Pulama: Music Page

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Track 12.  Pōhai Ke Aloha  4:13  (Lena Machado)
In her book, Lena Machado: Songbird of Hawai‘i, the great singer’s hānai daughter, Pi‘olani Motta, relates that Machado wrote this song, “Surrounded by Love,” about the love between Royal Hawaiian Bandmaster Mekia Kealaka‘i and his wife, Mele. Whenever he talked about his wife, Mekia smiled with tears in his eyes, “kō mino‘aka mai, me ka waimaka.”

Pōhai Ke Aloha

Music by: Mekia Kealaka‘i, Lyrics by: Lena Machado

 

 

Pōhai ke aloha lā i ke kino                          Love encircles one

Ko mino‘aka mai, me ka waimaka            Smiling through tears

Kehakeha i ka wai puhilani ho‘opulu       Glorious, with heavenly flowing tears wetting

Ana i o‘u Pāpālina                                        The cheeks

 

Ka ne‘e mai a ke ao hekili                           The approach of the thundercloud

I ke alo o nā kumu hau ‘ekolu                    Before the three hau trees

Kama lani, kama nui, kama iki ka home Heavenly child, great child, tiny child at the home

O nā ali‘i holokai                                          Of the seafaring chiefs

 

E ō mai ku‘u lani. lei loke o Maui            Respond, my royal one, rose garland of Maui

I mānai ‘ia me ke aloha                             Strung as a lei, with love

Mali ‘ia iho i ka hā‘upu                              Brought together by the memories

Ke aloha i ho‘okō ai                                    Of the love that we have shared