Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 2012 — FESTIVAL OF PACIFIC ARTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FESTIVAL OF PACIFIC ARTS

, / 7^M Like a cultural 01ympics held every four years, the Festival of Paeihe Arts brings together 27 Paeihe island nations and territories for an international exchange hosted by a different island nahon every time. With a generous grant from OHA, the Hawai'i delegation was able to travel in July to the most remote festival to date, in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Kumu hula Mapuana de Silva, who's led Hawai'i's delegation since New Caledonia in 2000, says, "Since 1980 Hawai'i's participation has demonstrated to the nations of the Paeihe that our culture was not lost

to 'Americanization,' as they onee believed." In a nation of many islands, travel to the festival's venues by bus, small plane, and ocean-going ferry boats in rough seas was ehallenging. "Eaeh time," de Silva says, "we arrived to find crowds of islanders waiting to see Hawai'i, and even on the smallest islands, feasts were offered after every performanee." In the Solomons, the delegation presented hula

kahiko on coral, grass, dirt, sand and even stages floating on oil drums, just off the heaeh. "Our artisans drew large crowds as they wove, made feather kāhili, pounded kapa or tattooed a willing islander." Guam will host the festival in 20 16; Hawai'i, meanwhile, received the green light to submit its bid for 2020. — Lynn Cook; courtesy photos: Nicholas Tomasello

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j MO'OMEHEU ^ > CULTURE f

Master weaver Aunty Elizabeth Maluihi Lee of Kailua-Kona and her kōkua (helper)Teri Yamasaki, were greeted upon the delegation's arrival in Honiara, Solomon lslands.

The Hawai'i delegation's overnight stay at Gizo gave master tattoo artist Keone Nunes, left, and his apprentice Kawika Au an opportunity to tattoo a few Solomon islanders using tradilional methods of tapping.

"Ulei Pahu" is presented as part of Hawai'i's ho'okupu to the Solomon lslands, the host country, at opening ceremonies at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiam.