Tag Archives: Royal Hawaiian Band

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Fund raiser for the building of St. Augustine in Waikiki, 1901.

FAIR AND LUAU.

A fair and grand luau was held by the Catholic brethren in the armory [hale paikau] outside, this Saturday afternoon. There were many people who showed up to this fair, and we hear that they made a lot of money through the items sold and the luau. Amongst the dignitaries who appeared at the fair was Queen Liliuokalani. The Royal Hawaiian Band [bana aupuni] was there, entertaining the visitors that came, and with the coming of night there was held a dance in the armory. All the proceeds from this fair will be given to the church of St. Augustine being built outside of Waikiki.

(Aloha Aina, 7/20/1901, p. 5)

AHA FEA ME LUAU.

Ke Aloha Aina, Buke VII, Helu 29, Aoao 5. Iulai 20, 1901.

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A composition for Hawaiians boys going away to war, 1918

Mele for the Hawaiian Boys

Seen below is a mele composed by the Honorable W. J. Sheldon for the fifty Hawaiian boys who gave themselves to join the war on the side of the nation of America. It is a song put before the Royal Hawaiian Band, to be played before the public.

It is believed that if these Hawaiian boys head out to the training camp in America on Tuesday, this song would have been sung for them in their honor. But as their trip is postponed until the arrival of a military ship, therefore the boys have been set back until next month. It is still believed that this will be one of the songs that will be sung to honor them. Here is this mele to glorify these Hawaiian youths:

WIKIWIKI OVER THE TOP

He kama oiwi Hawaii oe,
He aa,  he koa wiwoole;
Imua no ka pono oi ae,
A inu i ka wai awaawa.

Hui.

Ku kilakila Hawaii,
Iwaena o ka Pakipika,
O Hawaii no ka oi,
Wikiwiki over the top.

Hawaii no oe a ka imiloa,
Loa ka imina lanakila,
Hanohano oe e Hawaii,
I na oiwi o ka aina.

O ke Akua pu me oukou,
E na kama oiwi Hawaii,
Uumi ka hanu a lanakila,
A lei i ka hanohano.

Hakuia e Wm. J. Sheldon.

[Which went something like this:

QUICKLY OVER THE TOP.

You are a native son,
Daring, a fearless warrior;
Forward for the greater good,
And drink of the bitter waters.

Chorus.

Hawaii stands tall,
Amidst the Pacific,
Hawaii is the foremost,
Quickly, over the top.

You are Hawaii, of explorers,
Far reaching is your search for victory,
Proud is Hawaii,
For the oiwi of the land.

God be with you,
O Native sons of Hawaii,
Be patient until victorious,
And wear the honor like a lei.

Composed by William J. Sheldon.]

(Kuokoa, 5/17/1918, p. 3)

HE MELE NO NA KEIKI HAWAII

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke LVI, Helu 20, Aoao 3. Mei 17, 1918.

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New library to open, 1913.

CEREMONY WILL OPEN PUBLIC LIBRARY

All Invited to Attend Special Program Tomorrow Afternoon

Governor Frear will be the first patron of the new Carnegie Library. He will receive Registration Card No. 1, and will be the first to enter the big building when it is formally thrown open to the public tomorrow afternoon.

Unique and appropriate exercises will characterize the formal opening of the library tomorrow. The program for the exercises was completed yesterday afternoon by A. Lewis, Jr., president of the board of library trustees, Secretary W. H. Babbitt and other members of the board. The splendid new building, made possible by Andrew Carnegie’s gift of $100,000, will be the scene of a notable gathering.

With Mr. Lewis and Governor Frear as the central figures in the ceremony, the program will begin at 3 o’clock, when the Royal Hawaiian Band, arranged for by Secretary Babbitt and Mayor Fern, begins an hour of music.

At four o’clock the ceremony proper will begin. Mr. Lewis will make a short address appropriate to the occasion and will then introduce Prof. M. M. Scott, principal of McKinley High School, who has been prominent in the work for the new library. Chairman Lewis will then, as president of the library board, give to Governor Frear Card No. 1. Then the chairman will unlock the big front doors of the building and will escort Governor Frear inside. According to the little ceremony arranged, the governor will then proceed to the central desk and will be met by Miss Edna I. Allyn, the librarian, who will issue to the executive the first book from the new institution.

As soon as the governor has entered, the public will follow, the entire library building being open to visitors, with the assistant librarians and employees detailed as escorts.

The Outdoor Circle of the Kilohana Club has furnished a number of beautiful palms and ferns with which the interior will be decorated.

Registration cards will be generally issued tomorrow and intending patrons of the library can sign the cards and be enrolled from four to six o’clock.

The new library, it is emphasized by the board of trustees, is absolutely free to everyone and books will be issued upon presentation of the properly signed registration card. There is also a traveling library feature, the committee on which is headed by Robbins B. Anderson.

