Hawaii Tribune-Herald Sunday, April 1, 2018 31
Welcome to Puna!
On the way to Volcanoes National
Park, Golf, Lava Flow, & Hot Ponds
Hungry?
We’ve got lots of choices at
Kea‘au Shopping Center!
Stop by for those famous
L & L Drive-Inn plates, or grab some
groceries and deli at Foodland Kea‘au.
There’s Kea‘au Natural Foods for fresh,
local, vegetarian treats, and you can spice
up your life with delicious, fresh items at
Lemongrass Thai Restaurant!
Get laundry out of the way at
Suds n Duds, and get a great
style/cut at Supercuts. In a hurry?
Pick up a pizza at Pizza Hut,
or try the all-you-can-eat buffet
at Canton Garden Cafe.
Hit Ace Hardware for the
nuts and bolts to fi x anything.
Head into The Coffee Bean and
Tea Leaf for a great pick-me-up.
“Serving Aloha one cup at a time”
Sadorra Floral Designs
for beautiful lei & roses!
It’s always fresh at Subway,
right next door!
Check out
Need to fi ll a prescription?
Longs Drugs is here too.
Kea‘au Shopping Center
2018 Merrie Monarch Festival
to play and you never knew what
was going on,” he said. “By the
time I figured it out, they were all
gone. My mom would teach me
hula. My grandma and my aunts
would teach me Hawaiian language
and arts and crafts. Once they all
passed, I realized that was part of
training” to become a kumu.
Hamada attended Kamehameha
Schools Kapalama, where his
knowledge of hula and culture
became “more refined” under
the tutelage of Holoua Stender
and Randie Kamuela Fong.
“When I went back to Kauai
after high school, there was a little
more training. And then, my
mom decided I was set and ready
to start my own halau,” he said.
Hamada started his halau on
Labor Day 1997 in Federal Way,
a suburb of about 100,000 population
between Seattle and Tacoma.
“I have women who have been
with me for 15, 16 years,” he said.
“Some of my dancers are Hawaiian
descendents but they were all
born up here. I have several in the
line who are non-Hawaiian.”
Hamada has one haumana
who has danced in Merrie
Monarch before, with Mark
Keali‘i Ho‘omalu’s Academy of
Hawaiian Arts in Oakland, Calif.
Although this will be the first
appearance at Merrie Monarch for
Ke‘ala ‘O Kamailelauli‘ili‘i, the halau
has done well in other competitions
in Hawaii and on the West Coast.
They won the group wahine kahiko
and ‘auana in the 2016 Kauai
Mokihana Festival and also took the
top spot in group wahine kahiko in
the 2015 Kauai Mokihana Festival.
“We’ve been going through
the circuit of hula competitions,
basically getting ourselves
exposure,” Hamada said.
The halau will dance hula kahiko
(ancient hula) to the traditional chant
“Kunihi Ka‘ena Holo I Ka Malie.”
“It basically talks about Hi‘iaka,”
Hamada said. “She finishes her journey
to Kaua‘i to fetch Lohiau for
Pele. As she leaves Kauai for O‘ahu,
she pays homage to Pokaku O Kauai
in the middle of the ocean. And
as she climbs the hill, Ka‘ala, she
recalls her journey — her fatigue and
how hot it is. When she reaches the
top, she looks over toward Hawaii
Island and celebrates, because she’s
excited that she’s on her way home.”
Hamada said he chose this
mele “because I’m from Kauai.”
“It’s all about the journey for me,
and how I left Kauai and I’m here in
Washington now,” he said. “And I’m
bringing my girls home and carrying
them on this journey with me. The
hardships and the hard work and the
experiences that we go through. A
lot of it is about paying homage to
our kupuna that came before. And
as we reach our goal and look for
the homestretch, how we celebrate,
our excitement and adrenaline.”
For hula ‘auana (modern hula),
the halau will dance to “No‘eno‘e
Maika‘i Ke Aloha,” a traditional
mele best known from a recording
by the Brothers Cazimero.
“It’s a mele pana (place song)
for the island of Kauai. It also
has connotations of lovemaking
and a tribute to the Kalakaua
dynasty,” Hamada said.
Hamada said halau members
who are in high school and college
must maintain a 3.5 gradepoint
average to go on the road.
“Even when we’re on the road
and they’re in school, they have
to bring their homework with us,”
he said. “And every day on the
road, we have study hall. We stop
whatever we’re doing and we have
study hall for an hour or two. It’s
all about education, and not just in
hula. That’s how I was taught. You
have to be well-rounded, I think.”
Like many in hula’s farflung
world, Kamaile and
halau have followed the Merrie
Monarch live on the internet.
“The last couple of years, we’ve
used a projector and projected it
on the wall at halau,” he said. “We
come with our sleeping bags and potluck
and everybody enjoys it there.
But this year, it’s more exciting
because we’re going to be in Hilo.
“As soon as we get there is when
all of the experiences will start to
come alive — going to the beaches,
going to the volcano, going to
the forest, all that kind of stuff.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@
hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Calling From page 30
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