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ʻAlekoki - Words by Kalākaua/Lunalilo, Music by Lizzie ʻAlohikea

Click Title to Access Older Melody


ʻAʻole i piliwi ʻia
Kahi wai aʻo ʻAlekoki
Ua hoʻokohu ka ua i uka
Noho maila i Nuʻuanu

Anuanu makehewa au
Ke kali ʻana i laila
Kai nō paha ua paʻa
Kou manaʻo i ʻaneʻi

I ʻō i ʻaneʻi au
Ka piʻina aʻo Maʻemaʻe
He ʻala onaona kou
Ka i hiki mai i ʻaneʻi

Ua malu nēia kino
Ma muli aʻo kou leo
Kau nui aku ka manaʻo
Kahi wai aʻo Kapena

Pania paʻa ʻia mai
Nā mana wai aʻo uka
Ma luna aʻe nō au
Ma nā lumi liʻiliʻi

Ma waho aʻo Māmala
Hao mai nei ehuehu
Pulu au i ka hunakai
Kai heʻaheʻa i ka ʻili

Hoʻokahi nō koa nui
Nāna e ʻalo ia ʻino
ʻInoʻino mai nei luna
I ka hao a ka makani

He makani ʻāhaʻilono
Lohe ka luna i Pelekane
A ʻo ia pouli nui
Mea ʻole i kuʻu manaʻo

E kilohi au i ka nani
Nā pua o Maunaʻala
Haʻina mai ka puana
Kahi wai aʻo ʻAlekoki

 

William Charles Lunalilo
 
 
 
 
Princess Victoria Kamamalu
 
 
 
 
David Kalākaua

Unbelievable
Waters of ʻAlekoki
Like the rains of the uplands
Sitting this side of Nuʻuanu

Cold forsaken me
Waiting here
Believing with certainty
Your thoughts were of me

Here I am
At Maeʻmaʻe hill
Where your sweet fragrance
Has come to me

This body is captive
To your voice
Thoughts linger
At the waters of Kapena

Blocked
Upland streams
And I am above
In little rooms

Outside Māmala
Spray flurries
And I am wet with foam
And sea slippery to the skin

One brave man
Faces the storm
The storms above
And the blustering wind

A wind bringing news
That the king of England hears
This deep black night
Cannot worry me

I behold beauty
And the flowers of Maunaʻala
Tell the refrain
Waters of ʻAlekoki


Source: Nā Mele o Hawaiʻi Nei by Elbert & Mahoe. There are similar versions in Echo of Our Song by Mary Pukui, King's Song's of Hawaiʻi, Johnny Noble`s Hawaiian Hula and Emerson's Unwritten Literature of Hawaiʻi, the difference being primarily the placement of verses and stanzas. This chant, a lover's complaint was composed about 1850. Oral tradition credits this to Prince William Charles Lunalilo (1835-1874) and tells of his supposed meeting with Princess Victoria Kamamalu (1838-1866) and disappointment when she did not arrive and was forbidden to marry him. Their parents had planned their marriage from infancy and their children would have been of a higher rank than the princess or her brothers. This may have been the reason for the opposition to this match. He reproaches the princess for rejecting his love. The rain, which lingers in the uplands, is his brooding affection. The cold, storm and the tempest that rages at Māmala and fills the heavens with driving scud, represents the violent opposition in the royal court to this love match. Māmala is the waters just outside of Honolulu Harbor. The tale-bearing wind is the gossip that follows the storm of scandal. The princess misbehaved with Mr. Monsarrat. Maʻemaʻe is the hill between Nuʻuanu and Pauoa valleys. Pelekane is Beretania or the Hawaiianized form of Britain and refers to the palace grounds and vicinity. This is an allusion to King Kamehameha IV. Some believe Kalākaua wrote this about his rendezvous with a beautiful girl at ʻAlekoki, a pool in Nuʻuanu Valley just below Kapena Falls, covered when the freeway was built. The melody, by Lizzie ʻAlohikea, has evolved over the years, but many musicians today, incorporate both tunes, using a different melody on the verses
. Hawaiian Text edited by Puakea Nogelmeier. © 1927, 42 Charles E. King. Music clip of older melody by Lani Lee.