[Tomorrow will be a hundred years since the library opened! See the many related activities going on in commemoration of this great historical event! It seems that the Royal Hawaiian Band will be there tomorrow morning to celebrate just as they did a hundred years ago!!

I am not sure why I could not find an article in the Hawaiian-Language Newspapers announcing this opening. But there is this from a couple of years later!]

(Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1/31/1913, p. 1)

CEREMONY WILL OPEN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Volume XX, Number 6499, Page 1. January 31, 1913.

CEREMONY WILL OPEN LIBRARY

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Volume XX, Number 6499, Page 4. January 31, 1913.

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Board of Health and leprosy, 1906.

A HAWAIIAN WOMAN HIDDEN AWAY.

After the Board of Health [Papa Ola] searched for ten months, they found Mrs. Flora K. Crowell, a Hawaiian woman, and she was taken and detained mauka of the Kalihi Hospital. It is not clear why the Board of Health chased after that woman, but there is something astonishing and unclear about what was done to this woman.

After Mrs. Flora K. Crowell was found by the officers of the Board of Health, she said she was locked away like a prisoner.

This wahine is the birth daughter of Mrs. Hattie Hiram who died on the 5th of November 1905, and she married Clement C. Crowell in the year 1900, and by this marriage the two of them had a daughter; but just six months after they had the girl, she [Flora Crowell] was suspected of having leprosy and taken away to be held at the Kalihi Hospital.

According to the wishes of her mother [Hattie Hiram], she was sent to Japan to be treated along with others who were suspected of having the illness. Being that she did not have the funds to be treated and per her wishes, she came back to Honolulu nei after nine months of being away from here.

When she arrived in Honolulu, she went to live with her mother on Beritania Street, and she was hidden there until the death of her mother. There was no one who knew she was here in Honolulu at the time, except her mother along with another woman named Keluia and George Kaia. However, when her mother was extremely ill, Solomon Hiram came, and because they were speaking so loudly, he showed himself before them; S. Hiram was shocked at seeing her; and it was then that she was subdued by S. Hiram along with George Kaia and Keluia and detained in a building on the grounds, and she was locked inside.

A few days later, while her mother was still alive, she [Flora Crowell] was taken to the place of George Kaia on Young Street, and from there she was then taken to the uplands of Kalihi Valley to live, and from there she was taken to a grass house atop Puowaina, on the road that goes up to Puuohia (Tantalus). She escaped from this place and returned to live at her own home on Beritania Street, and it was there she lived unbeknownst to others, all except an old man who brought her food.

But during her last two days there, that man did not come back, and she almost starved for lack of food; it was only because of the passing by of one of her friends from her youth, that she was brought to that friend’s home on Young Street. This was the daughter of John Kamaki, the one who gave Flora Crowell money to care for herself while in Japan.

At the death of Mrs. Hattie Hiram, John Kamaki came and took care of her funeral, and saw for the first time that here was Mrs. Clement in Honolulu nei. Her baby was being cared for by John Kamaki, who took her after the death of Mrs. H. Hiram.

When Solomon Hiram just left with the Royal Hawaiian Band [Bana Hawaii], he left instructions for some people to keep good watch over Mrs. Clement.

She is now living with her friends mauka of Pauoa, and she has chosen R. W. Breckons as the executor of her estate.

There is no doubt, the quick death of her mother and her being hidden away, will be investigated immediately by the grand jury of this session.

(Kuokoa, 11/2/1906, p. 8)

HE WAHINE HAWAII I HUNA MA-LUIA.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke XLV, Helu 44, Aoao 8. Novemaba 2, 1906.

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Samuel Kamakaia’s Royal Order of Kalakaua to the Bishop Museum, 1919.

PRESENTATION MEDAL OF KALAKAUA TO KAMAKAIA.

The silver medal of King Kalakaua [Royal Order of Kalakaua] presented to Samuel Kamakaia, one of the members of the Bana Hawaii [Royal Hawaiian Band] is now in the possession of Malulani Beckley Kahea, who is also a band member; it is his to care for until the time comes for it to go to another member of the band, although according to Kamakaia’s wishes, it should be returned to the Bishop Museum.

Rightfully, this medal will be given to James K. Pohina, to oldest member of the Bana Hawaii active today. In 1883, this medal was awarded to Kamakaia, a gift from the King for his work as the leader of the band. In 1869, Kamakaia joined the band, and two years ago he left.

(Kuokoa, 7/4/1919, p. 1)

KA MEDALA MAKANA A KALAKAUA IA KAMAKAIA.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke LVII, Helu 27, Aoao 1. Iulai 4, 1919.

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Diamond Kekona passes away in Germany, 1922.

That Hawaiian Boy Dies in Germany

Diamond Kekona Grew Weary of This Life After One Week of Being Ill.

