Chirping birds, instrumental music Narrator
From a time before written history, Hawaiians have gathered at the edge of the sea. There to center their lives upon the bounty
of the Pacific Ocean. South Kona on the island of Hawaiʻi is this
kind of place. And here, the shore was once dotted with many
small fishing villages. Today, there is but a single fishing village
left in the district. Miloliʻi, a last reminder of the way many
Hawaiians once lived. Here in South Kona, they still ply their trade
is fishermen, raise their families and play the music taught them by their forefathers. The song of South Kona. Diana Aki
My dad died. He died in '56. I think I was about 12, 14-years-old. I came home, we moved home here to stay. This is where when I would come I would hear
you know, people like Kuliʻi, tita Mele Kule and Lokelani Malama. Them three always together, always singing. I never heard radio around here those days. This is where I started thinking about my
heritage as a Hawaiian. And this is where my interest started coming. I would imitate, I would imitate Genoa Keawe's
voice. I would imitate Mele Kule's voice. And all through that, all through that time,
and then eventually I started adapting my own style of singing. I started becoming more confident in myself. I just I kept on myself never showed off you
know just kept to myself and but I enjoyed the singing. ʻUkulele playing Aloha Punaluʻu
I ka ʻehu kai Ke kai kokolo aʻo Puʻumoa Gilbert Kahele
Miloliʻi Village goes back to prehistoric times. It's an ancient village. Not too much evidence is left of what was
here a long time ago. Except there were a lot of people that lived
here, I understand. And a lot of their descendants still live
here today. There’s about 17 families, about men, women
and children about about 120. You know then, about 50 dogs. Will Kaupiko
Yeah braddah, my family go back 10 generations pulling ʻahis. Well, my dad who loves this place, you know. And as far as I can remember and anybody who
knows him for a long, long period of time, know him as an individual
himself. In other words, he was a strong dominated
person to what he believed in and what he wants to do. Everything he did was was all good for himself
the family which was us. He worked hard. Sent us all to school, all my sisters and
brothers, you know, so he went only to third grade. And that's why he want us to return and continue
that love we have for this place. It's like the old folk say when you lose the
land you lose your life. You know the land and your life kind of ties
in together. Singing in Hawaiian Narrator
Today, outboard powered skiffs take Miloliʻi fishermen like Delfredo out to the same grounds
their fathers and grandfathers knew and fished. Delfredo Llanes
This is ʻōpelu yeah. We use it for a bait and chum. What you is, you call it slice bait. What you gonna do is cut this in half, use
the rest of the bone and the head for chow. You scoop this bait up on this, like this. Get a rock like this. Put it on. Wrap it. Put the chum on. Gotta get the chum for make smell eh? The fish come. Trying to catch some, yellowfin tuna. So, usually we go down to 50-fathoms, depends
on where the fish bite, eh? Narrator
Using the simplest of traditional techniques the fisherman goes about his daily job in
a ritual from the primal contest of survival. The sea surrenders its riches to a thin fiber
line. Sounds of pulling up fish Ocean and boat sounds Anita Kaupiko
Like I said I thought I knew what Hawaiʻi was until I came here, Hawaiian, this place
is so Hawaiian out I mean, nothing at all. I mean, from Honolulu, this place is like,
different in every way. The, the how you live, what you eat, it's
smaller, that I wouldn't leave here at all. And the people here are are good people that
work hard. Will Kaupiko
You start from place like this, where there's nothing. Everything you do is what you gain and that's
what you have. So, you don't rely on nobody nothing. You just, see what you get and that's what
you gonna have. So, it's what you make out of yourself that's
what you're gonna get. Gilbert Kahele
Miloliʻi is famous for its ʻōpelu fishing. All of the families here, centered their family
life around catching the ʻōpelu. You know, the children went to school at the
school house and then they would come home and help their parents catch ʻōpelu. Going out to the course and catching the ʻōpelu,
and bringing it in. I recall when I was growing up here the first
years of my life, the different families had the old canoes you know? Like the Apo Family, and that was their family. They would all go out to their ʻōpelu course. And the Chang's and the Kaupiko's. Kapela Kaupiko
