Pulama: Music Page

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from: The Song Within The Song

track 6-b. E Ho‘olana No Lōkahi  (James Romano)

 

E Ho‘olana No Lōkahi / E ‘Ilau Hoe Kākou 7:18 (James Romano)
Jim wrote these two songs for the annual canoe-blessing ceremony of the Lōkahi Outrigger Canoe Club of Petaluma, California. E Ho‘olana No Lōkahi (Launching for Lōkahi) uses chants to tell of the 1976 launching of the Hōkūle‘a, the double-hulled canoe that became the lodestar of the Hawaiian renaissance. On its maiden voyage, the Hōkūle‘a sailed from Hawai‘i to Tahiti, using only traditional methods of navigation. The chants used in the lyrics are: Ē Kia‘i, an invocation to the guardians and guides of the canoe-builders and crew, written by Mary Kawena Pukui; Kīauau, a traditional work chant used in pulling a canoe into the water; and Lolo ‘Ana, a traditional offering to the gods to keep the canoe safe upon the sea.

The second song, E ‘Ilau Hoe Kākou (“Let’s Paddle Together”), sings of gathering together with aloha for the sea and the canoe, and of working together as a whole.

E ‘Ilau Hoe Kākou

By: Jim Romano

 

He aloha nō i ke kai                                       

E lawe mai ma’ane‘i kākou                                        

He aloha nō i ka wa’a                                    

E ho‘ākoakoa kākou                                      

Love for the sea

Brings us here

Love for the canoe

Brings us together

                                               

Ā me  hanu ho‘okahi                                      

E ‘ilau hoe kākou                                           

Ā me hanu ho‘okahi                                       

E ne‘epapa kākou                                           

With one breath   

Let’s paddle together

With one breath

Let’s move together as a whole

 

E alu like mai                                                 

E ‘ilau mai kākou                                           

E alu like mai                                                 

E ‘ilau mai kākou                                           

Work together

Let’s work together

Work together

Let’s work together

 

Inst.

 

Ā me hanu ho‘okahi                                       

E ‘ilau hoe kākou                                           

Ā me hanu ho‘okahi                                       

E ne‘epapa kākou                                                       

With one breath

Let’s paddle together

With one breath

Let’s move together as a whole

 

E alu like mai                                                 

E ‘ilau mai kākou                                           

E alu like mai                                                 

E ‘ilau mai kākou                                           

Work together

Let’s work together

Work together

Let’s work together

 

E ‘Ilau Hoe Kākou (Let’s paddle together),

Sings of gathering together with aloha for the sea, the canoe,

and of working together as a whole.