HIS WIFE WAS AT HIS DEATH BED

It was His Wife Who Announced the Sad News to Honolulu nei on Monday

On Monday, this town received the sad news about the death of Diamond Kekona, the son of D. K. Kekona of this town, in Berlin, Germany, on the 13th of last month, February.

It was Mrs. Diamond Kekona, the wife of Kekona, who sent the sad news of the death of her husband to Mekia Kealakai, the leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band [Bana Hawaii], because he was a friend of the young Kekona and his wife when they were all living in London.

A letter was also received by Mr. D. K. Kekona, the father of the young man, confirming the news about the passing of his son.

Diamond Kekona was born on the 6th of October, 1890, so at his death, he was thirty-three years old and some.

Diamond left Honolulu in 1905 for New York, with a group of singers and musicians. He spent many years in America in this occupation.

During the great war of the world, Diamond Kekona was in England, and he enlisted in the service under Britain, going off to war in France and Belgium. He married a British woman and had two children, however the two of them died.

At the end of the war, Mr. and Mrs. Kekona lived in Belgium, and just last year they went to Berlin, Germany, where they met up with Joe Puni, William Kanui, and Joseph Nihali [?]; but according to the letter of Mrs. Kekona, he did not get along with Joe Puni, and they did not talk.

Mr. Kekona was not sick for long before he died, it was just a week; and in the letter his wife wrote to Mr. D. K. Kekona, she told him of her intent to return the body of her husband to London to bury, in her homeland, close to her home.

With the passing of this Hawaiian youth in foreign lands, he left behind, grieving for him: his young British wife; his grandmother, Mrs. Makalohi, who is 91; his father, Mr. D. K. Kekona, working in the sheriff department and a pastor of the Christian Science Church [Hoomana Naauao]; two younger brothers named Hugo and August Kekona; and their sister, Mrs. Lonohira [Mrs. George Lonohiwa]; and a big family.

(Kuokoa, 3/22/1922, p. 1)

Make Ia Keiki Hawaii Maloko o Kelemania

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke LXI, Helu 12, Aoao 1. Maraki 22, 1922.

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More mele, this time from Liliuokalani! 1920.

NEW MELE BY LILIU.

From within the various papers of the deceased Queen Liliuokalani, the Honorable H. L. Holstein, the executor of the deceased queen’s estate, found two mele which she composed herself, and which Honolulu’s people have not heard before; however, on the evening of this Sunday, the mele will be sung by the Royal Hawaiian Band [Bana Hawaii] outside of Kapiolani Park, under the direction of Mekia Kealakai.

The words of these compositions are profound, unlike most of the mele composed by other famous composers of Hawaii nei; this shows that there are but few people who are adept at composing mele like Queen Liliuokalani.

Being that Mekia Kealakai is one of those skilled at composing Hawaiian mele while he was a member of the Hui Kawaihau [Kawaihau Glee Club], there will be nothing lacking in his directing of the playing and singing of the Royal Hawaiian Band, when the mele are sung, drawing forth feelings of admiration from the audience.

Here below are the mele composed by Queen Liliuokalani:

KA UA KILIHUNE O KONA.

Ei ae ka ua kuakualua
Ke nihi ae la i ka moana;
E uhai ae ana e ike kona pili,
Kahi wai kaulana i Haliilua.

Hui.

Maeele au i ka ua la,
Kilikilihune ka nahele la,
Hoopulu ana i ka palai.

Pulu au i ka ua anu au maeele,
Hoopulu ana i ka palai.
Ke walea la oe i ka la’i o Maunaloa,
I ka uluwehi nani a o ka lehua.

NOHEA.

He mea nani ke aloha,
Ke hiki mai i o’u nei;
Me he opuu lei daimana,
Kahiko no kuu kino.

Hui.

Kuu lei popohe i ka la’i,
Nohea i Mu’olaulani,
Ko beauty la he mau ia,
No na kau a kau.

He paa iluna ka’u li’a,
He mea laha ole na loko;
He waiwai hiilani na’u,
O ka oi no ia o Hawaii.

[This must have been some performance! "Nohea" is also known as "Nohea i Mu'olaulani" and as just "Mu'olaulani." I am not sure why this song is referred to as an unknown composition in 1920. But does anyone know if there are any recordings of "Ka Ua Kilihune o Kona"?]

(Kuokoa, 12/10/1920, p. 3)

HE MAU MELE HOU NA LILIU.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke LVIII, Helu 50, Aoao 3. Dekemaba 10, 1920.

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Royal Hawaiian Band gets new instruments, 1912.

EXPRESSION OF APPRECIATION.

We, the boys of the Royal Hawaiian Band, by means of our committee, give our great appreciation to the Honorable, Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, and the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of Honolulu, for their approving our request for new wind instruments.