When makani I don't like ʻōpelu because you gotta struggle, eh. Hui when you play, when you see the ʻōpelu
papa tell her, okay, the middlemen feed and behind you got to strip the canoe to the,
to the wind, otherwise we push the canoe away and then when you ready to put the net in
the water, they tell okay, straighten it. Ho then you struggle, tired. (laughs) Haul the canoe. We get mad. It's hard. Plenty fish but no more money we don't see
money. Kala ka ia, too much you have to dry and then
exchange we send to Honolulu exchange for food. Diana Aki
A long time ago, you know when I was a teenager and moved home to Miloliʻi, I used to hear
my uncle Gabriel and my auntie Maka them you know when go parties like that they, they
sing the song ʻōpelu and I used to think maybe they composed this song ʻōpelu because
ʻōpelu was very famous then. You know the ʻōpelu fishing was like that's
the was the main source for them. Singing in Hawaiian
A he ʻono a he ʻono Singing in Hawaiian
Take it ʻopihi. Kalua Rentigrado
Diana told me that it's the time now that we are still living yet we're the last descendent
on this place now and we still living. Now it's time for us to let go. What we learn like hats like these in the
beginning, this is the old old way of using as a stripper and this is the one that my
mother had taught us. You go anyplace baby, you'll never go hungry. If you know how to weave. That's where you find your food to support
your family. We gather the lauhala first. We have to walk to find for this. We have to divide to look the color, to divide
the color. We used to have lauhala of trees over here. And all in this type of lauhala. This is the original original lauhala from
the tree we pick. We pick these and we take them home and we
clean them and we sit there what my mother, how she showed us how to weave. In our days we don't have electric which just
had charcoal iron. We use charcoal iron. We prepare ourselves with the wood if we have
about one dozen hats and our charcoal iron is there. It's hot. And we get the candle and then the honeybee
candle we keep that. My dad used to go collect honey bees before. So the candle we keep that to clean the, the
iron so the iron stays smooth. When you iron your hats, your clothes and
everything. So, that's why the hat comes out. Shine and it's raining, you won't ruin your
hat. Your hat stay pretty everyday. Singing in Hawaiian
ʻOpihi poke poke ia A he ʻono a he ʻono Instrumental music That's why that's why we both wanted to share
the songs to you because we coming old. Maybe even lots of time more to go but we
better see this song goes to Diane. Cause she's our niece, why not? That's our love to her. And we want her to continue to keep up with
her songs. But she'll carry on the song to the next generation. Roseline Boring
I guess the song never dies a way. Never dies. It goes these are recorded and is well known
you know it's well known all around today with some of the songs that Diana sung. Oh beautiful I hear some other people singing
or nice she they have background they make the song so mellow. Diane can you can you play Pelekane for us? I think where you know this the words in here
like pōkā, topeto and you know may have come from maybe maybe tūtū, may have read
too about the war in the newspaper because nūpepa, newspaper in Hawaiian. So, she may have read about it and then kind
of taken herself back to where where her kane was. Diana Aki (Singing)
ʻUkulele playing Hakakā kaulana puni i ke ao lā
Ke kaua weliweli ma Eulopa Hoʻo makaukau
Hakakā kaulana puni i ke ao Ke kaua weliweli ma Eulopa
Ma ka nūpepa i haʻi maila la ʻOka topeto kau i ka beli Narrator
Like the music the fisherman's arts are passed from fathers to sons. The basic skills that bring food from the
sea, the knowledge of currents tides and the seasons and values that conserve the resources
of their livelihood. Kealoha Aki
No need clean them up. You only taking away plenty. You only take what you need. If you no more they ain't going get any for
the next generation. Guitar playing John Wailing (Singing)
Down the souci. Don't you love me? I'm going away. I'm a going to leave you. Bye my loving, bye. Hele wau la me kuʻu pila
A me kuʻu wai ʻolina i ke ala nui Ke la wehi ala o souci
Bye my loving, bye. Guitar playing Gilbert Kahele
For years and years, Miloliʻi has sort of been left alone in an isolated place along
the southern coast of Hawaiʻi, the Big Island. And because of the road conditions, a lot
of people wouldn't want to you know, traverse that road that five miles of winding roadway
all the way down to the, the ocean. And now with all of this, you know, modern
technology and television and all of this, Miloliʻi is getting and getting that exposure
