Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 6, 1 June 2011 — Musician abroad meets a kupuna wanting to return home [ARTICLE]

Musician abroad meets a kupuna wanting to return home

By Kau'i Sai-Dudoit On May 1, 201 1, Ernest Kaleihōkū Ka'ai was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame, an event co-sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Known as the Father of the 'Ukulele, he was celebrated for his many musical talents and accomplishments as a music teacher, an 'ukulele virtuoso, the owner of the Ka'ai 'Ukulele Manufacturing Co., and the first to publish an 'ukulele instruction manual in 1906, but he

was most notably remembered for organizing more than 20 musical ensembles from Hawai'i and traveling abroad featuring the 'ukulele as a solo instrument and sharing his love of Hawaiian music with the world. In 1925, Ka Nupepa Kū'oko'a published an article, "Makemake ia Hawaii e Hoi mai no ka Aina Nei," (This Hawaiian wants to return here) whieh relays a story of Ernest Ka'ai on tour in Australia with a group of young Hawaiians where they met a Mr. F.G. Ka'ainoa, a 72-year-old Hawaiian man who

had lived in Australia for 50 years and longed to return home to rest his bones in the sands of his birth. Mr. Ka'ainoa was without the hnaneial means to return home and so Ernest Ka'ai sent a letter to Mrs. A.P. Taylor, President of the 'Ahahui Māmakakaua, to rally the Hawaiian people for assistance for Mr. Ka'ainoa in his quest to return home and to find his 'ohana. In the upcoming months we will try to find the closing of this story to discover if Mr. Ka'ainoa ever made it home to his beloved

homeland and whether he ever found his 'ohana. ■ Ho'oīaupa'i: Hawaiian Language Newspaper Project is a coUaborative partnership among the Bishop Museum, Awaiauīu Ina, Alu Li.ke Ine. and Haīe Kuamo'o to utilize modem technology to preserve and provide access to the voluminous writings in the Hawaiian language newspapersforfree access at www.nupepa.org. Kau'i Sai-Dudoit has been the Project Manager ofHo'olaupa'i since 2002.

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