Wahine Ilikea - Written by Dennis Kamakahi - Ukulele Cover

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Today was a sad day for those of us who love Hawaiian music. Dennis Kamakahi, a legendary Hawaiian musician passed away after a brave battle with lung cancer. Wahine Ilikea has always been one of my favorite Hawaiian songs, it evokes such memories for me...my mom and her Hawaiian singing group playing it, my fun times when I go visit my aunty and get to strum along with her kanikapila group, and I just love the song. Here is a description of what Rev. Dennis Kamakahi said about how the song was conceived. May he rest in eternal peace in paradise. Aloha Oe. See chords below (sorry they don't like up very well), as well as description of how the song was conceived.

Wahine Ilikea Dennis Kamakahi

INTRO: C F C F
C F C F C F
Pua kalaunu ma ke kai
C F G7
`O Honouliwai
C F C F
Wahine `ilikea i ka poli `o Moloka`i
C F C C7
Nö ka heke
F
Nani wale nö nä wailele `uka
C C7
`O Hina `o Hähä `o Mo`oloa
F
Nä wai `ekolu i ka uluwehiwehi
C G7
`O Kamalö i ka mälie
Hui:
C F C F C F
Pua kalaunu ma ke kai
C F G7
`O Honouliwai
C F C F
Wahine `ilikea i ka poli `o Moloka`i
C F C C C7
Nö ka heke
F
Nani wale nö ka `äina Hälawa
C C7
Home ho`okipa a ka malihini
F
`Äina uluwehi i ka noe ahiahi
C G7
Ua lawe mai e ka makani Ho`olua
C F C F C F
Pua kalaunu ma ke kai
C F G7
`O Honouliwai
C F C F
Wahine `ilikea i ka poli `o Moloka`i
C F C F C F C
Nö ka heke ....................


In 1974, I went to Moloka'i along with Eddie Kamae to talk to Pilipo's mother, Luahine Kawa'a about a song from Moloka'i that Eddie wanted to research. That next day we left Hālawa Valley and we were heading back toward Kaunakakai from the East End when I happened to look up at the mountain cliffs of Kamalō and saw the white mist of Kamakou part to reveal 11 waterfalls cascading down the cliff's face. We stopped the car and I got my camera out and started shooting pictures of that wonderful site. As I began to shoot my photos, I could hear voices, like that of a church choir, starting to sing a beautiful melody. The mountain was singing to me. In those days, I used to carry my camera and tape recorder with me to record places and thoughts that were very inspiring to me.

The words began to flow in my mind. The white mist was like a fair-skinned woman revealing herself to her lover (me). So the song is not about a woman per se, it is about the white mist compared to a woman.

Fast forward to 2009. On September 09, 2009, my granddaughter Michele Hina'ea-kawahine'ilikea-o-ka-lani-kua-ka'a Toshiko Kamakahi was born. Months before her birth, I had a dream vision of her Hawaiian name which is how Hawaiian children were given their names by their kupuna. It had to come in a dream. Hina'ea was the goddess of the sunrise and sunset, a skilled kapa maker, and a great healer. She is one of the body forms or kinolau of the goddess Hina, goddess of the moon and the mother of the Island of Moloka'i.

Hina'ea-kawahine'ilikea-o-ka-lani-kua-ka'a means Hina'ea, the fair-skinned woman of the highest heavens.

Thus, the song written about the mist of Kamakou mountain has now become a human form. During my granddaughter Hina'ea's birth, my son David told me that the sun's rays peaked above the Ko'olau Mountains and filled the delivery room with light. I told him the ancestors were bringing Hina'ea's soul to earth. Thus, the song Wahine 'Ilikea is now my granddaughter's mele inoa or name song that I have given her, as her Tutukāne, as a makana from me. The Wahine 'Ilikea or white mist is now a living entity among us. A gift from Hina to love and cherish, now and forever.

Aloha,
Uncle Dennis