Ke Kai O Kahiki

Kumu Laʻakea Perry

Hula Kahiko (Kāne) | “He Aloha No Nā Pua”

At their first Merrie Monarch Festival in 1979, Nā Wai ʻEhā O Puna performed this hula under the direction of their founders Thaddeus Wilson and O’Brian Eselu. The mele uses metaphors in nature to describe a special encounter. The hālau dedicates this performance to their beloved founders as it takes them back to the hālau’s beginnings, traditions, lineage and roots!

Hula ʻAuana (Kāne) | “Lanikūhonua”

Hālau founder and late Kumu Hula O’Brian Eselu wrote this mele to honor the land, the sacred pond of Anianikū, the Aʻeloa wind and the Pālaʻilaʻi rain. Lanikūhonua (heaven on earth) is a place where the hālau has gathered for the past 28 years and it provides the needed inspiration for hula. The hālau dedicates its performance to the kahu of Lanikūhonua, Aunty Nettie Tiffany, who is the daughter of the original kahu, Lei Fernandez.