Artist: Frank Kawaikapukalani Hewett

Title: Ho'ola  I Ka Poli (Healing in the Heart) (DHC 80071)

Label: Daniel Ho Creations

Release Date: June 2009

By Audrey Coleman

Some precious gifts are wrapped in delicate tissue papers of many colors, a layered rainbow of sorts that you would not want to tear but would want to keep and cherish along with the gift. Unwrapping the meaning of an exquisitely crafted Hawaiian mele can give you this feeling, especially if you approach it as one who doesn't know the language. Mele is often translated to mean the word song and perhaps it is most quickly understood that way. But the Hawaiian mele evolved from ancient poetic chants that often were accompanied by dance. Following the opening of Hawai'i to European and American seafarers, the mele tradition absorbed new influences and continues to do so. At its best, however, it retains a poetic quality inspired by love of the Hawaiian homeland and its culture.

Ho'ola i ka Poli (Healing in the Heart) the 2009 release by Frank Kawaikapukalani Hewett, represents the blooming to maturity of a distinguished Hawaiian poet, musician, dancer, and cultural practitioner. For some 35 years Hewett has been writing poetry and music in addition to performing and teaching hula.

How can those of us unfamiliar with Hawaiian language and culture appreciate and enjoy this CD? First layer to unwrap: It helps to know something about the songwriter. Frank Hewett grew up in Ola'a on the Big Island, speaking Hawaiian with his family during an era when the American school system forbade Hawaiian children from speaking their native tongue. He heard ancient stories that imbued with life the luxuriant flora, waterfalls, sea, rain, volcanic fires to be found on Hawai'i Island. He learned the mele familiar to the community, songs that had hidden meanings that one came to understand as one grew older. A lei strung with a specific flower could represent a particular loved one, a waterfall located somewhere on the island could represent passion for a certain person. These elements helped form a poet and composer. His grandmother introduced the boy to the hula, and later, he studied with two of its great exponents, Edith Kanaka'ole and Emma DeFries. Hula became an extension of the songs and stories. Aunty Emma gave Frank his Hawaiian name, which came to her in a vision. Ka wai kapu o ka lani means sacred waters of the heavens.

To watch Frank Kawaikapukalani Hewett dance hula is to witness the supreme grace that a man can express through that dance form. As master of ceremonies for the three-day E Hula Mau Competition and Hawaiian Festival in Long Beach for the past three years, occasionally he has taken to the stage to dance hula, leaving the audience rapt and wishing for more.

Next layer: How do we unlock the language? The best we Anglos can do is read the translations that Hewett or, as Hawaiians often call him, Kawaikapu, kindly provides. It is worth the trouble to discover the meaning. Reading the liner translations, right away one notices the contrast between the wealth of imagery and emotion in the poetry and the simplicity of the melodies. The musical arrangements, however, capture the spirit of each song and the mellow voice of Kawaikapu's daughter Ula adds luster. In the first song, Lei Au I Ke Aloha O Ke Akua (I Wear God's Love as a Lei), there is even a touch of gospel in Daniel Ho's piano accompaniment. Evoking different lei made with kukui nuts, koa wood, and poni mo'i, he concludes:

Hawai'i is beautiful with its many woven lei

My lei of love comes from God, never to be removed.

The second track is yet another love letter to his Hawaiian home, this time enhanced by Daniel Ho's rhythmic slack key guitar complete with artful vamp embellishments. The third has daughter Ula commanding the vocals in a tribute to the delicate beauty of the ola flower found around his Big Island home. Yet this beloved lei also represents his parental heritage.

If you learn one Hawaiian phrase from this album, it will be ku'u ipo - my sweetheart. It crops up over and over in the descriptions of lei from Hawaiian's many tropics flowers.

The last song on the CD is one of Kawaikapu's favorites. Composed more than 25 years ago, Hinaikamalama, refers to the wedding night of a chief from Kaua'i who has married a chiefess from Maui. Their union is sabotaged by the magical powers of his former wife and her sisters, goddesses of mist and snow. The lyrics do not tell the story but rather focus on the frustration, fear, and pain of the newlyweds who are longing for an unattainable union. Daniel Ho has set this jewel in a stunning guitar and piano arrangement that builds in intensity. Ula's voice joins Kawaikapu's for the refrains, the two of them eloquently expressing the unfulfilled yearning of the couple.

No doubt there are layers of meaning that can only be penetrated by one deeply immersed in the history and culture of Hawai'i, but there is enough to be gleaned on this CD to make it well worth owning. The title of Ho'ola i ka Poli (Healing in My Heart) suggests a spirit that has come to terms with past demons and is able to savor life's sweetness to the fullest. The CD Kawaikapu recorded in 2008, Honehone i ka Poli (Sweetly Resounding in My Heart) evokes a similar serene phase in the composer's life.

Over 20 other Hawaiian vocalists have recorded Kawaikapu's songs to great acclaim, among them the legendary Aunty Genoa Keawe, the Makaha Sons, and the Brothers Cazimero. Although Kawaikapu is not a musical explorer or arranger in the vein of Keola Beamer or the Cazimeros, his simple melodies lend themselves well to a variety of rich arrangements by others. True to the tradition of the mele, his poetry comes first. It will touch anyone who treasures nature, family, and the journey of love.

Audrey Coleman is a writer, educator, and passionate explorer of world music and culture.