Hawaiian Legacy Foundation: Eddie & Myrna Kamae

Interview with Manu Kahaialii at the Bailey House Museum 2/28/91 tape 2

Interview with Manu Kahaialii recorded on February 28, 1991 at the Bailey House Museum. First Kahaialii talks about his father-in-law, Kaniala Kaopio from Niʻihau and how he and Kaopio would sit on the porch on Sundays and play music all day. Kahaialii discusses how Kaopio stressed the importance of Hawaiian language by saying "hoʻomaʻamaʻa i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, ʻae paʻa ʻia ʻoe ka mele o Hawaiʻi" and "you don't know the story if you don't know the language," and to mālama the ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. Kahaialii also talks about his manaʻo of kī hō'alu which to him is spiritual, an art very unique from the heart. At the end of the video Kahaialii plays a tune by scraping a glass jug against the side of a house which they would use to make the sound of a bass when one wasn't available.

This has been a small clip of the full video available. For more information about this title and the materials associated with it, please contact the archive.