Today is Easter Sunday, which in Hilo means the 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival starts today.
Also today is the return of the festival’s free Ho‘olaule‘a. Last held in 2019, the Easter Sunday staple is the final piece of the puzzle in the festival’s return to prepandemic normalcy.
“I’m very happy we’re having the Ho‘olaule‘a return for the 60th anniversary,” said “Aunty” Luana Kawelu, the Merrie Monarch Festival president.
Seven halau and a taiko drum group will entertain an anticipated crowd of hundreds, perhaps thousands, starting at 9 a.m. at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
“I’m excited, because no matter what, it’s still a hometown crowd. And it’s the kickoff of the whole week of festivities,” said Meleana Manuel, kumu hula of Halau Hula Ke ‘Olu Makani O Mauna Loa of Kilauea Volcano. “And it’s really nice to be a part of it. Because our kupuna, all the way down to keiki, this is the time our entire halau gets to participate and have their families there. And best yet, it’s free, right? So it’s good to have something to give back to the people after all this time.”
Manuel’s troupe will perform in the 10 a.m. slot, following the day’s opening halau, Unukupukupu under the direction of kumu hula Taupouri Tangaro, which will get the festivities started at 9 a.m.
According to Manuel, the theme of her halau’s performance is “Hawaii Island, Moku O Keawe.”
“We’re going to get in the car and holoholo around the Big Island — and stop at different points and visit,” she said. “I purposely chose this theme to remind us of our foundation — where we live, where we are, and how beautiful our island is. And if you haven’t gotten in the car and taken that road trip, you kind of forget. So, it’s to bring back memories of when you were a child and you took that trip around the island, or to the Kona side or down to Laupahoehoe.”
Manuel’s wahine have competed the last two years in the festival’s hula competition. After being scheduled to compete in 2020, the festival was scratched, but Halau Hula Ke ‘Olu Makani O Mauna Loa made its competition stage debut in the 2021 made-for-TV event before a functionally empty stadium. They returned to the competition in 2022, when COVID-19 protocols such as a limited audience, masking and mandatory vaccinations were still in place.
For years, they’ve also performed in the free midday hula shows in the Hilo hotels, and will do so again this year, at noon Thursday at the Grand Naniloa Hotel.
“We’re all just so very excited because the 60th is just so monumental,” Manuel said. “And to be a part of it, continually, for all these years, I think this is going to be a culmination internationally, because everybody’s looking at us to see what’s going to happen with this wonderful festival.”
Performing at 11 a.m. today, following Manuel’s halau, is Halau Na Pua O Uluhaimalama, under the direction of kumu hula Emery Aceret.
Aceret was one of six members of Hilo’s Halau Hula ‘O Kahikilaulani to receive their ‘uniki, hula’s formal graduation, from the late kumu hula Rae Fonseca in March 2007.
“It feels really, really good to be back,” Aceret said. “We’ve been off for awhile, and we’re excited to be back to perform the hula that we’ve practiced all these years that we’ve been out.”
Aceret said the theme for his halau’s performances will be hapa haole music, songs that have at least partial English lyrics.
Material will include a song called “King Kamehameha” by Sol K. Bright that was performed in the legendary floor show of the Hawaiian Room in New York City’s Lexington Hotel.
A favorite of Aceret’s is the “Silhouette Hula,” which was written by steel guitarist Danny Kalauawa Stewart and Steve Graham. It was performed by Stewart’s Aloha Boys and also recorded by Nina Keali‘iwahamana and Teresa Bright.
They’ll also feature a favorite of Fonseca’s as their finale, “Hawaiian War Chant” — which was written by Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku, King Kalakaua’s younger brother, as “Kaua i ka Huahua‘i” or “We Two in the Mist.” The song was about a clandestine seaside meeting of lovers. The English title and lyrics were courtesy of Ralph Freed in 1936, with some changes to the melody made by Johnny Noble.
Aceret, like Manuel, plans to use haumana from all his age groups at Ho‘olaule‘a, where the age restrictions of 13 to 55 for the Merrie Monarch’s hula competition do not apply.
“I’m also having a group from Japan join us,” Aceret said.
According to Aceret, there is no difference between his Hawaii students and his students from Japan.
“They have that love for the hula and the yearning to learn our culture,” he said.
Aceret’s halau also will perform in a free show at noon Friday at the Grand Naniloa Hotel.
The schedule for today’s performances is:
9 a.m.: Unukupukupu, Taupouri Tangaro
10 a.m.: Hula Halau Ke ‘Olu Makani O Mauna Loa, led by Meleana Manuel
11 a.m.: Halau Na Pua O Uluhaimalama, led by Emery Aceret
Noon: Halau E Hulali Mai I Ka La, led by Chrissy Kama-Henriques
1 p.m.: Na Lei Liko Ola‘a, led by Kimo Kekua
2 p.m.: Halau Hula O Leionalani, led by Debbie Ryder
3 p.m.: Hula Halau ‘O Kealakahi, led by Camille Duebel-Mahuna
4 p.m. Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko, led by Kathy Matsuda
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.