I am mountains rising high above the valleys
I am the in-between where trade winds ramble free
I am the red hot rock turning coal black in the ocean
I am the shore extending deep into the sea
I am the shore extending deep into the sea
Chorus:
ʻĀina, ʻĀina, Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina
i ka pono, ʻĀina
I am life to those who sink their roots
into me
I am the walls you build with stone cut from my heart
I am the shoulders on these roads you carve across my back
I am the very grounds where life foundation starts
I am the
very grounds where life foundation starts
ʻĀina, ʻĀina, Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka
pono, ʻĀina
ʻĀina, ʻĀina, Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka
pono, ʻĀina
I am the life of the land preserved in
righteousness
I am a place my children proudly call their
home
I am the soil that men have fought to gain for
power
I am a resting place for bones of those long gone
I am a
resting place for bones of those long gone
ʻĀina, ʻĀina, Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka
pono, ʻĀina
ʻĀina, ʻĀina, Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka
pono, ʻĀina
- (repeat chorus)
Gordon Manuel Freitas
Source: Recorded by Gordon Freitas on
"Local Folk" CD and Kahala Moon on "Collage" CD. Gordon
Manuel Freitas, from Hōlualoa on the island of Hawaiʻi, is a
local folk troubadour, whose compositions have found their
way from elementary classrooms, to radio, and to audiences
around the world. Uncle Gordon has worked with students at
Wheeler Elementary and Helemano Elementary Schools and uses
local folk songs to help the children become more aware of
their individual cultural identities and how it all works
together to exist in harmony. Students working with this
song ʻĀina responded with essays, expressive art,
field trips and the planting of a garden. Most of his songs
paint portraits of island people and things they hold dear. ʻĀina revolves around the importance of the land while
the refrain echoes the Hawaiʻi state motto: Ua mau ke ea o
ka ʻāina i ka pono (the life of the land is preserved
in righteousness). Visit Gordon Freitas, at:
http://gordonfreitas.com
ainafolk@aol.com