The
only things missing were the soft breeze of the Trade Winds and
the sound of waves crashing on the shore. If you closed your eyes
and just listened, you would have surely thought youd been
transported to the tropical islands of Hawaii instead of sitting
in the shade of cedars and pines at the North Columbia Schoolhouse
Cultural Center outside of Nevada City. Over 500 people attended
the first North Columbia Folklife Festival on July 26, celebrating
Hawaii and its California connections. The Center is the hub of
culture for the rural San Juan Ridge, that also attracts audience
members from afar with unique and stimulating programs.
On
a warm Saturday morning, the exquisitely beautiful and moving opening
prayers and chants led by Blaine Kamalani Kia set the tone for the
Festival. In the words of mistress of ceremonies Sabra Kauka, Treating
each and every person with aloha, love and respect is really what
the Hawaiians have to offer the world. Aloha, love and respect
were abundantly evident from beginning to end of the long day, and
everyone was smiling and happy to be there-what a treat! Knowing
that most of the Hawaiian participants were transplants to California,
which has almost as large a Hawaiian population as Hawaii itself,
made the performances even more lovely and poignant. The type of
dedication to culture that preserves and practices traditions even
when transplanted to alien lands is deep and strong and a tribute
to the performers and presenters we enjoyed that day.
It
is also a dedication shown by the Cultural Center in organizing
such a festival. According to festival co-coordinator Sara Greensfelder,
We hope to establish an annual event that will celebrate,
and help to preserve and strengthen, the diverse cultural traditions
to be found within California. Our vision is to present historical
context alongside living traditions, and to build cultural bridges
of understanding.
Kumu
(teacher) Blaine Kamalani Kia and the Halau Ka Waikahe Lane Malie
a me Kahulaliwais hula demonstration confirmed for all present
that this was not some Waikiki tourist show. The sinuous grace of
the ancient and traditional hulas are a delightful combination of
the most dignified, pure expression of culture with something saucy
and fun thrown in now and then. What a joy to watch experienced
hula dancers and students alike follow in the footsteps of the ancestors,
their faces transformed with the pride and spirit carried in the
practice of the tradition. For California Indians in the audience
it would seem to signal great hope in their cultural future. In
spite of the obvious advantages Hawaiians enjoy in cultural transmission-one
language, curricular support through the academic systems- it is
an enormous inspiration to see the proliferation of true cultural
traditions, once on the brink of disappearing. Kumu Kia is clearly
an energetic and knowledgeable teacher and organizer. His halau
(hula school) has spread from Oahu to Kauai to Sacramento with over
120 students! Having studied under some of the most respected and
disciplined kumu hulas, Blaine works to perpetuate the traditions
and cultural heritage of the hula art form. This is good news for
those of us that enjoy traditional arts as these numbers are bound
to create more halaus, dancers and performances!
After
the hula performance, Hank Meals spoke to the audience about the
early history of Hawaiians-known as Kanakas-in Northern California,
with a particular emphasis on intermarriage between Hawaiian and
Maidu peoples. Hawaiians came to Northern California in the late
1700s, serving as deck hands for the maritime fur trade. In the
18th century, they were employed in California maritime shipping
and whaling operations, and many participated in the Gold Rush.
Mr. Meals is a historical consultant and field archaeologist, and
current board president of the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural
Center. His research resulted in a study, Hawaiian History
in Northern California that is full of wonderful stories and
anecdotes and has a fabulous bibliography for anyone who wants to
dig deeper (available through the Cultural Center.)
Before
the lunch break, Saichi Kawahara and the Kapalakiko (Hawaiian for
San Francisco) Hawaiian Band performed songs in the mele kui tradition-traditional
Hawaiian music spanning the earliest ancient songs to the newly
composed. The strains of the Bands music, ukulele strums
and haunting falsettos was accompanied for a few selections by the
captivating solo hula, both female and male, of several of the Band
members. Particularly moving was the song Kaulana Na Pua
written by Ellen Kehoohiwaokalani Wright Pendergast. The song
was written in January 1983, protesting the overthrow of Queen Liliokalani
and the annexation of Hawaii by the U.S. The song expresses in the
most poignant way the spirit of sovereignty and the love for the
land of its people.
Vendors
sold classic Hawaiian lunch-fare for the lunch break: two scoops
of rice with all the trimmings. There was even a shave-ice vendor
selling that most typical of all Hawaiian treats. Five members of
the Ainahau O Kaleponi Hawaiian Civic Club offered hands-on demonstrations
of lei kui melia and na mea lauki -lei-making from flowers and ti
leaves; haku kupe`e-using flowers to make bracelets or hair pieces;
ka ulana lauhala-plaiting lauhala to make bracelets; and na pa`ani
Hawai`i-old Hawaiian games such as "checkers" and top
spinning. The Kaleponi Hawaiian Civic Club came all the way from
Huntington Beach where they provide Native Hawaiian culture and
arts programs to multi-generational families and the public. They
preserve and celebrate traditional practices, values, stories, foodways
and plant lore through workshops, demonstrations, exhibits and weekend
immersion retreats. Festival Coordinator Sara Greensfelder praised
the Civic Club for their guidance and participation throughout development
and production of the Festival.
