Ahe Lau Makani (or its alternate title He ʻala nei) was written by the late Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1868. As can be supposed by the title, this mele focuses heavily on the wind. Because of this, many words that seem to all translate to "gentle breeze" are mentioned, but as we'll soon see, each has a slightly different connotation. Great for cultural-specific vocab!
Get ready to learn lots of this type of vocab relating to the wind, late-intermediate grammar, and some poetry! Listen to the song a few times and get to know the lyrics. See how much you can understand before continuing this read!
Here are a few versions of this particular mele so you can get familiar with the tune:
*NOTE: it's common for singers to not sing the full song, to change a word or line, or even switch the order of lines and stanzas!
Puʻukani (singer): Edward "Eddie" Kamea
Puʻukani (singer): Dennis Kamakahi
Puʻukani (singer): Kuʻuipo Kumukahi
Nā lila [lyrics]:
[From Ka Buke Mele o nā Hīmeni Hawaiʻi, page 38]
Nā lila [lyrics] (with macrons and ʻokinas):
Inoa - Ahe Lau Makani
He ʻala nei e māpu mai nei
Na ka makani lau aheahe
I lawe mai i kuʻu nui kino
Hoʻopumehana i kuʻu poli
Hui [chorus]:
E ke hoa o ke ahe lau makani
Halihali ʻala o kuʻu ʻāina
He ʻala nei e moani mai nei
Na ka ua noe Līlīlehua,
I lawe mai i kuʻu poli
Hoʻopumehana i ke aloha
[Hui]
He ʻala nei e puīa mai nei
Na ka makani anu kolonahe
I lawe mai nō a pili
Hoʻopumehana i ka manaʻo
[Hui]
He ʻala nei e aheahe mai nei
Na ka leo hone a nā manu
I lawe mai a loaʻa au
Hoʻopumehana i kō leo
[Hui]
GRAMMAR
Once you have studied these lyrics and listened to the song a few times, you'll have noticed that each line of every stanza (block of lyrics) follows a formula:
He ʻala nei e ____ mai nei ʻala = Fragrance, sweet smell, perfume
Na ka _________________
I lawe mai _____________ Lawa mai = To bring forth/here/to me
Hoʻopumehana i _______ Hoʻopumehana = To warm
Before we get into what goes into the blanks, let's go line-by-line of this formula and see how the grammar is working.
He ʻala nei e ____ mai nei
There is an understood Aia at the beginning of this line, which is not uncommon to see in conversational Hawaiian. Aia is one of the few structures that allows for a he to be used in the middle of a sentence. Nei is an adjective (largely in music and poetry) that is used to mean and emphasize "right here, right now." In fact, the writer thought this was so important, she used another structure that repeated nei: the Present Progressive (a fancy way of saying that the action is taking place right now, as we speak) tense markers e __ nei here are what we use in the middle of the sentence (for those familiar with verb tenses, you might recognize the tense markers ke __ nei that are used at the beginning of a sentence). She also adds the Directional mai, meaning "toward me, in this vicinity."
Perhaps by omitting Aia and by using a verb structure that specifically goes in the middle of the sentence, the composer is using sentence structure itself to draw herself in the middle of the image she's describing - there's no clear beginning, no clear end, just the here-and-now.
Not only that, but each part of this line is connected to the noun ʻala: He is the article for ʻala, nei is an adjective for ʻala, and the verb tense e __ nei is used as an adjective to describe ʻala.
→So, what we're getting from this: ʻala and the fact that this is happening now are important.
Na ka __, i lawe mai __
When a sentence begins with Na and has a verb later in the phrase (in this line, lawe), it is known as an "Actor-Emphatic sentence." A typical Hawaiian sentence starts with the verb followed by the Subject, giving emphasis to the action rather than the Subject: Hana au (= I work), ʻAi ʻoe (= You eat), Lawe mai ka makani (= The wind brings forth). This new structure, as the name states, gives the emphasis to the Subject rather than the action. The formula for this type of sentence (in the Past tense) is as follows:
Past tense: N-Possessive [Subject] i [verb]
The N-Possessive used with general nouns (such as ka makani) is Na, which is why we see this form in each repeated line.
These sentences can translate normally, as long as you realize that the emphasis is on the Subject. However, another way that makes this point clear is "It is the [Subject] that [verb]." So a good translation for this line from the first stanza would be:
Na ka makani...i lawe mai = The wind brought forth, It is the wind that brought forth.
