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Published: March 5th 2009
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Looking west toward Lahaina
Taken from the bus up the side of the mountain Ann was up early and ready to go up the volcano. Our bus had to leave at 8 in order to make the summit and give us time to tour before the road was to be closed for repair work. She bustled me to get ready and, with bags on our shoulders and warm clothes on, we grabbed breakfast on the fly (it was continental) and were on the bus in plenty of time. I dreaded the idea of not being able to breathe when we got to the top of Hale'akala.
As the bus slowly wound around the hairpin curves, going higher and higher, we took deep breaths and found that even above the tree line, we were not getting light-headed. I took hope from that. One of the things pre-occupying us was trying to photograph a bit of rainbow in the clouds as we penetrated them. The camera blessed us . . . after a dozen tries!
The landscape changed. The grasslands and trees fell behind and the rough terrain covered by hardy grasses and wind-twisted shrubs barely covered the 'a'a lava. At the park, little more than Silversword grew.
The view from the park's main
Catchng the rainbow
We were at the cloud layer. building was fabulous. Without an eruption in centuries, the landscape lay quiet before us. The oxidation colored the lava fields in smooth streaks.
Having been warned to walk slowly, our group (including ourselves) handled the adventure far better than I expected. The sights were worth the fear and doubt I'd had.
As we descended the mountain, the bus driver told us a lot about Hawai'ian music. Because of what he shared, Ann and I now listen to the Hawai'ian music channel from Sirius which comes over our satellite TV. We have had it on every day since we discovered it right after coming home. We especially like the slack string guitar music and the Cazimero Brothers.
Let me share a bit of that ethnomusicology.
I do not know what kind of music the Marquessans brought when they originally settled the islands. I suspect they did hula story telling and maybe used falsetto. The Tahitians brought two and three tone chant. That kind of plain tonality suited the rigid Kapu much like the chanting of the early Christian church fit the monastic movement.
Hawai'ian music changed drastically with the breakdown of Kapu soon after King Kamehameha
At the summit
'A'a lava rock died in 1819. Even though the hymnody of the early Protestant missionaries was rather drab, musically speaking, and because the hula music was scorned by the sexually inhibited missionaries, what the Hawai'ians heard was harmonies, singing in parts together. Their music incorporated that right away.
As the missionaries brought in coffee and sugar cane and cattle which led to plantations and ranches, the immigrants brought along their music. The cattle ranchers needed experienced cowboys to teach the natives. Argentina provided the workers who brought along the guitar. Their language, "Espaniol," led to the cowboys being called Paniolos.
Workers from Portugal brought the smaller four string version which the Hawai'ians called "ukulele," which has been variously translated, but I like "dancing fleas" the best. The style of play was very fast and the fingers of the players were so quick they could hardly be seen.
As Hawai'ians worked out their new musical style, with harmonics and these amazing stringed instruments, they chose poetry about nature and its beauties to tell love stories by analogy. Had the missionaries realized the underlying meaning of the songs, they would have been mortified!
Our bus driver spoke of some changes that
Panarama
Early morning at the summit came during his lifetime. While in school, one of his class mates accidentally dropped a comb on his guitar and it made odd sounds. As the student experimented with the comb, sliding it along the strings as he plucked them, he discovered he could slide the chord sound. Thus, the driver told us, the "Hawai'ian guitar" sound was born. It also quickly entered country western music on the mainland, only it is called "steel guitar."
Knowing these bits of information about the development of Hawai'ian music, our interest was piqued.
We drove to Makawao, a cowboy town down the mountain, to have lunch and explore this little community. Again, the weather was clear and sunny and breezy cool. The cafe is between two buildings with umbrellas covering the tables.
After lunch, we meandered, checking out some of the small stores, before heading to the bus. From there we went to the shore overlooking one of Maui's best surfing beaches. Those who had "parachutes" which acted like kites and pulled the surfers in wet suits across the water at considerable speed did well. It looked too cold for regular surfers. But the views of the ocean and the
shore were striking. No, not tempting!
After supper, Susan offered a number of possible activities for the next day. We wavered on renting a car with another couple to make the winding journey down to Hana and then decided against it. In fact, Ann was feeling crummy and we decided to wait to see how she felt the next morning before deciding how we would use the scheduled "free" day.
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Marty Freeman
Martha E Freeman
Haleakala
Haleakala was a sight to see. It was much bigger than I had imagined.