Kenneth and I were asked to compose a new mele for Keauhou, Ka‘ū, on Hawai‘i island. This is a different area than Keauhou, Kona. It is situated just on the border between Ka‘ū and Puna, on the Ka‘u side of the entrance to Volcanoes National Park. I was aware of the place, but had no idea of the work that Kamehameha Schools is engaged in there. Previously, large sections of the ahupua‘a were covered with koa trees. Many years ago, many of the koa trees were felled, and subsequently much of the land was leased for grazing. The school later bought back the leases and began reforestation efforts. We were invited to spend a day in Keauhou, and because of work commitments we were unable to visit Keauhou together. We did visit on separate dates, and subsequently shared our experiences. We were both amazed at the efforts being made to reestablish the koa forests, keep out invasive plants and animals, and how dedicated the staff were to their task.

Over the course of the next two months we worked on the mele, sharing concepts, words, melodies, and verses, using the telephone, Skype, emails, instant messages, and occasionally (!) working face to face. The mele essentially documented the day of our first impressions, our experiences, and our hopes for Keauhou. As the group I traveled with moved through the ahupua‘a, we were followed by ‘io (hawks) that watched our every move. When cautiously entered the Kīlauea Forest Preseve (an area that escaped deforestation and remains a pristine habitat), we were observed by the ‘elepaio birds of the forest. I watch as one flew by me and missed my head by only about a foot. All of these experiences became part of the mele “Aloha Keauhou”.

In December, the mele and melody were complete, and turned over to Randie Fong at KS. Our understanding was that one of their regular arrangers would create the vocal arrangments for the students. Shortly thereafter they contacted Kenenth and asked if he would do the arrangment himself. I helped him by formatting the charts in Finale, but otherwise the arrangements were all his. Shortly thereafter, Randie informed Kenneth that the senior girls would be performing our mele.

We arrived at Blaisdell Arena on the evening of March 16 and met the other composers. I had heard that Kellen and Līhau Hannahs, Dennis Kamakahi and Keawe and Tracie Lopes were some of the composers, but didn’t know who else had been asked to contribute mele. Manu Boyd, Carlos Andrade, Ke‘ala Kwan, Nālani Choy, Kama Hopkins were the others. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized I was the only composer there that wasn’t a graduate of Kamehameha. Of course Kenneth is a KS gradute, and since we collaborate together so frequently, they graciously allowed him to invite me to collaborate on the mele. Still, it was a humbling relevation.

I won’t go into a long description of the event, and would encourage everyone to watch the program on the KS website. I can only say that I was astounded by the mele and the variety and quality of the compositions. The composers of each mele were asked to stand and recognize the performance of their mele upon its completion. I couldn’t stand-I was simply numbed by the performance of the senior women. I’m certainly happy I did not have to judge the competition this year, because all of the classes were outstanding. Neither Kenneth or I heard the rehearsals, so we, along with the audience, were hearing it for the first time. And of course the feeling returned when the presenters announced that the senior girls had won the girls’ division, and tied for their Hawaiian language pronunciation.

As things were winding down and the emotions settling on the Blaisdell arena floor, Manu Boyd joined us. He started raving “My God, I could see the rain, and the birds, and the forest!” and I thought I was going to really lose it. What a compliment from one of the preeminent haku mele of this time.

When Kenneth and I began working together eight years ago, I had two things that I hoped to accomplish as a composer. I didn’t tell anyone, and only mention it to Kenneth after we finished the mele. But one of them came true on Friday night. The other? It has nothing to do with the Grammy or Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards. And I’m keeping it to myself until it happens. If it does, you’ll read about it here.

(Sung to the melody of “A Christmas Song”)

Tom’s nuts roasting on a barbeque
‘Cause he pissed off Aunty Bug
He shot at a deer but his aim was untrue
Now there’s one less cat for her to hug

The ground’s too hard for him to dig a hole
So the cat’s just chilling in the barn
It’ll keep until spring, he gives thanks for the cold
And hopes she lets him stay on the farm

He knows that hell he’ll have to pay
How she’ll take it isn’t very hard to say
He puts the kevlar vest upon his chest
And walks toward the house where she’s at rest

Tom sleeps in the barn with a frozen pet
And he will for the rest of his life
They say that an elephant never forgets
And sadly neither does his wife