Because the author is using this "Actor-Emphatic" structure instead of the usual one, she is placing emphasis on that general noun that goes in the blank. In each stanza, these words are important: makani (lau aheahe), ua, makani (anu kolonahe), and leo (a nā manu). Notice how two of these are, in fact, the wind, but the others are also related weather and nature. Additionally, though she accentuated these Subjects, the next line starts with the inevitable verb anyway, so she didn't detract the repeated action of Lawe mai, either!
Hoʻopumehana i __
This last line, before we get to the chorus, is rather simple. We're back to a normal sentence structure that begins with a verb, Hoʻopumehana. Pumehana by itself is the adjective meaning "warm," and the Hoʻo- prefix makes it a verb meaning "To cause to be warm," or more simply, "To warm." Hawaiian often doesn't use the word "it," so the Subject is implied to be whatever was the Subject in the previous line. For the first stanza, that would be ka makani. So, this last line of the first stanza would translate to: "[The wind] warms."
Hui [chorus]:
E ke hoa o ke ahe lau makani
Halihali ʻala o kuʻu ʻāina Halihali = To transport, transmit [frequently]
The first line of this short chorus is also simple: the E at the beginning is the Vocative E, which is just a way to say that the speaker is talking to whatever follows this E (also called "direct address"). When hoa is the person used with this type of E, it often uses ke as its article instead of ka (this doesn't happen in many other sentence structures).
Because we already used E (and because this is poetry), there's not really a need for another one. So in the second line of the chorus, the Imperative/Command E doesn't precede the verb Halihali. The author is telling ke hoa from the first line to halihali in the second line.
When a noun with no article is attached to a verb, like ʻala to halihali here, it implies regularity, an action that is common and natural. A typical example is Puhi palaoa = To bake bread - a fairly regular thing to bake, and there's not really an exact quantity of bread specified. This is further asserted by the use of the reduplicated verb Halihali (instead of just Hali), as if the wind is a ferry or shuttle, that it is in its very nature to transport ʻala. So not only is the author telling ke hoa to halihali, she's telling it to halihali the ʻala, as if it's such an innate occurence in this place that it happens so often already. By using this Compound Verb formation (instead of halihali i ke ʻala), it might also imply that she wants nothing else carried by the wind, only sweet fragrance of her ʻāina, with no defined quantity.
Because the original lyrics do not have diacritics (macrons or ʻokinas), it is possible that the commonly o in the first line of the chorus is actually spelled ʻo. If this is the case, that means ke hoa is named ke ahe (lau makani). This perhaps makes more sense to directly address the wind and ask it to bring forth fragrance, rather than directly addressing a companion of the wind with this request.
TRANSLATION
I'll provide translations to these verses here,
but take special notice of the subseqquent vocab
and how these add so much more to a simple translation.
Stanza 1:
He ʻala nei e māpu mai nei There is a fragrance here that is gently blowing
Na ka makani lau aheahe It is the gently blowing, leafy wind
I lawe mai i kuʻu nui kino that brought (it) to my whole body
Hoʻopumehana i kuʻu poli It warms my bosom/heart
Vocab
ʻAla - Fragrance, perfume, sweet-smell
*Māpu - Gentle breeze; To gently blow, waft
Makani - Wind [general word]
Lau - Leaf; Much, many
*Aheahe - Gentle breeze; To gently blow, waft
Nui kino - Whole body
Kuʻu - My (implied: beloved, affectionate); used often with body parts
Poli - Bosom, breast, heart, arms [figurative]
Note: there is a double-meaning of "lau" here - leaves are common to be carried by the wind, and there is also a lot of wind, addressed in this line.
Stanza 2:
He ʻala nei e moani mai nei There is a fragrance here that is gently blowing
Na ka ua noe Līlīlehua, It is the misty rain [called] Līlīlehua
I lawe mai i kuʻu poli that brought (it) to my bosom
Hoʻopumehana i ke aloha It warms (me) with love
Vocab
*Moani - Gentle breeze; To gently blow, waft
Noe - Mist; Misty
Līlīlehua - The name of a light, misty rain in Pālolo Valley, Oʻahu that curiously never goes passed a certain point in the Valley
→ Normally there would be an ʻo before a name, but this is poetry
Note: the "i" in the last line can serve several purposes depending on use; in the first stanza, it was used as a Direct Object marker. In this stanza, it's telling us what caused the verb (The wind warmed me due to/from its love - its love is what caused the warming).
