I’m not the kind of person who would get choked up from watching a music video, but Maisey Rika’s “Reconnect” moved me. It’s a sublime combination of music, lyrics, and vision. Things from Aotearoa/New Zealand tend to hit a particular chord for me. The clip for “Reconnect” reminds me of Tiki Taane’s “Tangaroa” in how the ancestral past never disappears. Instead, it’s always present… you just need to look at things from a slightly different angle for all those from ages past to reappear.

LISTEN NOW

“Reconnect” is off Maisey Rika’s self-titled debut EP, now available on  iTunes.  She has since followed up with the gorgeous Tohu.

Tags: Aotearoa, Maisley Rika, Māori, New Zealand, Reconnect, Tohu

So our trip into the moana nui continues… We’re currently digging the track “Hiro’a” off Ma’ohi rock band Manahune’s fifth studio album Tapu. The guitar riffs and the battle cry chorus are especially tight. Unfortunately, the album is not out on iTunes yet. We’re crossing our fingers for a quick release so we can avoid international shipping.

Tags: French Polynesia, Hiro'a, ma'ohi, Manahune, Tahiti

Time to start practicing your tāmurē, ladies. And gentlemen, better learn how to impress your girlfriends with fine, thigh-firming paʻoti before a tāne with smoother moves beats you to it. Why, you may ask?

Because the biggest Tahitian party to rock the Hawaiian archipelago in 2010 is about to go down Saturday, March 27, 2010. Nella Media Group (the folks behind Go Airlines’s eco-chic in-air magazine Innov8) and Maʻohi Nui, purveyor of the finest Tahitian dance moves, have come together to rock Aloha Tower with earth-shaking ʻōteʻa and local grooves for Spring Broke III. And what better excuse is there party when it all benefits a local charity? Party down guilt-free to the sounds of Miko Sweet, Beach 5 and OOKLAH THE MOC and check out the latest fashions from Hinano. So even if you can’t make it for Hawaiian Airlines’ Honolulu-Papeʻete flight for spring break, you can still experience the full māʻohi flavor right here at home.

Interested?

Check out ticket details in the Kaila Hawaiʻi ʻAlemanaka (Calendar). And if you’re not convinced yet, check out some these clips of Maʻohi Nui at last year’s Spring Broke.

Tags: Hinano, Maʻohi Nui, Nella Media Group, Spring Broke III, Tahiti

“Kareho Koe”, the new clip from Tikahiri’s new album Merahi Kerekere, is finally up on YouTube in high resolution. Its dark, gothic atmosphere and slick production make it one of the more original clips out of Tahiti and French Polynesia to date.

Like Tikahiri’s video debut “Tapea te paari”, the band maintains its special brand of smoldering and brooding. But on this occasion, a female element appears as a mysterious woman who seems to lure one of the men into her grasp during the darkness of the night. Unfortunately, you need to speak pa’umotu (the language of the Tuamotu Archipelgo) to get the complete meaning of the song, and, alas, no translations have appeared yet. Somehow, I think you can get the song’s jist just by watching.

More Tikahiri on Kaila Hawai’i:

• Polynesian Gothic: Tikahiri’s back with new album & clip
• Tātau and leather – “Tapea te paari”, Tikahiri’s debut clip
• Polyneisan Paradoxes: Tikahiri

LISTEN TO TIKAHIRI’S MERAHI KEREKERE

Tags: Acoustic Rock, goth, Kareho Koe, Merahi Kerekere, pa'umotu, Tahiti, Tikahiri

Today’s Hawaiian word of the day is kai a Pele, or tsunami or tidal wave.

The inspiration for today’s choice was obviously the events of this past February 27, 2010, following the oceanic surge sent throughout the Pacific Ocean by the Chilean quake. On a side note, I must say that some celebratory champagne from the night before had led me to think of something more sinister concocted by Kim Jong Il when I was awakened far too early by the sirens’ metallic screech at 5:50 in the morning. Hence, I was “relieved” to learn that the crisis at hand was actually natural.

Before I get complaints from the scientifically-inclined, I’d like to underline the difference between tsunami and a tidal wave. While tsunamis are generated by geological disturbances, the key word in the layman’s term is tidal, referring, of course, to the tides. Since tsunamis are not caused by the tides, tidal wave is discouraged as term to describe the phenomena. (At the same, tsunami literally means “harbor wave” in Japanese, so here’s to the scientific community’s selective recognition of etymology.)

Now that the digression is over, back to the ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Though the Hawaiian word for wave is nalu, the Hawaiian terms referring to tsunami or tidal waves found in Pukui and Elbert’s Hawaiian Dictionary use instead the word kai, or sea.

