When Hilo hula master Johnny Lum Ho died on April 3, 2022, he already was preparing his halau to return to the Merrie Monarch stage for the festival’s 60th anniversary.
And while the beloved kumu hula will not be sporting his trademarked sunglasses in the flesh, his charges are ensuring that the show will go on and his legacy will be honored.
Two of Lum Ho’s alaka‘i, na kumu hula Kasie Puahala Kaleohano and Brandi Nohelani Barrett, will lead Lum Ho’s handpicked ‘olapa (dancers) during the three nights of competition this week on hula’s biggest stage.
“You know, there’s a lot going on, especially with honoring Uncle Johnny this year,” said Kaleohano. “We’re definitely excited about that. And also excited about finishing up what we had started with him, because he had intended on entering the halau here on the 60th anyway. But there’s also a lot of anxiety that comes with being a first-time kumu hula in the Merrie Monarch and bringing a relatively new group.
“Of the 27 girls, only three have ever been on the Merrie Monarch stage before. And it’s a relatively young group. Most of them are still in high school.”
According to Kaleohano, Lum Ho selected both the line dancers and the halau’s Miss Aloha Hula competitor, Tehani Kaleohoneonalani Barrett, Brandi’s Barrett’s daughter.
Kaleohano and Barrett felt it would be inappropriate to continue under Lum Ho’s Halau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua banner, because as both said, almost in unison, “There’s only one Uncle Johnny.”
The pair renamed their legacy halau Halau Ka Lehua Pua Kamaehu.
“It talks about the rust-colored lehua blossom,” Kaleohano said. “In the halau name, we took out the ‘okina (from kama‘ehu), so it means, like the lehua for a new generation. But we kind of play on both names, because the official color of our halau is rust. So our pa‘u is kind of in a rust color as an ode to Uncle Johnny’s mele.”
The group hula kahiko (ancient hula) on Friday evening will be “Waiholoku‘i,” a chant written by Lum Ho.
“That kahiko has never been presented by a group,” Kaleohano said. “There’s two versions of ‘Waiholoku‘i.’ “Originally, the mele was called ‘Waihulaku‘i. And it was the kahiko presentation of one of Uncle Johnny’s earliest Miss Aloha Hulas, Dayna Oda, in 1982. And more recently, in 2013, his Miss Aloha Hula contestant Auli‘i De Sa ran using that number.
“Basically, it’s about a pond in Puna that used to provide fresh drinking water for the people of Keokea. And at times of drought or when they were in need of water, the people learned that they could tell the pond was full when they saw the pueo (Hawaiian owl). When the pueo would flap its wings, they would see the water droplets, and it guided them to where the pond was and they were able to get water for their families.”
The hula ‘auana (modern hula) mele to be performed on Saturday night is “Ka Pua Kamaehu Mau Loa.”
“Uncle Johnny had a different mele in mind, but since this is the 60th anniversary, and they’re honoring him,” Kaleohano said. “To our knowledge, we don’t know any mele that were written for him. So, we got together with some of our hula sisters and one of our hula dads, Hiapo Perreira, who’s a professor of Hawaiian language, and we kind of talked about Uncle Johnny’s life and some of the stories that he’s shared with us. From that, Hiapo was able to compose a mele for Uncle Johnny. And Kuana Torres Kahele wrote the melody. He used some of the melodies from some of Uncle Johnny’s songs and combined them.”
Torres Kahele and Mark Yamanaka, two legendary falsetto vocalists trained by Lum Ho, will sing and play guitar. Rounding out the band are fellow Lum Ho stalwarts Bert Naihe on guitar and vocals and Edward Atkins on bass.
In addition to their halau duties, the new kumu hula both hold full-time jobs, Kaleohano in the state, Department of Education and Barrett at Shigehara Plumbing.
Asked how they felt about bringing their students to Merrie Monarch, Kaleohano replied,”We’re excited,” with Barrett finishing the sentence, “but nervous.”
“We wanted our students to have this experience because they started with him in prepping,” Kaleohano said. “And Uncle Johnny was going to enter last year, but with all the COVID restrictions, he decided not to. So, that was already one year that these girls were told, ‘We’re not going to be at Merrie Monarch.’
“And we didn’t want to do that to them again, because they’ve all been dancing since they were little.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.