Note: "Līlīlehua" is also the name of a wind, so there is yet another double meaning here.
Stanza 3:
He ʻala nei e puīa mai nei There is a fragrance here that is permeating
Na ka makani anu kolonahe It is the gently blowing, cool wind
I lawe mai nō a pili that really brought (it) until it clings [to me]
Hoʻopumehana i ka manaʻo It warms (my) thought/feelings
Vocab
Puīa - Sweet-smelling, diffused, as fragrance; permeated with perfume, fragrant; Beautiful; grand; full of sweet-scented flowers adding to the beauty.
*Kolonahe - Gentle breeze; To gently blow, waft
Pili - To cling, stick to, connect
Manaʻo - Thought, idea, feeling
Stanza 4:
He ʻala nei e aheahe mai nei There is a fragrance here that is gently blowing
Na ka leo hone a nā manu It is the sweet voice of the birds
I lawe mai a loaʻa au that brought (it) [to me] until I am found
Hoʻopumehana i kō leo It warms (me) with your voice
Vocab
*Aheahe - Gentle breeze; To gently blow, waft
Hone - Sweet and soft, as music; sweetly appealing, as perfume or a memory of love; to sound softly; [derives from the English honey]
A - "And" or "until"
Kō - Your (implied: beloved, affectionate); used largely in music and poetry
Note: "a" in the second line can either be a possessive (to mean "of the birds," the birds are making the noise) or "and" (which means the sweet voice [of the wind] and the birds were brought).
Hui [chorus]:
E ke hoa o ke ahe lau makani Companion of the leafy, windy breeze
Halihali ʻala o kuʻu ʻāina Transport fragrance of my land
*Ahe - Gentle breeze
*Note: As mentioned, the beginning "E" can carry over to the verb "Halihali" to make it a command. However, by not including the "E" in the second line, the author also creates the sentiment of the simple statement "(It) transports fragrance" - furthering the notion that the wind undergoes this action regularly and naturally, with the additional feeling of her wanting and requesting more.
*Note: As mentioned, the "o" in the first line could perhaps be written as " ʻo." If so, this line would be translated as "Leafy, windy breeze companion, ..." or "Companion (that is) the leafy, windy breeze, ..."
WORDS FOR "GENTLE BREEZE"
This song utilizes many words that translate to "gentle breeze" of "waft of wind," (marked in the vocab sections with *) but what are the nuances that distinguish all of them? How would we know to use one over the other in our own speech? There are obvious overlaps in definition, but let's take a look at these small differences, based on Pukui & Elbert dictionary and Andrews's dictionary:
Māpu = gentle breeze associated with smell [wind happens to be carrying fragrance]
Moani = gentle breeze, focused on smell [wind is the smell]
Aheahe = gentle breeze associated with sound
Ahe = gentle breeze, focused on lightness
Kolonahe = gentle breeze, focused on feel - pleasantness, mild, peace; fanning, cool, refreshing
The author writes with this variety of almost-synonyms in order to describe exactly the sensations she's experiencing, with all senses.
If you go back to each stanza and understand these small connotations, you'll be able to further see her decisions in word choice for the rest of the stanza:
Stanza 1: Māpu is used to introduce the listener to the song; the wind is felt but also happens to carry a sweet scent forth; this is the first we hear about makani and ʻala, so it's a smart word to write in order to give the audience the theme and illustration of the song
Stanza 2: Moani is used to depict a specific scent. It carries, in particular, the scent rain, that of Līlīlehua
Stanza 3: Kolonahe is a cool wind that you feel on your skin, and in the second line is used to describe a "cold wind" until it, and the flower scent, cling (another descriptor of the touch-sensation) to her
Stanza 4: Aheahe is a wind that appeals to the sense of sound, and the rest of the stanza indeed focuses on this: the voice of the birds, and the repeated word leo. Even hone, which translates to sweet, carries the connotation of a "sweet sound."
As you have read, and probably already knew, it's not enough to simply translate poetry from Language A to Language B. Word choice is a definite factor that creates an image that is easily lost in translation. And now, after going through an analysis and dissection of this song, you have some new vocabulary, particular to Hawaiian, that you can add to your practice!
And, of course, there is never just one interpretation of poetry. What are your thoughts on this mele? What are some feelings that this one sparked for you? Which audio version of the song do you prefer? Share your manaʻo below so we can benefit from your perspective!