2018 Merrie Monarch 18-19 Sunday, April 1, 2018 OBIG ISLAND
f the 24 halau competing
in the 2018 Merrie
Monarch Festival, three
are from Hawaii Island.
Two of those halau, Halau
O Ka Ua Kani Lehua and Hula Halau O
Kou Lima Nani ‘E, are based in Hilo. The
third, Halau Manaola, is from Kohala.
All will compete in the wahine
(women’s) division and all have
Miss Aloha Hula candidates.
Johnny Lum Ho, kumu hula of Halau
O Ka Ua Kani Lehua, is known for his
creativity, writing almost all the chants
and songs his halau performs in addition
to creating the choreography. He’s also
the unofficial dean of Merrie Monarch
kumu, the last living kumu from the first
Merrie Monarch competition in 1971.
“I’m just thankful that I’m still living,
that I have my halau and we can perform at
the Merrie Monarch,” Lum Ho said. In 2016,
Lum Ho’s halau won the wahine overall title.
Lum Ho traces his roots to a number
of kumu hula of yesteryear, such as Lehua
Kamalamalama, Edith Kanaka‘ole and
George Na‘ope. Once ashamed of his
trademark falsetto voice, he followed his
sister’s footsteps in becoming a singer.
“When I used to sing with George
Na‘ope and Aunty Edith, I always used
to see how they teach. After awhile, I
said, ‘Oh, I can do that,’” he recalled.
Lum Ho, then in his 20s, started his
halau in the late ’60s and, with encouragement
from Na‘ope, led his haumana
(students) to a second-place finish in the
initial Merrie Monarch competition.
“Uncle George and I became good
friends. He liked to drink and so
did I. He was the one who told me,
‘Enter the girls,’” Lum Ho said.
Iwalani Kalima, kumu hula of Hula
Halau O Kou Lima Nani ‘E, was a student
of Na‘ope’s and received her ‘uniki, hula’s
graduation, from the revered hula master
and Merrie Monarch Festival co-founder
in 1982. She’s also part of a well-known
music and hula family from Keaukaha.
“I teach to perpetuate the legacy of
Uncle George, to showcase his style, and
also to honor my family,” Kalima said.
This will be her halau’s third time in
hula’s most prestigious competition. The
first was in 2006 and the second, last year.
At Na‘ope’s request, Kalima also directed
his halau on the Merrie Monarch stage in
1982, shortly after she became a kumu.
Nani Lim Yap, kumu hula of Halau
Manaola in Kohala, also is part of a music
and hula family dynasty. The Lim family
was honored with a Na Hoku Hanohano
Lifetime Achievement award in 2012. She
and older sister Leialoha Lim Amina, as
co-kumu of Halau Na Lei O Kaholoku,
were dominant in the Merrie Monarch
wahine group competition in the mid-
2000s, taking wahine overall honors
from 2004-06 and the wahine kahiko
(ancient hula) titles in 2004 and 2005.
After the sisters went their separate
ways, Lim Yap started Halau Manaola,
named after her son, a successful fashion
designer and hula dancer. The new
halau placed second in wahine kahiko
and third in wahine overall in 2016.
As it turns out, ‘ohana, family,
plays a big role in the lives and
art of all three Big Island kumu.
Lum Ho credits his late mother,
Martha Lum Ho, as the inspiration
for his storytelling.
“My mother was pure Hawaiian. She
was fluent in Hawaiian. She came from
down the boondocks in Puna,” he said. “I
learned all the things that are in my chants
By JOHN BURNETT
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
PRIDE OF THE
Kumu hula of Hilo, Kohala halau reflect on Johnny Lum Ho
Halau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua
Nani Lim Yap
Halau Manaola