Lyr Add: Hukilau Song

Subject: Lyr Add: Hukilau Song
From: chico
Date: 16 Apr 06 - 02:02 PM

  (f#, a ab g f# a a ab g; f# f# e e d d b b f# f# e d
  
            D6
  Oh we're going to a hukilau
              C°           A7
  A huki huki huki huki hukilau
  
  Everybody loves the hukilau
                                         D6
  Where the laulau is the kaukau at the big luau
  
       B7
  We throw our nets out into the sea
       E7
  And all the ama-ama come a swimming to me
  
              D6        C°
  Oh, we're going to a hukilau
          Em        A7  D
  A huki huki huki hukilau
  
  VERSE
  
   D6
  What a beautiful day for fishing
                     A7
  That old Hawaiian way
             Em               A7
  Where the hukilau nets are swishing
           E7       A7
  Down in old Laie bay
  
  Oh we're going &c

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hukilau Song
From: chico
Date: 16 Apr 06 - 02:07 PM

[Jack Owens. Source One night, in 1948, the composer was suffering aches and pains after attending a hukilau at Laie. He wrote this song, introduced it publicly at a Methodist lu`au in Honolulu and it became an instant success.

This is an old Hawaiian way of fishing, involving casting a long net from the shore, then enlisting a large group to help to pull the net to shore. The net is lined with ki (ti) leaves which help scare fish toward the middle of the net.

Huki = pull lau = leaves, specifically

'Ama'Ama mullet, Mugil cephalus, a very choice indigenous fish, at the stage that it is 20 cm long.

Everyone knows what a lû`au is -- that Hawaiian feast or party with lots of food. But did you know that it means the leaf of the kalo (taro) plant in Hawaiian ?

A laulau is an authentic Hawaiian entree. Made with chunks of pork, chicken, fish (salt salmon or sablefish) and/or vegetables, wrapped in taro leaves. Once bundled, it is firmly wrapped with ki (ti) leaves to form a pouch that seals the moisture and marries the flavors of the fillings and seasonings. Laulau are cooked in a pressure cooker or in an imu (underground oven).

In the 1940s, the town of La'ie, on Oahu's North Shore, held weekend fundraisers at this bay, featuring a hukilau followed by a lû`au and hula show. This popular event, which drew hundreds of tourists from Waikîkî, would eventually evolve into the present day Polynesian Cultural Center.

La'ie refers to the leaf of the `ie`ie, a woody, vining plant." It is the traditional birthplace of the sacred princess Lâ`ieikawai (`ie`ie leaf in the water), who was taken to the the mythical paradeise Paliuli (green cliff) on Hawai`i. ]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hukilau Song
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 01:58 AM

Jack Owens first sang the "Hukilau Song" at a Methodist lu'au in Honolulu. It is said that in a very few days, the song had spread all over the island.
The hukilau at La'ie is no longer held. The town is best known for an impressive Mormon Temple, and a branch of Brigham Young University and its Polynesian Cultural Center.
Somehow, I have managed to avoid visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center (the major tourist attraction outside of Honolulu), run to provide funds for Brigham Young University at La'ie and the Center itself.

Notes I have given on this song and in the thread on the "Hale'iwa Hula" are mostly from George S. Kanahele, 1979, "Hawaiian Music and Musicians," 543 pp., University Press of Hawai'i.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hukilau Song
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 02:40 AM

Laulau means a bundle- it may be food, clothing, etc. But Chico is correct in that it is an excellent way to seal in moisture and meld flavors. Many cultures do this- tamales wrapped in corn husk, foods sealed in vine leaves, cabbage rolls stuffed, etc.
I remember one place in Hawai'i where the cook had a variety of prepared laulau, kept frozen and then heated on request.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hukilau Song
From: michaelr
Date: 18 Apr 06 - 12:41 AM

Only time I heard this song was on a particularly funny and offensive episode of South Park. Good on them for promoting folk music.

And thank you for cluing me on the background!

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hukilau Song
From: open mike
Date: 18 Apr 06 - 01:27 AM

what's C°
a chord i suppose?
different from C natural major?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hukilau Song
From: chico
Date: 18 Apr 06 - 08:21 PM

Diminished