HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0711.106 2008-2010Aloha e Leaders of Our Community: Hawai'i County Council Testimony 3/22/10
In the teaching of performing arts, we note that the arts exist to entertain, to educate, and to
glorify. We all know that the Hawai'i County Band has entertained islanders and visitors to
our island home for over 127 years. But I wish to suggest that we Iook at the other purposes
that the arts exist: to educate and to glorify. Through the music of the Hawai'i County Band
our island history has been celebrated, from generation to generation. Just look at what we
learn from the Band's repertoire, played in every corner of the island:
• We come to know the ancient chief, Hanakahi, in the song, Kaulana 0 Hilo Hanakahi;
• We praise the beauty of Hilo in Hilo March as we rest and recreate in Kalakaua Square;*
• The love we have for our keiki resounds in the song, Kamalani 0 Keaukaha;
• Traveling around our island, we honor Puna Paia Aloha, a poetic song about Puna,
the bower of love;
• North of Hilo, our old - time -style small towns are captured in the music of Home in
Honokaa and Nani Waimea;
• The birthplace of Kamehameha the Great stirs in the song, Kohala March, as do the
Waimea winds of Waika
• On to the song, Kona Kai Opua, that speaks of the Windward side's billowing clouds,
stopping at Pu'u Wa'a Wa'a, along the way, embraced in yet another song
All of these musical praises are nestled in the gaze of The Snows of Mauna Kea, where every
party is made complete with My Little Grass Shack
I ask you, the leaders of our Big Island, to allow the Hawai'i County Band to carry on this
stellar legacy in music: music that glorifies our history; music that educates us about our land
and those who walked this lava landscape before us; music that brings great joy to our present
lives; and music that ensures that my grandchildren and great- grandchildren, and great- greats—
all those who will come after - -will know the depth of meaning brought to our lives through
music performed by the Hawai'i County Band.
Please, continue funding for the Band. Their playing soars with the emotion of all in this
room — deeply expressed in two other songs that rally all of us when played by the Hawai'i
County Band: I Love You Hilo and Hilo, My Hometown
Jackie Pualani Johnson
Kalakaua Square is a march composed by Mark Foutch, an army musician who befriended Urban Carvalho Sr.
Foutch was stationed in Hilo.
Comm. No. 9 I I /IOlo
Ref. To: Q G 4 utn Gi
Ref. Date MAR 2 2 2019