Aloha e Mai Kākou
It is with great pleasure that The Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society introduces the Nā Kumu Hula Archive website and the Lohe I Ka Leo - Hear the Voice Project. Based on the Nānā I Nā Loea Hula – Look to the Hula Resources Volumes 1 and 2 created by the Kahu Wendell Silva, the rich heritage and mana’o of the Nā Kumu Hula that were preserved in those books are now being made available online. Through this database, the Nā Kumu Hula in the Nānā I Nā Loea Resource Volumes portraits can be viewed and their testimonies from the printed pages have been scanned and converted into plain text so that they can be indexed and are searchable.Along with the printed pages, a Word Cloud Tag Feature is part of the archive database that is used to refer to and connect the Nānā I Nā Loea Resource Volumes Nā Kumu Hula with their Nā Kumu Hula as haumāna and thus creates their Hula Lineage. The sphere of influence and connections can be made to influential Nā Kumu Hula that dates back over 100 years.
Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Books
In the 1980’s and 1990’s the publications of Nānā I Na Loea Hula – Look to the Hula Resources Volumes 1 and 2 were published and the rich heritage and mana’o of Nā Kumu Hula were preserved for generations to come. These Hula Resources Volumes are out of print and are impossible to get. Within these 2 Volumes there are 126 Nā Kumu Hula that had their portraits taken by renowned photographer Shuzu Uemoto and printed text that share the Nā Kumu Hula stories. Many of the Nā Kumu Hula are highly recognizable and were in their youth when interviewed and are now Living Treasures.
Kahu Wendell Silva Talking About the Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Books
Additional Nā Kumu Hula Material
Along with the Nā kumu Hula Portraits and testimonies from the Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Resource Books are additional material and data collected during the interview process. Biographical details that contain date of birth, birthplace, the Nā Kumu Hula they studied under, the hālau they participated in and competitions they took part in. Some of the material collected are first hand written documents and photos that are not part of the published Hula Resource Books. The Nā Kumu Hula Archive aims to scan and index all additional materials contained within the preserved documents to create collections of the Nā Kumu Hula.