Wisdom, whimsy add glow to wares
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
There's more at the monthly Handcrafters and Artisan Alliance Artfest at Kapi'olani Park than meets the eye — and yesterday's event was no exception.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
True, dozens of booths filled with everything from fancy Hawaiian body lotions to stained-glass lampworking to custom-made computer dust covers were more than enough to satisfy the average weekend throng.
Sami Fevaleaki holds up one of several carved swordfish bills at his Mata'u 'A Maui tent at the Artfest at Kapi'olani Park. Fevaleaki, who learned his craft in Tonga, also sells tikis and bone jewelry.
And every bit of it, as event director Sheri Bentley was quick to point out, was "absolutely and totally handmade and not just something off the boat with the tags."
But, for the inquisitive, the Artfest offered extras. Virtually everyone who operated a booth had a story to tell that added to the experience.
At the Mata'u 'A Maui booth, for example, Sami Fevaleaki of Kahuku was pleased to show off his wares, which included tikis made of milo and hau wood, as well as swords carved from marlin and swordfish bills (he gets them special from a fisherman named Capt. Joe). He learned his craft as a child in Tonga by sitting for hours watching his father and grandfather.
But when asked politely, he brought out an object on a coconut-fiber necklace that he described as extraordinary: a 150-year-old whale bone pendant carved by an ancestor — his great-grandfather.
What made the pendant remarkable, he said, was that it's one of the few spared destruction by missionaries.
"This is not one I sell," he said. "This one I know is Hikule'o, who was a female god. Hikule'o means 'the sound.' This is how they describe the god, as 'the sound.' "
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Not far away, what sounded like a beautiful old hapa-haole recording wafting through the palms was in fact Elenora Kalilikane of Nanakuli playing an eight-string tenor 'ukulele and singing "Lahaina" piped through a vintage 10-inch Peavey amplifier stashed in the grass next to her booth.
Surrounded by her lauhala crafts, Elenora Kalilikane plays her eight-string tenor 'ukulele and sings hapa-haole songs and Hawaiian favorites in her tent at the Handcrafters and Artisan Alliance Artfest, which continues today.
Kalilikane operated Crafts by Ella where, for $9 to $105, people could buy hand-woven lauhala purses, mats and other items — some of which take her nearly a month to fashion. She said she learned the delicate weave from her grandmother and grandfather, Nohola and John Luna.
But her ongoing concert was free and drew a smiling crowd of onlookers.
At 65, Kalilikane sings with the velvet voice of a young woman. She thinks it might have something to do with her being a country kid at heart.
"I'm actually a Maui girl," said Elenora, whose husband, Sam — a retired Pearl Harbor journeyman welder — kept the electricity flowing to the Peavey speaker via a generator stationed at the base of a coconut tree 50 yards away.
"I'm not a Honolulu girl, although I've lived here since I was 13. You can't get the country out of me. And God has been wonderful to me and my voice. I started singing in church."
Kalilikane, who normally is a Hawaiian studies teacher at Nanakuli Elementary School, says she does the Artfest for relaxation. One time she brought her uke and sang — and ever since, folks have insisted on making it a permanent attraction.
Kalilikane will be singing again today, as the Artfest continues from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And, along with Fevaleaki, Bentley and all the others, she will be pleased to tell her story.
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