Although we requested $1500 for the costs of the new instruments, they kindly granted us at the meeting of Wednesday, the 27th of March, 1912, the sum of $1800.

We, with sincerity,

Robert H. Baker,
Lowell Kupau,
D. K. Naone,
S. K. Kamakaia,
A. H. Tallett.

(Kuokoa, 4/5/1912, p. 6)

HE HOOMAIKAI.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke XLVIII, Helu 14, Aoao 6. Aperila 5, 1912.

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Kawaihau Glee Club off to San Francisco. 1905.

The Famous Singing Group “Kawaihau”

They Left for Afar.

“E nihi ka helena mai hoopa; [Tread carefully, don't touch;]
Mai pulale i ka ike a ka maka [Don't get excited by what the eye sees:]
Hookahi no makamaka o ke ALOHA [There is but one companion, that is ALOHA];
A hea mai ia Kawaihau e kipa. [Calling out to Kawaihau to come visit.]“¹

Aboard the deck of the steamship Alameda that moved swiftly on to the Golden Gate of California on the morning of Wednesday was seen the members of the famed singing group “Kawaihau” standing like officers of the ship while garlands of fragrant flowers of the beloved land hung about their necks; they wore the lei like a beloved sweetheart ever imbuing fragrance in their bosom. They were seen inhaling for the last time the adornment familiar to them as they were leaving for the great sea headed for foreign lands; and they were seeing for the last time the verdure of the land which disappeared from their eyes for who knows how long.

Not just them, but also there were the companions to curl up together in the cold nights—their wives, there to kiss their cheeks for the last time, which they sealed threefold with love, as

“O ka hao a ka ua i na pali [The assault of the rain in the cliffs]
Pale oe, pale au, pale kaua.” Aloha no! [I fend off, you fend off, we both fend off."² Aloha!]

Just as reported earlier in the Kuokoa of last week, so did this group carry out, and today they are travelling over the ocean to fulfill the contract made with them.

This past Monday that dance advertised earlier in the Kuokoa was held, and the venue where the event took place was filled with the multitudes of Honolulu; perhaps they knew that this gathering would be the last they’d hear the singing of the performers of this group, and that is probably why Honolulu’s people thronged there and gave their aloha to the boys of the band.

In the picture above, you can see the boys who went, although some of them are currently with the Hawaiian Band in San Francisco and will meet up with their companions who left.

¹Play on the chorus of Kalakaua’s “E Nihi ka Hele.”
²Anyone know what mele this might come from?

[This is who played at that huge wedding celebration in Pauoa attended by Kaiulani in 1898 (the articles posted yesterday)]

(Nupepa Kuokoa, 9/22/1905, p. 1)

Ua Hala i'o Aku la Lakou

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke XLIII, Helu 38, Aoao 1. Sepatemaba 22, 1905.

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Laying of the cornerstone of Liliuokalani School, 1912.

The Cornerstone of the New Great School is Laid.

At three o’clock on the afternoon of last Friday (4/12/1912), a ceremony was conducted to lay the cornerstone of the new school house in Kaimuki, that will be called hereafter, Liliuokalani School.

Queen Liliuokalani laid the cornerstone, and Legislator Dole, and former President of the Republic of Hawaii gave a speech about the school. The Hawaiian Band was there along with many invited guests.

When it is completed, this will be one of the most distinguished and beautiful schools, according to what is being said. And when you look at the artist’s rendering, it is indeed splendid. Authorization for building and funds were set aside in the previous session of the Legislature, through the efforts of Legislator Towse, and it was he that gave the final speech that afternoon.

The grounds of this school is near the corner of Waialae and Koko Head. It is being constructed of cement, like many of the great buildings being built these days. And the entire costs will be, as decided by the legislature, $60,000. $8000 was spent to purchase the land. The artist who drew the rendering was J. H. Craig. A. P. McDonald is the one doing the constructing; he received the contract to build the school to completion. Should there be no accidents or hinderances to the progress, the school will be unveiled this coming fall, as per what was decided.

Everything concerning the dedication of the cornerstone fell under the Improvement Club of Palolo and Kaimuki. Present also the head of the DOE, Willis T. Pope, as well as many men and women invited to attend.

[Although sadly this school has been closed, I hear there will be a 100th year celebration of the laying of the cornerstone to be held on the Queen Liliuokalani School grounds, on the 12th of April, with gates opening at 3:00 p. m.

See also from Chronicling America these related articles in English:

Evening Bulletin, 4/13/1912, p. 11,

Hawaiian Gazette, 4/16/1912, p. 7.

And about the actual opening of the school:

Hawaiian Gazette, 10/15/1912, p. 7.]

(Kuokoa, 4/19/1912, p. 6)

HOOMOEIA KA POHAKU KIHI O KA HALEKULA NUI HOU.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke XLVIII, Helu 16, Aoao 6. Aperila 19, 1912.