Video Courtesy Merrie Monarch YouTube Channel

Kaleikaumaka Destiny Kaimanaimoliʻi Bartolome Cruz of Hālau Hula ʻO Nāpunaheleonāpua under the direction of Kumu Rich Pedrina performing “Pua Māmane.”

“Hawaiʻiʻs songbird,” Lena Machado, wrote scores of mele, many of which were inspired by personal events. She wrote “Pua Mamane” to honor her eldest brother William “Bill” Kauila Waiʻaleʻale. Growing up Oʻahu, it wasn’t until her teens – with Bill’s help – that Lena forged bonds and relationships with her siblings and their ʻāina ʻohana on Kauaʻi.

Pua Mamane speaks to her found memories of hiking with him deep into Waiʻaleʻale on Kauaʻi and seeing the Pua Mamane trees there in the piko or center of the forest. As the Pua Mamane was the piko of the forest, so too was her brother that Pua Manane at the piko of her family, reconnecting Lena to people and place.