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New album created by UH Maui students pays tribute to Lahaina

By Staff | Jun 3, 2024

A new album that honors Lahaina, “Ha’ina Ko Wehi: Celebrating West Maui in Mele,” is composed and recorded by students from the University of Hawaii Maui College’s Institute of Hawaiian Music. “Ha’ina Ko Wehi: Celebrating West Maui In Song” is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube. Physical CDs will be available this summer. Flyer courtesy UH Maui College Institute of Hawaiian Music

A remarkable new album that honors Lahaina, “Ha’ina Ko Wehi: Celebrating West Maui in Mele,” compiles music composed and recorded by students from the University of Hawaii Maui College’s Institute of Hawaiian Music.

Originally intended as a project to create new music for West Maui and supported by a grant from the North Beach-West Maui Benefit Fund, the Aug. 8 fires shifted the focus, with many students choosing to write and sing about Lahaina, its rich history, and their hopes for its future. One of the students lost her home, and another escaped the fire.

Students Bobbi Bridges, Herb Folsom, Grace Gomes, Aaron Grzanich, Mākena Laurion, Hualani Moore, Iraj Namiranian, Al Nip, and Mehra Park, led by faculty coordinator, multi-Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winner Dr. Keola Donaghy, participated in the “Ha’ina Ko Wehi: Celebrating West Maui in Mele” Hawaiian music composing course.

Working with music industry mentors to learn the art and craft of songwriting, in both English and ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i, they learned about West Maui’s historic sites.

“I wanted to do a program that would take folks that aren’t necessarily professional musicians or not even really proficient and take them through the process of doing the research and the writing and composing and arranging,” Donaghy explained. “Some of the folks had deep Lahaina roots, and some were already established musicians. We were all set to launch on Aug. 21 and then the fire hit. Our first meeting there was a lot of crying and healing. There was much talking and letting out emotions and trying to channel that into the songs that they wrote.”

The resulting collection was produced by Donaghy, UHMC lecturers Joel Katz and Stephen Fox, and Lance D. Collins.

Bobbi Bridges opens the collection with “Ku’u Lei ‘ilima.” She was the student who fortunately escaped the fire. “Song and music have always been my therapy, and I thought it was time for me to go to my next step in my journey of healing,” Bridges explained her participation in the program. “I also wanted to learn about Lahaina and specifically about Mala. My grandmother grew up in Mala. So I knew I was going to write something for my grandmother.”

A musician who performed regularly at Down the Hatch in Lahaina, “the night before the fire I was at work,” she recalled. “I left Lahaina around 1:30 in the morning and I just had this feeling of despair and someone telling me to go home. So I drove home (to Wailuku) and when I got to Olowalu the wind was already crazy. Then I had this feeling I need to turn around, I had left my gig bag. I was about to make a U-turn, and I swear I heard my great-grandmother. I could hear her in the wind yelling at me, ‘go home now.’ It was like a slap. It was go home. Turn around.”

On the 8th she decided not to head back to Lahaina for her evening gig. “It was like something does not feel right. Back in 2018, I was stuck in the fire. Something didn’t sit right. Then the fire happened, and everything hit why I was feeling the way I was and why I heard my tutu. If I actually had stayed later, I would probably have been in Lahaina.”

The day of the fire, Bridges had planned to visit her great-grandmother’s grave at Waiola Church and leave an ilima lei. “The mele started being about the ilima lei, and it was the regret of me not taking it to her headstone. It talks about the only ilima plant in Mala. My family is known for ilima leis. It talks about that one plant and how from that a legacy was passed on. And it’s also a message for my daughter because she is carrying on that legacy. Every time I went to the studio, I couldn’t stop crying. You can tell I was crying when I’m singing it. My heart still hurts for everything.”

“It helped with the healing process,” said Lahaina resident Al Nip, who sang “E Ola I Ka Wai O Lahaina” and “Napili Aloha” on the album.

A retired Lahainaluna High School teacher and member of the Maui Jam Band, he collaborated on Hawaiian lyrics with Shelbi Shimazu from Kauai, whose family is from Niihau. “I had a little bit of experience with writing in Hawaiian, but of course not as much as somebody who grew up speaking the language,” he said.

In “E Ola I Ka Wai O Lahaina,” “we speak about bringing the rains and waters back to Lahaina, with the hope that it will bring back life to the land and people. If they never diverted the water for other purposes, possibly Lahaina would not have burned.”

Nip was fortunate that his home survived the fire. “We did not lose our home,” he said. “It was in a subdivision that some of our neighbors fought the fire with their water hose till the hoses ran dry. I’m sure that saved our neighborhood. A lot of our friends, they lost everything. It was a real challenging experience. I was very depressed for at least a month and a half. It took me a while to get out of it, even if we didn’t lose our home.”

His other contribution on the album, “Napili Aloha,” was composed by Hualani Moore. “She wrote this mele as a tribute to her mom and dad, who honeymooned in Napili in 1958. It is about a moment in time when they were both young and in love, and how memories can bring your love back to you.”

Resplendent with highlights, other memorable songs on the album include “Ho’okahi” sing by Mākena Laurion, “He Pule No Lahaina” with vocals by Lois Leinani Whitney, and “Call My Name” performed by Aaron Grzanich.

“I am sure that anyone who listens to this recording will feel the same sense of pride and gratitude for their efforts to help our community heal in this time when healing is so badly needed,” said Donaghy.

“Ha’ina Ko Wehi: Celebrating West Maui In Song” is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube. Physical CDs will be available this summer.

The Institute of Hawaiian Music has released five compilation CDs, three of which have been honored with Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards. It is likely that “Ha’ina Ko Wehi: Celebrating West Maui in Mele,” will also be honored at the 2025 awards.

The North Beach-West Maui Benefit Fund’s previous projects include the award-winning “Lei Nahonoapi’ilani: Songs of West Maui,” and “Hawaiian Falsetto, Volume 1: The Richard Hoʻopi’i Leo Ki’eki’e Falsetto Champions & ‘Ohana.”