As our college functions in Hawaiian, we are very picky about language use in the new building. Most of the office and other signs in the complex will be either Hawaiian-only or perhaps Hawaiian and English, with the Hawaiian being larger in size and prominence. What we are having issue with is the Braille. We want the signs to have Hawaiian in Braille, and include the ‘okina and kahakō. The sub-contractor handling the signs says he cannot manufacture the Braille signs with the diacritic marks, even though they are in the IPA Braille spec. We’ve made numerous inquiries, and cannot find a Braille sign manufacturer that can do this. We need help in finding someone who can make these signs for us. To be clear, these are the hard plastic signs that are found outside of each office and in other areas of the building.

According to the IPA Braille spec, these are the two characters we need for the ‘okina and kahakō:

If there is anyone out there that knows anything about making signage in Braille, or knows someone who might know something about them, please contact me. We can find no prior use of these diacritics in Hawaiian in Braille, but like much of the work we’ve done with technology, we hope that we can blaze a trail for the use of Hawaiian in Braille. Mahalo.

Amy recently wrote a post on her blog about the recent announcement of the finalists for the recently consolidated Grammy category for Best Regional Roots album. This category includes Hawaiian, American Indian, Cajun, Zydeco, Polka and other region specific genres of music that have originated within the political boundaries of the United States. While I disagree with a number of her points and analysis, I will restrict my comments here to one glaring inaccuracy as it pertains to the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards. Here is the passage that I contest:

Many folks do not realize that the requirement of Hawaii residency in many Hōkū categories excludes the work of many artists who work on Hawaiian music outside Hawaiʻi. HARA has instituted one new “international” category that will go into effect this year.

To provide some background, the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards were established to honor Hawai‘i recordings of all genres, some of the musical forms that had no place in the Grammy or any other award programs at that time. Like the Grammy Awards, the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards have grown in size, scope, exposure and significance. The Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards were not established to honor or focus on Hawaiian music. Very few people know that in the first ten years of the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award, only once was a Hawaiian language song honored as “Song of the Year”–Tony Conjugacion’s “Ka Beauty A‘o Mānoa”. The significant successes, some may say dominance, of Hawaiian language songs and Hawaiian music CD releases in the awards is a more recent phenomenon.

Two and a half years ago, during our summer retreat in 2009, the HARA board voted to allow non-Hawai‘i artists and producers to enter releases in genres of music that were of Hawai‘i origination. These changes took effect on January 1, 2010–nearly two years ago. We responded to the concerns of non-Hawai‘i artists, producers and labels–including Amy–who lamented that excellence in Hawaiian music should be eligible in the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards no matter where it is recorded. Therefore, the statement that “the requirement of Hawaii residency in many Hōkū categories excludes the work of many artists who work on Hawaiian music outside Hawaiʻi” is inaccurate, and has been for nearly two years. The HARA board worked very hard to notify artists, producers and labels about the new eligibility guidelines, which rightful allowed mainland artists producing albums so that they could enter in the awards as long as they meet the criteria for Hawaiian Album, Island Music, Slack Key, Haku Mele and Hawaiian Language Performance. Let this be clear: all mainland and Hawai‘i releases that meet the criteria of these categories are eligible and included in the same category. Mainland and Hawai‘i artists and producers are now of equal stature in our entry guidelines, and compete in the same categories. Mainland releases can potentially be entered in seven categories in the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards.

One mainland artist did make the final ballot of the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards last year–Patrick Landeza (in the slack key category). Other notable mainland releases were not entered, even though the artists, labels and producers were aware of their eligibility. Patrick approached me at the Awards ceremony this year, and offered a very emotional mahalo for our academy’s acceptance and recognition of his work. I have to admit that I have received some negative feedback from some Hawai‘i members of our academy regarding my support for including mainland releases, but after seeing and talking with Patrick, I knew we did the right thing. It was disappointing that some eligible mainland releases were not submitted.

I should note some additional modifications to the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award guidelines: that mainland producers of compilations and anthologies that contain sufficient Hawaiian, slack key, or island music material are also eligible in those categories. Non-US producers of Hawaiian, slack key, or island music anthologies and compilations are likewise eligible in the International award. These changes guarantee that all genres of Hawai‘i originating music have a place in our awards, no matter who records them or where they are recorded. I realize that some of these changes are a bit nebulous, so I invite you to download a copy of the updated category guidelines from HARA’s Scrib.com site, and to contact me or the HARA office if you have any questions.

Regarding the International award, yes, it is true, we did establish a new separate category, and which will be awarded in 2012 for eligible recordings that are released in 2011. This is a single category for all international entries. Hawai‘i and mainland artists and producers are not eligible in this one category. All non-US releases that meet the criteria of the Hawaiian, slack key and island music categories can enter, as well as producers of compilations and anthologies that contain the requisite amount of Hawai‘i/Hawaiian content. We decided to keep this award separate, and make it adjudicated for at least the first year of its existence. We decided that we would prefer to have mainland artist sit at the same table with Hawai‘i artists when it came to Hawaiian, slack key, and island music genres, and I stand by that decision as well as our creating a separate, adjudicated award for non-U.S. releases.

Amy laments the lack of respect that critics of the Grammy voting process and results show to The Recording Academy. I lament the lack of respect given to the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts, its Board of Governors, and its members. In addition to accommodating mainland and international Hawaiian/Hawai‘i genre releases, we have responded directly to member criticisms such as the awkward pairing of R&B and Hip-Hop as a single category, and created separate categories for each. We have also had internal discussions regarding the issue of members voting in categories in which they are not qualified to judge quality. The Recording Academy did nothing to address the legitimate concerns of the Hawai‘i and broader Hawaiian music communities regarding the selection of the Hawaiian Grammy.

I have spoken to many people who believe that all of this discussion regarding the Grammy is much ado about nothing. Why do we spend so much time and effort talking about music, and discussing its many merits at all? I agree with the esteemed music scholar Dr. Aaron Fox, who argues that discourse about music “constitutes a formal object of equal importance to song and verbal art, not merely context, background or commentary”(1). Discussions about music are a significant area of study as the music itself is, and sometimes even more interesting. While passion and anger often accompany such discourse, I must credit Amy for leading me down a path, through our extensive discussion on these issues, that peels away much of the emotional baggage that often encumbers this subject.

Let me be clear–there are legitimate concerns regarding the politics and processes of The Recording Academy that cannot be blithly dismissed, and those legitimate concerns are not aided by hyperbolic statements made by critics of the awards. That fact that many Hawai‘i artists claim to be Grammy winners and aggressively advertise themselves as such when they have not won a Grammy does not endear them to those of us who do believe that a Grammy does hold some significance, or that it should. I have many more thoughts to share on Amy’s post, but will discuss them with her privately, and perhaps address them in future posts.

Citations:
1) Fox, A.A. 2004, Real country: music and language in working-class culture, Duke University Press, Durham.

There is now a Hawaiian keyboard in the OS. Why is this significant, since you could previously generate the ‘okina and kahakō? First, it is a boon for iPad owners who like to use external keyboards. Previously, there was no way to type the ‘okina or kahakō easily using an external keyboard. Now, if you select the Hawaiian keyboard in the iOS general preferences, you type the ‘okina and kahakō in the same way that you type them on Mac OS X – by simply typing the apostrophe for the ʻokina, and holding down the option key while you type the kahakō.

Another feature on the new soft keyboard (the one that displays itself on the screen), is that there is a new way to type the ʻokina. While you can still long-hold the vowels and select the vowel-‘okina from the list that pops up. Now, there is also a stand-alone kahakō on the right side, next to the ‘okina. If you type a vowel and then press this key, it will insert the kahakō over that vowel. This is cool as this is how you would spell out the vowel combination ‘ā-kō, ‘ē-kō, ī-kō, etc. I’m sure those that use the soft keyboard exclusively and want to type in Hawaiian will love it. Also note that the return key has “Kāho‘i” on it. I love it.

The final new feature is that there is now spell-checking for Hawaiian, based on an extensive word list that we provided to Apple. It’s not perfect, but none are. The spell-check and suggestions are based largely on the letters that surround the intended vowel. In the example shown on this graphic, the “g” that is mistakenly typed is next to the letter “h” on the keyboard, so it works well. One kind of typo it does not seem to catch is if you fail to type a word-initial ‘okina, and quite often inside the word as well. If you spell ‘ōlelo as olelo, it will not suggest ‘okina as a potential correct spelling. Hopefully this kind of situation can be addressed in future updates, but it’s still a huge improvement.