After
lunch, the gathering moved from the outdoor amphitheater to the
Schoolhouse to listen to Harry Fonseca, renowned and internationally
exhibited artist of Maidu, Hawaiian and Portuguese descent. Harry
grew up near Sacramento and attended Sacramento City College and
California State University at Sacramento where he studied under
Wintu artist Frank LaPena. He became a student of his uncle, Henry
Azbill who recounted to Harry the Maidu creation story, which was
later to become the subject of a number of his paintings. Harry
shared wonderful slides, tracing his personal history of the Maidu
Hawaiian experience, starting with his great great grandfather Hakula,
his great grandparents, his grandparents, his parents and his siblings.
Harrys family was instrumental in securing the Shingle Springs
Rancheria smack dab in the middle of a gated luxury community. Harry
shared with us the horror of how uncool he felt when, coming home
from school, he heard Hawaiian music coming from his house, indicating
that his mother and aunt were inside dancing that weird hula! Since
then, he has embraced his Hawaiian roots and the audience was able
to enjoy the journey with him. Finally, we were treated to slides
of Harrys work, from his early Coyote series to the Gold and
Souls series right up to the current Navajo Blanket series, minimalist
knock-outs that were a part of Harrys August solo exhibit
at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City.
Photos,
genealogies and text about the Hawaiian Maidu connection were displayed
on the Schoolhouse walls and allowed visitors to absorb information
that they may have missed during the talks and demonstrations. Carey
Camacho, one of the Bay Areas most talented young Hawaiian
musicians, is also the maker of traditional musical instruments
such as the ipu heke (double gourd), puniu (knee drum) and pahu
hula (large standing drum). Carey presented an instrument making
talk and demonstration, followed by Kumu Blaine Kamalani Kias
hula workshop. Both were received with great interest and enthusiasm.
Mike Tomson, a story teller and teacher who spent a number of years
growing up on the Micronesian Island of Palau, spoke of traditional
navigation methods from the South Pacific- stick charts, star navigation,
current navigation - a fascinating overview.
The
astounding Hui O Ke Ao Malamalama Dancers from Shingle Springs Rancheria
dazzled the audience in the late afternoon. Formed in 1997 by Rick
Kupapalani Adams, the dance group members consist of
descendants from Sacramento Valley Natives and Hawaiians who come
over in the 1800s. There are now 27 family members and associates,
most between the ages of 4 and 18, dancing with the group. Shingle
Springs Rancheria is a Nisenan Maidu community with deep Hawaiian
roots, and located as it is in the middle of a luxury housing development,
is a social, cultural and geographic marvel. Hui O Ke Ao Malamalama
proved that you dont have to come from Hawaii to do the hula
and have the aloha spirit, its in the genes!
Carey
Camacho serenaded the audience after the hula performance with his
Hawaiian slack key guitar, in a distinctive style of his own. Something
in the way the light hearted tones of the instrument work with the
plaintive and melodic words transports you straight to the beaches
of Hawaii. It was a rich and fitting way to close the program out
before dinner.
With
a light breeze taking the edge off a very hot day, the audience
broke to partake of the Hawaiian feast that had been in the works
for two days. The poi (hand carried from the Big Island) was great,
the lomi lomi salmon was tops, the kalua pig drew raves from everyone-macaroni
salad, a tower of fresh fruit, pineapple upside down cake- there
was no end to the food and it was all delicious. People sat on the
lawn around the Schoolhouse and enjoyed the cooling off of evening,
the delicious food and the good company. San Juan Ridge resident
Priscilla Covert, originally from Oahu, served as luau co-coordinator
and head cook, while her sons John and Mikey headed up the pig-roasting
team. Helpers and onlookers kept them company throughout the day
as one pig turned slowly on an ingenious motor-driven spit, and
another cooked underground for 12 hours, having been wrapped in
leaves, covered with burlap and buried in the early morning with
a bed of hot rocks. Not only was all the food delicious, it was
ample-no one went away hungry.
Back
to the amphitheater in the gathering dusk for last serenades by
the Kapalakiko Hawaiian Band, a good night story from Mike Tomson
and a moving display of the entire Halau Ka Waikahe Lani Malie,
transformed with maile leis and stars in their eyes. Overseeing
the entire day as MC and personifying the welcoming warmth of Hawaii
was Sabra Kauka , who filled in the gaps with enchanting tales and
other bits of cultural knowledge from the Islands. Sabra is a Hawaiian
Studies teacher, organizer, hula practitioner, lauhala weaver and
tapa maker from Kauai. She demonstrated her skills as a teacher,
by leading the whole audience in learning that most unpronounceable
of fish names, the humuhumkukunukuapuaa. I doubt anyone that
attended will be able to look back on the day without recalling
Sabras radiant presence. As the last strains of music slowed
to a stop, the audience lingered for a moment and then slowly wandered
out to their cars and back to a world where theres more of
a gold rush spirit than aloha spirit, fortified by the beauty and
spirit theyd enjoyed at the Festival.
For
those that made a weekend out of the Festival, artist Judith Lowry
of Nevada City threw the party of the year in honor of fellow California
Indian artists Harry Fonseca, Frank LaPena and Jean LaMarr. Judith
wanted to bring more of her Maidu culture and the gift of Native
artistry to her neighbors. Leis and tiki torches mixed with acorns
and dentalia to displace the areas prevailing 49er mining
theme and to bring a wonderful weekend to a close.
For
more info about the festival: North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural
Center, 17894 Tyler-Foote Rd., Nevada City, CA 95959, 530-265-2826,
ncscc@nccn.net.
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