(Guitar strumming) Shawn Kekoa Pimental: You know, we celebrate hula and that's why we consider Pono part of our group is because we feel that's the other half to the mele.
Know, it's not just an adornment or something that just accompanies what we do.
It really is, you know, a muse to our writing, to the way that we perform things.
Pono Fernandez: So Kekuhi Kanahele told me once that our ancestors thought in images.
And I think you know, when you think about mele Hawaiʻi, you think, ‘Oh, so pretty the mountains, so pretty the flower so, so beautiful the ocean.’ Yes, but it's because our ancestors had such a deep relationship with ʻāina that they could see those images, that they created those names, that they relied on those places for survival.
And for, for their, for life, for beyond survival to be thriving.
That relationship that they had with ʻāina allowed that to happen.
Performance: Pe‘ahi o Makana Ohhh, ohhhh Meha ke ahi lele o Makana Kū ana i ke ‘ala o ka pe‘ahi Me he ahi lā e lapa mai ana Ka ‘ikea o ka mea aloha Ka ‘ikea o ka mea aloha Ahh ‘Auhea ‘oe e ka makani Ko‘olau Ke hali maila i ke ahi a ka ipo ‘Apo ‘ia a pa‘a, ho‘opili i ka ‘ili Ke kukuni wela a ke aloha Ke kukuni wela a ke aloha Pō iho ke ao i Hā‘ena kai I ka nihi pā mai o ka ‘ehu He wai kolo, he wai lani E ola ai ko uka wao nahele E ola ai ko uka wao nahele Meha ke ahi lele o Makana ‘Auhea ‘oe e ka makani Ko‘olau Kū ana i ke ‘ala o ka pe‘ahi Ke hali maila i ke ahi a ka ipo Me he ahi lā e lapa mai ana ‘Apo ‘ia a pa‘a, ho‘opili i ka ‘ili Ka ‘ikea o ka mea aloha Ke kukuni wela a ke aloha Ka ‘ikea o ka mea aloha Ke kukuni wela a ke aloha Ke kukuni wela a ke aloha Ahhh Ohhhh, ohhhh (Guitar strums)