A tribute to songbird Lena Machado

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

•	Ka Himeni Ana Presented by the R.M. Towill Corp. 8 p.m. Saturday Hawai'i Theatre $6-$30 528-0506

Her hanai daughter, Pi'olani Motta, will be on hand to reflect on the glory of the veteran singer-composer, who was the essence of Ka Himeni Ana's spirit of singing naturally, without artificial (read: electronic) amplification.

"This will be one of many nice ways in remembering Auntie Lena," said Motta, 73, who became a hanai or adoptive daughter when she was 4. "Auntie Lena and her husband Luciano Machado, who was a policeman, had no children; I was the last of her hanai kids. There were three other boys, all of whom have passed on."

Machado, one of the pioneering Hawaiian singers who wrote many of the tunes she performed, was of the old school. She sang without amplification for many of her gigs. It's this "natural" style of vocalizing, with acoustic instrumentation, that Ka Himeni Ana honors and spotlights annually, holding a contest to discover singers and groups who best exemplify this by-gone tradition.

"I remember one time when Auntie Lena was coming in on a boat," said Motta. "They didn't have amplification, yet you could hear her voice project to the pier."

Machado was a prime mover o the falsetto form, her vigorous soprano embracing such classics as "E Ku'u Baby (Hot Cha Cha)," "Ei Nei," "Ho'onanea," "Kamalani O Keaukaha," and "Kau'oha Mai (Keyhole Hula)."

"The recognition will be good to inform some of today's young people about her accomplishments," said Motta, who was adopted by Machado because her natural parents had three children and the entertainer felt Motta's mother would do better freed from having to raise an elder daughter.

"My dad, Joseph Motta, was a drummer and tympanist with the Royal Hawaiian Band," said Motta. "My mom would bring me and my younger brother to see and hear Auntie Lena; she invited me to spend some time with her, first a day, then a weekend, then several days, then months and then years.

By the time Machado died in 1974, Motta was the sole survivor and consequently was willed the catalogue and repertoire of the veteran performer, who had been widowed in 1958.

"It was a time when she was her own manager, making up her own contracts, doing all those deals herself," said Motta. "Now, there are royalties from her song collection, not much; but since 1993, the money has been going to the Lena Machado Haku Mele Award, to a Kamehameha senior who excels in music composition."

A Hawaiian Airlines administrative employee who retired 11 years ago, Motta said she is compiling a new Lena Machado songbook of 30 titles, some known and some previously unpublished. She plans to release it next year through Machado's publisher, Arcadia Music Co., to coincide with the 100th birthday anniversary of Machado on Oct. 16.

"The thing about Auntie Lena is that she always helped convey the aloha spirit," said Motta. "When I went on trips with her after high school, she always told me to smile, to look Hawaiian, to say aloha, and to smile. That was her way, from California to New Jersey, all over America."