I'm Bascially Hawaiian

Went to Face of America: Hawaii at Wolf Trap on Saturday. Let's just say that after five-and-a-half hours of non-stop Hawaii -- food, prayers, chants, ukulele playing, singing, hula dancing, etc -- I was so saturated with the culture that I'm pretty much considering myself half-Hawaiian now. I went for a work thing so didn't really know what to expect but I gotta say that I'm completely hooked. In fact, I'm now seriously considering how I can incorporate Hawaii into my five-year plan. Oh, and might I add that Wolf Trap makes a mean pineapple and vodka, not that I would ever indulge in such a thing during a work event...

Ledward Kaapana, a Grammy award-winning slack-key guitarist, performed, and while I'm still not exactly sure what a slack-key guitar is -- it looked like a regular guitar to me -- he rocked it. Then, Keali'i Reichel sang with a troupe of hula dancers. Pretty typical -- girls (and a guy) swaying their hips and moving their arms in symbolic gestures, symbolism that completely escaped that half of me that is still non-native. A problem only a long trip to the islands will cure, obviously.

Then, the ol' WT kicked it up a notch with Halau O Kekuhi, a group of hula dancers that train for years and years, rarely perform and strictly follow ancient hula. They were i-n-t-e-n-s-e. Three large women (I think they prefer to be called "momona" -- yes, I also speak Hawaiian now), sat on the stage and banged on these gourd thingies while a group of dancers decked out in some serious regalia stomped, chanted and let out the occasional scream. Everyone there was saying it was a "chicken skin" moment which I only recently figured out meant that it gave them goose bumbs. And well, yes, I had goose bumps too along new-found obsession for all things Hawaii. So bad ass! Can't wait for my impending trip to the islands (aka my new home). Sha Bruddah!