to the the community and the state and and we're wired I guess, you know, exposure to
the outside. And a lot of people want to come down and
visit Miloliʻi. You know, they've heard about Miloliʻi being
one of the fishing villages here in Hawaiʻi and would like to see that Hawaiʻi that they
came here to see. And we hope that when they do come if they
come all the way down that five miles of treacherous winding road that they respect the place and
its people. The road itself passes through the village
and sort of sort of like going through somebody's living room and we welcome everybody but we
also want them to respect ourselves so you know the people here. Well, that song came to us. Something just like a wind came and tell us. We were talking story. We were talking story about her history Tūtū
Keaka. Well, we heard the story about Tūtū Keaka
how she used to live there at Manukā and she used to go down Miloliʻi on these two
white horse with her, two mates with her. Nothing but maile around their neck and and
ginger. (Singing in Hawaiian)
Mai hila mai ne aku Ku ala ka Manukā
Hoe ana la Miloliʻi O ka poʻo wai aloha Mona Kahele
The songs that you hear during that time you don't hear them anymore. Not today. Given what the people are singing today, you
don't even hear them. And some of those songs belong down here. Whether they just made it up that time, or
what I don't know? But they were beautiful. The composer of certain songs all come from
down here. And they move out all these areas, whether
they came from this area Hoʻopuloa or ʻOpihihale, either one of them, but actually, the family
line is right down here. Roseline Boring
February the 5th, 1885, they had ah, tidal wave. But this tidal wave came, it was a dark dark
night during the night. During the night. And Miloliʻi used to have plenty people new,
they build house, you know, with rock around fans. So, happy. The tidal wave came up in the night. But people family that has plenty children
they only can take maybe about two kids. They grab whatever they can grab. And no light, no nothing they gotta crawl
holding this baby here, holding this baby and crawl, and then the wave come. So, that was the story. And that's why they had composed this song. The baby crying see? I ne i pēpē ala lani. That's the meaning of the child crying calling
for mother. This song was given to me by my aunty. Kapoleilauwaieo Makana. So, that was how the story she told me. I got most of the history from her. (Singing in Hawaiian)
Ana ka puana He mele he inoa no Miloliʻi Gilbert Kahele
It's my deep feeling that Diane is one of the last links with that older generation. And of course, she's trying to pass it on
the way she learned it to her son's you got Bula you got Kealoha and, and, and Willie
boy. And we're very fortunate to have Diane you
know with us and still being that link with older generation. Kapela Kaupiko
Well, I'm getting all when the next generation they gotta think for themselves. Yeah, they gotta stand firm and fight for
their own right? Yeah, we getting old. We gone. We cannot know what they doing. Mona Kahele
This is one village where they get lūʻau, o boy they go out for everything. Narrator
As it has been for centuries, the occasion of a lūʻau brings the families of the village
together. Lūʻau's are in fact feasts with an abundance
of food, entertainment and fellowship. The pig, a staple in the traditional Hawaiian
culture, is often contributed by one family as a gesture of aloha and sharing. It is prepared for cooking by placing searing
hot rocks in its belly than its wrapped and buried in the imu or oven. Instrumental music Narrator
As the pig cooks slowly all day under a mound of dirt, people of the village gathered to
join in the lane of nets in the shallow waters, reaping a rich and bountiful harvest from
the sea. Instrumental music Narrator
As evening approaches the pig is unearthed and the families come together each contributing
their offerings. A Miloliʻi gathering strengthens family ties
and becomes a binding force for the community. The village traditions continue. Lūʻau's often go all night sometimes on
special occasions for days. It is here that amateur as well as professional
musicians share their talents on a makeshift stage singing the music of this special place,
the song of South Kona. ʻUkulele playing Singing in Hawaiian Guitar playing Singing in Hawaiian Gilbert Kahele
That tradition, you know, it's still being passed along you know from father to son. It's still, you know, it's still the individual,
the man out there on the ocean, catching, catching ʻahi or ʻōpelu, you know? It's a... I like to think it's a, it's a Hawaiian fishermen
out there in the ocean. (Singing in Hawaiian)
No Miloliʻi.
