Return to grace

Hula Halau 'O Kamuela repeats a victory, and the Merrie Monarch brings back veterans

HILO » Since 1999 the performances of the wahine of Hula Halau 'O Kamuela have consistently shined at the Merrie Monarch Festival. The original brother-and-sister kumu team of Kunewa Mook and the late Paleka Leina'ala Mattos set the benchmark for women's hula today.

MULTIMEDIA Saturday night: Hula Auana slideshow. Friday night: Hula Kahiko slideshow. Thursday night: Miss Aloha Hula slideshow

Mattos' death in May 2002 didn't slow the halau's momentum the following year when, on an emotional night with Mattos' young protégé Kau'ionalani Kamana'o joining Mook as kumu, the halau swept the kahiko (ancient) and 'auana (contemporary) contests to become that year's overall Merrie Monarch winners.

Six years later they repeat as overall winners, eking out a victory by one point over the kane of Sonny Ching's Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu.

"We're elated," said Mook after Saturday night's festival finale.

"Although it's a different feeling," added Kamana'o, "in the sense that we feel more like rookies than veterans like Sonny. To me, he and other veterans are the heart and soul of Merrie Monarch. I give extra credit for all the kumu like Mapuana de Silva and Aloha Dalire, who've been coming here for more than 20 years."

The halau honored the women of Niihau in their hula kahiko and hula 'auana performances, and their talents in making the moena pawehe (mats made of the makaloa sage plant) and the Kahelelani shell lei. "After choosing the songs, 'Aia I Ni'ihau Ku'u Pawehe' and 'Na Ale O Ni'ihau,'" said Mook, "it was really a coincidence that they ended up being both about the same island. But we decided that since the mele told about the beauty of its women, why not honor them in our dances."

"This is my fifth year here as kumu, and, I admit, I am tired," said Kamana'o. "So we might think of taking a break from competition."

THE TALK at the beginning of this year's festival was the return of such creative kumu as Ching, O'Brian Eselu and Chinky Mahoe, and how their halau would fare. Their kane ended up placing first, second and third, respectively, in kahiko and 'auana, with Ching's men taking the men's overall title.

Eselu's kane of Ke Kai O Kahiki performed contrasting hula, looking tough and buff in their kahiko presentation of "E Kuku'ena E," and dressed in bright green shirts and white slacks in a lively hula 'auana, "Halawa," where Eselu has lived since his birth.

Mahoe boldly choreographed his hula halau, Kawaili'ula, with a solid kahiko called "Lele Ka'ena," depicting Hi'iaka's intense journey to Kauai, stopping along the way to take in the splendor of Oahu's Mount Kaala and Kaena.

His hula 'auana garnered the biggest ovation of the festival, as his kane danced to what he called "a good fun mele," "He Mele Le'a," a raucous and playful song about the many meanings of Hawaiian words that, if taken out of context, can be misinterpreted with hilarious results.

BUT IT was Ching who proved, even after a two-year absence from competition, that he's still one of hula's most forward-thinking masters.

His kane took top honors with a strong, confident and timely hula kahiko, "Ka Wa'a O Kamohoali'i," telling of an epic journey of Pele and her family that ends with her being the goddess that calls the active Halemaumau Crater on the Big Island her home. The mood shifted with their hula 'auana as they sensitively sang and danced to "Heha Waipi'o," about a woman who happily lived with her half-Spanish lover in spite of the gossip surrounding her relationship.

A distinguishing feature of the performances of both the kane and wahine of Ching's Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu is that the dancers usually expressed the mele not only in movement, but in vocal unison as well. With his wahine coming in second overall to Halau Hula 'O Kamuela, the audience and judges acknowledged the overall excellence of his work.

OTHER highlights of the 2008 Merrie Monarch festival included:

» The Miss Aloha Hula and 'auana performances from mainstay Mapuana de Silva's Halau Mohala 'Ilima. De Silva's daughter Kapalai'ula de Silva gave a standout, expressive kahiko performance of "Nana a'e Au a'o Ahiki" and shared the same point total as Kalimakuhilani Akemi Kalamanamana Suganuma from Aloha Dalire's Keolalaulani Halau 'Olapa O Laka for the title of Miss Aloha Hula, but de Silva eventually came in second due to a tiebreaker.

Another highlight of Saturday's 'auana program was a group of de Silva's wahine moving in harmony that celebrated four generations of her students since the 1970s. Honoring the memory of Silva's kumu Maiki Aiu Lake, the halau performed an emotional hula to two of the songs most associated with the Lake name, "Pua 'Ahihi" and the exquisite "Pua Lililehua." A definite chicken-skin moment.

» Oakland, Calif.'s Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu's Academy of Hawaiian Arts continued to be a crowd favorite. His kane marched and strutted through their kahiko performance of "Aia 'O Kalani I Maleka," a chant about King Kalakaua's trip to the mainland to negotiate a treaty that would allow the islands' products to enter the U.S. duty-free in exchange for American use of Pearl Harbor as a coaling station.

» The overall third-place showing of Howard and Olana Ai's wahine of Halau Hula Olana. They staged an especially attractive hula kahiko, dressed in pastels of blue and using uliuli, dancing to "Ka'iulani I 'Ainahau," a joyful mele describing the garden estate of Princess Ka'iulani.

» Two wahine hula 'auana had a definite wow factor. First, an absolutely sublime "Kanaenae A Ke Aloha" by Carson, Calif.'s Halau 'O Lilinoe, and kumu Sissy and Lilinoe Kaio. The ladies seem to float and flow in sync to Aaron Sala's piano and rapturous vocal, performing to a mele that compared the rivers of Hilo to the different stages of love. Later in the program was Kula, Maui's Napua Greig and Kahulu Maluo-Huber's Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka, with a rare up-tempo mele in "Ku'u Li'a Pua Ka Hinano." They received an ovation for their inventive and eye-catching choreography, the story telling of a male sweetheart in Keaukaha as symbolized by the white flower of the pandanus tree.