Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 12, 1 December 1990 — Folklife festival celebrates folk arts [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Folklife festival celebrates folk arts

by Deborah L. Ward Editor, Ka Wai Ola O OHA From Hawaiian lei making to Laotian floral arranging, lauhala weaving to rawhide braiding, olapa hula to Plains Indian buffalo dancers, the Folklike Hawai'i festival held on Oct. 18-21 at Magic Island was an exciting celebration of eherished living folk traditions.

Held on Magic Island at Ala Moana beach park, the festival was a tremendous opportunity to enjoy the talents of over 150 folk artists and performers from Hawai'i and other parts of the U.S. The festival was primanly a restaging of the Hawai'i portion of the 1989 Folklife Festival presented in Washington, D.C. by the Smithsonian Institution. The four-day festival was organized through the efforts of many people and volunteers, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the State Foundation on Culture and Arts.

Special guest participants were the Lawtell Playboys, a get-up and dance zydeco (Cajun) band from Louisiana, and the Plains Indian Ensemble from North Dakota. Through their music and dance, songs and stories, crafts and cooking, the Folklife Hawai'i festival participants shared the rich heritages of Hawai'i and the U.S., China, Japan, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam, Tonga and Samoa, Portugal and Puerto Rico. Thousands of appreciative visitors braved strong sun, wilting humidity or pouring rain to see

non-stop entertainment on five stages from morning to evening. The hula traditions of Hawai'i were represented by three family groups. The dancers of Halau O Kekuhi were led by kumu hula Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele and sister Nalani Kanaka'ole. Kumu hula Elaine Kaopuiki and musician Sam Kaopuiki brought their Na Hula O La'i Kealoha from Lana'i. Three generations of the Zuttermeister family shared the art of Hawaiian dance-kumu hula Emily Kau'i Zuttermeister, her daughter Noenoelani Zuttermeister Lewis, and granddaughter Hau'oli'onalani Lewis.

Pertormmg Hawanan songs and music were: members of Waimea Church, all natives of Ni'ihau, singing Hawaiian hymns; Ku'ulei's Own,a Hawaiian music group from Maui; Hawaiian musicians Haunani Apoliona, falsetto singers Richard and Solomon Ho'opi'i; Barney lsaacs, Raymond Kane, Elodia Kane, Violet Pahu Liliko'i, and Clyde

Sproat. Pearl Ulunui Kanaka'ole Gormon wasfeatured as a Hawaiian storyteller. Sharing musical traditions whieh originated in Hawai'i's plantation camps were the Camoes Players, a Portuguese folk band, E1 Conjunto Boricua, a Puerto Rican "katchi-katchi" band, and the Family Camarillo, one of the only family rondalla (string instrument) Filipino bands in Hawai'i today.

Representing the traditions of Asia and the Paeific were the Halla Pai Huhm Dance Studio (Korean dancing), Kuo Min Tang Physical Culture Association (with Chinese lion dancing), the Iwakuni Bon Dance Group and Nakasone Seifu Kai (Okinawan sanshin, or three-string lute, group), Teruya Sokyoku Kenkyu Kai (Okinawan koto group), the Majikina Honryu Buyo Dojo (Okinawan dance), Vietnamese and Laotian singers, dancers and musicians. A Samoan ensemble performed, as did the Tongan choir of the First United Methodist Church in Honolulu.

It was an awesome treat to hear the Voices of Trinity, the choir of the Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Honolulu, sing their gospel songs with faith, power and emotion. Also outstanding were the Plains Indian Ensemble, who shared traditional stories, dances, songs, crafts, food and clothing for their people. Adding even more savor to the festival were the cooking demonstrations-Cajun, Portuguese, Chinese, Okinawan, Filipino, American Indian and Hawaiian. Eaeh day there were demonstrations of traditional crafts from eaeh culture represented at the festival. For those who wanted to leam more about the cultures represented, a talk-story stage provided the ehanee to meet festival participants and hear them discuss things important to them — topics like land, language, cultural identity and access to natural resources.

If you didn't get to see it all — or at all — this year, there's hope for another ehanee. Wendell Silva, executive director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts said he was pleased by the success of the weekend event. He said that festival organizers will look at the feasibility of holding an annual Folklife event in Honolulu, possibly in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution. Eaeh year the Smithsonian Institution hold a two-week Folklife festival on the Mall in Washington, D.C. to showcase living folk traditions from around the country.

Plains lndian dancer Keith Bear shows festival-goer lndian-style eouple dance step.

Nathan Napoka demonstrates Hawaiian poipounding next to a mini lo'i (taro patch) created at Folklife Hawai'i.

h I u o f ^ o -o !Q |«2