Pulama’s 2013 CD, Hi`ipoi, presents some of Hawaii’s favorite classic songs, arranged with artistry and performed with aloha. This duo’s distinctive, intimate, full, rich vocal sound, combined with scintillating slack key guitar, is both soothing and energizing. Hi`ipoi can be added to your playlist and enjoyed anytime. Track 1. Mele Ho‘okipa 2:37 (words traditional, music by James Romano) A beautiful couple wanted their wedding ceremony to begin with the strength of Hawaiian chant combined with music. We chose the Oli Aloha or Oli Ho‘okipa (welcoming chant). The words say, “Surely, this is a place of fragrant flowers, now that you have come, with your aloha.” Track 2. Kawohikūkapulani 4:20 (Helen Desha Beamer) This lovely mele was a wedding gift for the composer’s daughter, Helen Elizabeth Kawohikūkapulani Beamer. It speaks of the unbreakable bond between the generations. Our arrangement is based on the instrumental version by Keola Beamer. Track 3. Pua Mae‘ole 3:26 (John Kamana) (instrumental) John “Squeeze” Kamana wrote this song for his daughter, Leone Kaninipuamae‘ole. Completed in 1954 as a musical gift of love, it was written over the years as he watched her blossom from a small child into a beautiful woman. Track 4. Ku‘u Home O Kahalu‘u 5:57 (Jerry Santos) As a young man living on the mainland in San Francisco, Jerry Santos wrote this ode to his home in Kahalu‘u on O‘ahu. This beautiful mele of lost innocence, a perennial favorite, was first performed by the original Olomana (Jerry Santos and Robert Beaumont), one of our great inspirations. Track 5. Hi‘ilawe 4:27 (Mrs. Kuakini) History records two mele with the same words but different melodies, written at or before the turn of the 20th century. The singer is a lover who traveled from Puna, in the far south of the Big Island of Hawai‘i, to meet her beloved near Hi‘ilawe waterfall in Waipi‘o Valley to the north, defying local gossips who disapproved of the match. Our version is from the mele attributed to Mrs. Kuakini in Songs of Hawai‘i (1902) as distinct from that attributed to Martha K. Maui and first recorded by the great Gabby Pahinui. Track 6. Beautiful Kaua‘i 4:25 (Randy Haleakalā Farden) Randy Farden, who lived on O‘ahu, wrote this hapa-haole song while remembering the beautiful view from his room at the famous Coco Palms Hotel on the Garden Isle. Jim’s solo version – more languid and nahenahe than any other we’ve heard – was so beautiful that Paula decided harmony would be “gilding the lily.” Track 7. Lei Aloha, Lei Makamae 3:39 (Charles E. King) An upbeat version of Charles E. King’s classic wedding mele. Track 8. Pua Līlia 4:51 (Alfred Unauna Alohikea) Paula searched the byways of Hā‘ena and Hanalei on Kaua‘i for the ‘ohana of songwriter Alfred Unauna Alohikea before Jim ultimately found Alohikea’s great-grandchildren on O‘ahu. We thank them for giving us their blessing to record their great-grandfather’s mele aloha, which compares a woman to a lily flower. Pili adds his warm baritone to the harmony. Track 9. Blue Darling 3:14 (Lessie Lyle) The Raposa ‘ohana asked us to learn Tony Lindsey’s beloved version of Blue Darling for Louis Raposa’s seventieth birthday. We fell in love. Track 10. E Pili Mai 3:09 (words by Larry Lindsey Kimura, music by Cyril Pahinui) Paula learned the hui (refrain) of this unique, retro version in a dream after hearing Cyril Pahinui perform the song at the Kanikapila Grill in Waikīkī. (Cyril graciously gave us permission to record it, but he requests that the hui only be performed by Pūlama.) Track 11. White Sandy Beach 3:38 (Willie Dann) An extraordinary thing happens to nearly everyone who experiences a white sandy beach of Hawai‘i. It is a shared connection to the warm sand and sun, cooling trade winds, gentle swaying palms, and slow ocean sounds that create perfect moments in time. Mind, body and spirit become intertwined with the vast timelessness of land, sea and sky. Mellow and bittersweet, this song, made famous by Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole, lets us share a beautiful dream of being together in a place we love. Track 12. Pōhai Ke Aloha 4:13 (Lena Machado) In her book, Lena Machado: Songbird of Hawai‘i, the great singer’s hānai daughter, Pi‘olani Motta, relates that Machado wrote this song, “Surrounded by Love,” about the love between Royal Hawaiian Bandmaster Mekia Kealaka‘i and his wife, Mele. Whenever he talked about his wife, Mekia smiled with tears in his eyes, “kō mino‘aka mai, me ka waimaka.” Lyrics and translations for all songs are available at pulamamusic.com