Posted on: Friday, May 27, 2005

HAWAIIAN STYLE

By Wade Kilohana Shirkey
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu's going to throw itself a party — a yearlong one. After all, she's 100 years old.

It starts July 1 with the sweet sound of 100 pu, the conch shell.

Incorporated on July 1, 1905, Honolulu must have been a bustling little seaport. Passenger and cargo ships plying a busy harbor. Trolley cars and O'ahu Railway scurrying the mercantile streets downtown, around a very central 'A'ala Park — literally, "fragrant," said to be named for the sweet smell of nearby laundries.

"That would have been THE park" at the time, said Wayne Kaho'onei Panoke, assistant executive director of the Mayor's Office of Culture and the Arts, who is one of the organizers of the city's 100th birthday event.

It was a time of elegance, style and charm.

"The women would be dressed in long, elegant dresses with bustles," said Hawaiiana expert and kumu hula — and fellow "party planner" — Vicky Holt Takamine, with a nostalgic gleam in her eyes.

"Carrying parasols — not those backpacks!" Panoke said.

The Honolulu Centennial Celebration Commission chose the theme Ha'aheo No 'O Honolulu — Honolulu Pride — for the yearlong celebration of the diversity that has formed our city.

The theme might well have been "One Hundred of Everything," joked Takamine, as organizers focus on opening night, a free Waikiki Shell extravaganza and yearlong celebration that would have a hundred of everything, one for each year since the city's incorporation: 100 singers and 100 dancers for the opening-night show; 100 centennial events spread throughout the year, and the naming of 100 of the city's most prominent citizens.

And, the sounding of 100 pu.

There will be a little of something for everyone, said Takamine: Chinese lions and dragons, taiko drumming, jazz, and Samoan and Hawaiian music and dance. "And Filipino," notes Panoke, citing a part of the community that also celebrates a 100th birthday (of the first immigration) next year.

"It's going to be a blending of what Honolulu is!" Takamine said.

It is hoped, as planning progresses, said Panoke, that all of Honolulu's signature events — the ethnic festivals, floral parades, music events and annual celebrations — coordinate their celebrations of the Ha'aheo No 'O Honolulu theme.

Organizers hope to include outlying areas — from Wai'anae and Kapolei to Kahuku and Hale'iwa. "That's the mayor's (Mufi Hannemann's) vision," Panoke said.

Why the 100 conch shells? "The pu has always been used to kahea the people — to call, invoke, greet — together, to begin an important event," Takamine said.

"And, to greet the arrival of ali'i," Panoke said.

How do you find 100 accomplished pu blowers? "Trumpet players do it real well," Takamine said. "If they're in band, they can pucker up — that vibration of the lip.

"Find a band member, and you have a potential conch-shell blower."

Additionally, within many hula halau, you'll find a trained conch-shell blower.

Takamine hopes the 100 shell blowers will kick-start a renaissance of the art form.

Although organizers are still noodling on how the 100 conch-shell blowers will present the opening kahea for the yearlong celebration, Takamine sees the 100 encircling the Waikiki Shell audience on opening night. "Conch shell surround-sound," she jokes.

"Such a chicken-skin moment ... a spirituality. Think of yourself in the middle of that!"

To sign up for the July 1 opening-night ceremonies at Waikiki Shell, or for participation in the yearlong celebration, call 523-4674.