Besides kai a Pele (literally “sea of Pele”), other terms are kai e‘e (mounting sea) and the variant kai ho‘ē‘e. As a verb, ho‘ē‘e can be to rise or swell. I do recall hearing some Ni‘ihau speakers dropping the word kai and using either e‘e or ho‘ē‘e on its own to refer to the destructive wave. Interestingly enough, the Hawaiian term is closer to the actual nature of the tsunami, a swelling of the sea that surges ashore as opposed to one crashing wave. The receding of the ocean that precedes the tsunami is called kai mimiki.

Personally, I prefer kai a Pele because it refers to the wahine kapu (sacred woman) of Kīlauea herself, Pele, and her awesome powers. Not only the creator of new land, Pele also makes the earth tremble in ōla‘i, or earthquakes—the generator of the tsunami.  In the lower case, pele refers to lava and eruption. And if my understanding of Hawaiian grammar is right, the possessive a suggests that the destructive sea does not just belong to Pele but is created or generated by the goddess herself. Though the hula kahiko “Aia la ‘o Pele” refers to eruptions, I think it’s meditative inquiry “I hea kāua e la‘i ai, ‘ea?” (Where can we find peace?) is equally appropriate for kai a Pele.

Fortunately enough, the Pacific was spared from the kai a Pele this past weekend. Since I was already awake Saturday and suffering from my own ōla‘i (of notably French origin) between my temples, I jumped online to see what was occurring in French Polynesia because of the region’s closer proximity to Chile. The Gambier Islands only recorded 26 cm. The harbor in Pape‘ete, Tahiti only noted marginal rises. The minimal waves Because of their topography, the Marquesas, or Te Fenua Enata, recorded the strongest waves, measuring up to four meters at Ua Pou. On Radio Polynésie, a local resident reported seeing tourbillons, or whirlpools, form in the water. A day later, La Dépêche de Tahiti published the following photos—not exactly kai a Pele but curious enough.

Sources:

• Flickr – Clearly Ambiguous – Under Creative Commons License
• La Dépêche de Tahiti
• Pukui and Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary

Tags: Chile, Gambier Islands, Hawaiian language, Hawaiian word of the day, kai a Pele, kai e'e, kai ho‘ē‘e, Kilauea, Kim Jong Il, Marquesas, Pele, Tahiti, tidal wave, tsunami, ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i

Tikahiri, my favorite Pa’umotu goth band – and perhaps the only Pa’umoth goth band that ever will exist – is about to release their second studio album dubbed Merahi Kerekere. According to the band’s Facebook page, the discs are sous douane, which I’m liberally interpreting as “stuck in customs”. Luckily, three tracks are already up for listening on Reverb Nation. Two  of the  tracks (“A Tauahi Mai” and “Kareho Koe”) are in Pa’umotu, the language of the Tuamotu archipelago where lead members Aroma and Mano Salmon grew up. The other  (“Falling in Love”) is in English. (Note: no tracks in French, so Tikahiri’s right on par with indie bands in France métropolitaine.)

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Tags: acoustic, Acoustic Rock, Aroma Salmon, French Polynesia, goth, gothic, Mano Salmon, Merahi Kerekere, pa'umotu, Simon Pillard, Stephane Rossoni, Tahiti, Tamaki Hope'a, Tikahiri, Tuamotus

I’ve been hooked to Māori spin doctor Tiki Taane since I first caught a glimpse of his mindblowing video clip “Tangaroa”, off his debut album album Past, Present, Future. For those unfamiliar with Polynesian mythology, Tangaroa is the Māori god of the sea, corresponding to the Hawaiian akua Kanaloa. The track is a shock to the system, combing traditional Māori chant with a raging dancehall-style beat. (more…)

Tags: Aotearoa/New Zealand, god of the sea, haka, Hawaiian Mythology, Hawaiian religion, Hawai‘i, Kanaloa, kinolau, Māori, Māori mythology, Mele / Music, spirituality, Tangaroa, Tiki Taane

This fantastic TV spot (shot by director Kevin Denholm via Exposure Films) has made its way from Aotearoa/New Zealand to all over the world. In an era where flying has become more of a chore than pleasure, Air New Zealand wanted to show they have nothing to hide. So they turned to their employees, including CEO Rob Fyfe, to “show” what they mean. (See the clip after the jump.) (more…)

Tags: Air New Zealand, Aotearoa/New Zealand, hoʻolaha kūʻai / ads