Mahalo again to Apple for their support of ka ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i.

Over the past month or so I’ve received a number of connection requests, many in fields that I know little about. While I’m happy to listen to these peoples’ releases, I do not vote in categories that I don’t know well. I wish others would do the same. Here is my recent status update on Grammy365.com:

I’m grateful for all of the recent connection, requested and made, over the past month or so. My apologies for not replying to each individually. I like GRAMMY 365 a lot and realize it’s potential. I have to say, though, that it also has it’s downside. Personally I only vote in those categories that I’m knowledgeable about, like the new Regional Roots, Pop, Rock, Jazz and Folk fields, and I wish everyone would do that. I’m happy to listen to the submissions that everyone makes and suggests to me, but unless I really know the scope of the field in which your release has been entered, I probably won’t vote in if. The upside is that I will become more knowledgeable about those categories and at the point I know the lay of the land well enough, I may start voting in them.

While I have no releases of my own entered, a few are that my compositions appear on, Hawaiian entries in the Regional Roots category. I will post links to those releases when the preliminary ballot ships. If you know the genres included in those categories well enough to make an informed vote, and believe that these releases are worthy, I would be honored if you’d consider voting for them. Mahalo a nui (many thanks)

Mahalo e ko Apple i ke kāko‘o mau ‘ana i ka ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i!

The paper is entitled “Puana ‘Ia me ka ‘Oko‘a: A Comparative Analysis of Hawaiian Language Pronunciation as Spoken and Sung”, and it is a translation, distillation, and revision of my MA thesis, which was originally written in Hawaiian. It is a comparative analysis that uses recordings and compositions by John Kameaaloha Almeida. It took nearly two years for me to translate and pare down, and nearly another two years to tweak it, get feedback, and then get it published. One reviewer felt is wasn’t linguistically focused for this journal, but I think I made an important point that in addition to acknowledging the importance of linguistic diversity in terms of the number of languages that are thriving in society, we also must look at and preserve the diversity that is inherent within a single language. To make this point I documented and examined some significant differences in Hawaiian language as spoken and sung. Some of these differences have been mentioned previously, but never closely examined nor explained.

During that same trip to Ireland I developed a taste for the Guinness, though it does taste quite different there than anywhere else. Perhaps it was simply the influence of the place. When I returned I found it difficult to enjoy Guinness on tap where it is served. May obviously don’t know hot to pour the perfect pint. Others seemed to do it right, but it still wasn’t the same. Since then I’ve been a bit more adventurous about trying new beers, both at home and while we travel, and try to support micro-brewers where we can. Some of have been great, and others, well, blech! Here are my current faves, in no particular order. Don’t ask me about the citrus-y taste or how it finishes. I’m no beer-tasting expert, just know what I like.

Guinness Extra Stout
While I don’t care at all for the Guinness Draught in a bottle or can, with that funky widget they put in to to aerate the beer, Guinness Extra Stout definitely whets the whistle. Dark and heavy deliciousness. It also has the advantage of being available just about everywhere.

Kona Brewing Fire Rock Pale Ale
My partner in musical crime, Kenneth Makuakāne, brought a six pack of this local wonder to my house on night a few years ago and I was hooked. Has a nice bite but still smooth. It’s also found throughout the state, in stores and on tap in many places.

Sam Adams Boston Lager
I tried Sam years ago and didn’t like it at all. I know it couldn’t have change that much between now and then, so it must be that my taste buds are getting more sophisticated. Like Guinness, widely available and a solid fallback or for a change of pace.

Hawai‘i Nui Brewing Southern Cross
I said I wasn’t going to put things in a particular order, but I have to admit that Southern Cross is my current fave. One of the more flavorful beers I’ve ever encountered, not too light, not too heavy. In the past it’s only been availably seasonally (October through March), but they are now bottling it and it is supposed to be available year round now. I have a growler and tend to fill it up at their tasting room on Kāwili St. in Hilo, but the bottles will do in a pinch.

I’m still not a big beer drinker. A six pack will last me a few weeks, and a filled growler a bit less. Then go weeks or months without. But when I do, I appreciate the wisdom of that Irish bartender a decade ago about Bud Light. To paraphrase Crocodile Dundeee, “that ain’t a beer. These are beers.”