele. Mele is poetry; cultural interpretations ranging from mele pule and mele inoa (sacred prayers, name chants) to mele ho’oipipo and mele ‘aina (love songs and songs praising the land). The type of mele classifies the hula dances. Hand and arm gestures interpret the words, but hula gestures do not tell the story. The gestures interprets the main message of the mele.

Chant accompanied dances may be performed sitting or standing. In standing dances, performers are divided into ‘olapa; the dancing, and the ho’opa’a; chanting the text and providing the accompanying percussion instrument. Close correspondence exists between foot movements and ipu (gourd) and pahu (drum) patterns. Ancient hula was interpreted in the words, the chant, without which there would be no dance. Gourds, drums, split bamboo sticks, and other instruments supported the dance. Hula could not be performed without chanting. The chants themselves were complex, poetic and rich with multilevels of meaning.

Ritual and prayer surrounded all aspects of hula training and practice. Teachers and students were dedicated to Laka. Although Laka was acknowledged as the goddess of hula, there are abundant legends of the fiery goddess Pele, who searched for a home throughout the Hawaiian islands and settled on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Many sacred songs and chants recount the saga of Pele, her love for the chanter Lohi’au, and her sister Hi’iaka’s journey to bring Lohi’au from his home on Kaua’i to Pele.

Arriving to the Islands in 1820, American Protestant missionaries introduced Christianity and western values. Along with the support of Christianized Hawaiian royalty, the missionaries denounced and banned the hula as heathen and declared it illegal. Hula practitioners declined but the hula survived, zealously guarded and cherished by Hawaiians in locations less influenced by the missionaries.

The reign of King David Kalakaua (1874-1891) was a transitional phase for Hawaiian performing arts. Hula practitioners merged Hawaiian elements of poetry, chanted vocal performance, dance movements, and costumes to create a new form, the hula ku’i, a combination of new and old hula. King Kalakaua did more than revive the ancient dance. During his reign the hula again became a tradition. Western forms of rhythm and melody were incorporated with the traditional hula forms. The ukulele, borrowed from Portuguese immigrants, was introduced, along with the steel guitar. The ipu, a hollowed gourd, was the instrument most associated with hula ku’i.

A revival of ethnic pride has heightened interest in hula kahiko performing arts since the early 1970s. Chant- accompanied hula has been revived, and new dances are choreographed in the older style. Contemporary practitioners divide hula into hula kahiko (ancient hula), comprising of older chant-accompanied dances, and hula ‘auana (modern hula), newer song-accompanied dances.

Celebrating Maile Culture Along Silkroad