Posted on: Friday, April 1, 2005

MERRIE MONARCH 2005 ONLINE DIARY • DAY THREE
A Merrie Monarch first

By Wanda Adams
Assistant Features Editor

March 31, 2005.

HILO, Hawai'i — On Friday evening, in the kahiko (traditional style) group hula division of the Merrie Monarch hula competition, Kailua's Halau Mohala 'Ilima's selection will be "Alekoki." On Saturday night, their auana (modern style) group hula selection will be... "Alekoki."

And no, this is not a program error. Nor is it a breach of the Merrie Monarch's many and arcane rules, which state that the same song may be used twice in the competition so long as it appears in different divisions. Kumu hula Mapuana de Silva explains that "Alekoki" is one of those mele (songs) that fits into the transition period between chant and Western-style melody: It was originally an 'oli and became a popular Western-style mele hula. (Assuming you have lived here for a while, even if you can't bring it to mind now, the minute you hear the song, you'll recognize it.)

And it is precisely because it is so popular and so well-known that De Silva, known for solid scholarship and painstaking performance, but not fireworks, decided to take the unusual step of performing it in all its incarnations. It's the first time this tactic has been chosen by a halau for Merrie Monarch performances.

"Some might think how boring, but we look at it as giving us an opportunity to learn about the song in its depth. For that reason, it's not boring but exciting," de Silva said.

She also hopes to correct a widely held belief about the song: that it was written by King David Kalakaua. In fact, scholars say, the love song, written around 1885 or 1886, was the work of Lunalilo and refers to his blighted love for Kamamalu. Images such as storms and wind in the song refer to the problems they encountered: They were forbidden by their sovereign, Liholiho, to marry or even see each other, and gossip swirled surrounded their relationship and its end.

The award-winning women of De Silva's halau will not only render a version of the original chant as their kahiko performance, but will also interpret two musical versions of the modern mele.

Another interesting footnote to this performance is that the audience will have the opportunity to hear many more of the verses than are normally performed. There are about 40 verses in existance, de Silva said, but only six or eight are routinely performed.

Furthermore, the song is often not correctly understood, de Silva said. It's seen as a tender love song ("you have a sweet perfume that has come to me here"), but if you look closely at the verses, she said, you'll see more. "If you study it, you'll see it's his expression of his heartacheover what happened," she said. ("I'm overcome with cold, waiting here.")

De Silva has used simple choreography, some her own and some from previously choreographed works she learned early in her hula career. "We hope that this will give people another reason to look closely at a song they think they know."

Must go now. The stadium is filling for the Miss Aloha Hula competition ... we're underway!