LEO 'ELELE - TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Haunani Apoliona, MSW
Chairperson, Trustee, At-large

E ō e nā 'ōiwi 'ōlino, nā pulapula a Hāloa, mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau, puni ke ao mālamalama. Last month our chant for the nation, Nā 'Ōiwi 'Ōlino, was our focus.

My column this month focuses on one of our 'ōiwi 'ōlino Haunani Bernardino who now sleeps from season to season.

Those who knew Haunani B. recognized in her first and foremost her pride in and love for Hawai'i and for all things Hawaiian; they also experienced her continual outpouring of “expression” whether through her teaching, her classroom instruction, her choral directing, her music performance, or her poetic composition. Her zest for life and her spirit to enjoy it as a Native Hawaiian never constrained her exploration into other cultures or genres.

The Hawaiian touch by this Hawaiian wahine brought just a bit more glow and style to the occasion. Po'okela was her work standard, always striving to do her best and striving to improve in each task or project. And, she expected no less from those around her in their own endeavors.

Just prior to her passing, she explains in a written message dated July 2006 her thoughts about bringing the Hawaiian touch to a composition of the 16th and 17th century. You will recognize it as Ho'onani I Ka Makua Mau.

Haunani's mana'o follows: “After the New England missionaries arrived in Hawai'i many became proficient in Hawaiian and some eventually composed hymns in Hawaiian. There were brand new compositions and there were renderings from English to Hawaiian of already existing hymns. Ho'onani I Ka Makua Mau is an example of the latter, written by Rev. Hiram Bingham for Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow. On October 13, 2005, a second verse was added.

At a rehearsal of the UH Hilo choral group, Kealohaonālani, one of the members, Liko Puha, recorded the singing of Ho'onani I Ka Makua Mau and later forwarded it to me via email. After listening to the recording, I felt somewhat sad that the hymn was oh too short! So I decided to compose another verse. My hope was to write four lines that were worthy of the magnificence and grandness of the first verse, while also reflecting a Hawaiian point of view. Therefore, I looked to the natural world and the things that grace our universe: the earth, ocean, sky, the stars and the heavens.

Thus, Kūnou Ha'aha'a Ko Ka Honua was created and gratefully dedicated to those voices of Kealohaonālani.

The melody for Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow and Ho'onani I Ka Makua Mau is at least 450 years old, dating back to 1551 and its composer, Louis Bourgeois, in Geneva, Switzerland; its name then – Old Hundredth.

The text for Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow is also historic, having been written in the year 1674 in Winchester, England by Rev. Thomas Ken, as part of a rather long hymn — Awake My Soul, And With The Sun. At some point the Bourgeois melody and the Ken text were paired, but when or how the pairing occurred is not known at this printing.”

Here is H.B.'s second verse. Kūnou ha'aha'a ko ka honua (all the earth bows in tribute) Nā uliuli o ke kai (as do the riches of the sea) Nā 'ano lani kau hōkū (the celestials among the stars) Nā nani o ka 'ōnaeao (and the splendors of the universe). From this season forward let our voices add these Hawaiian thoughts in song to praise God from whom all blessings flow in tribute to the Hawaiian point of view and in celebration of the life, and the spirit, the po'okela of Haunani B. 37/48