Raymond Kane turns 72
By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
with a birthday concert
Star-Bulletin
Raymond Kaleoalohapoina'oleo-helemanu (the winged voice of unforgettable love) Kane sits at a picnic table in the back yard of his Nanakuli homestead. His turquoise palaka shirt (palaka, or plaid, is his signature attire) matches the 21-year-old turquoise wood-frame house. It's a warm Nanakuli day. Kane's small dog yaps. His grandsons - 6-year-old Keoki Kaleoalohapoina'oleo-helemanu Arakaki and 3-year-old Garrick Nohea Arakaki - scurry around the table.
On his spruce and rosewood guitar, Kane plucks "Mo'opuna Lullaby," composed for his 16 grandchildren. The elder statesman of ki ho'alu, or slack key guitar, may play the new piece at his 72nd birthday concert Saturday.
He reconsiders. It's not a good idea to play a song before the album is released, he says. "No, I don't think so, come to think of it."
Then, he chuckles, "I might even play it, heh, heh."
"You better not," his wife of 31 years, Elodia, chides.
"You don't know what the hell I'm gonna do," he muses matter-of-factly.
Kane finished only ninth grade, but he holds a "master's" degree -- a Folk Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The 1987 honor named him "a master traditional artist who has contributed to shaping our artistic traditions and to preserving the cultural diversity of the United States."
He's also had five wives, seven children, 16 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren. He's spent 15 years foster-parenting abused youngsters and 63 years playing ki ho'alu.
He acknowledges the honor of the fellowship, equivalent to being named a "National Living Treasure." But when he received it in Washington, D.C., "I didn't feel no big headed -- jes' a natural guy."
Fact is, despite yapping dog, scrambling keiki, chiding wife, Uncle Raymond Kane's strings sing ever nahenahe -- sweetly.
Listen for the strings Saturday -- and the "Mo'opuna Lullaby." Heh heh.
Na Mele O Hawai'i
Featuring: Raymond Kane, Cyril Pahinui and George Kuo
