i just posted to twitter (see right side of this page) about receiving copies of a tape from from a friend, robert, that he made when he was a kid of a conversation between mary pukui and william meinecke that took place in 1974 at her house in manoa. this was 34 years ago. he found out his mother was a cousin of mrs. pukui (who wrote the hawaiian dictionary) and told his teacher about it. his teacher suggested he interview her next time robert was on oahu (he's from pahala on the big island). so he and his sister had a chance to visit mrs. pukui at her house in manoa. when he got there, she had a visitor, a man named william meinecke, who was 92 at the time. mrs. pukui was 82. robert and his sister stayed there for several hours and he taped the discussion between these two kupuna. mr. meinecke said he had come to oahu from big island to meet with mrs. pukui because he had had a dream. in the dream he was given half a chant. mrs. pukui was supposed to have the other half of the chant. and he was directed to give it to "the boy". not knowing anything except that he was to come to oahu to do this, he arrived that morning and was sitting in mrs. pukui's house waiting for something to happen. and then robert and his sister arrived.
so they stayed all day and he taped about six hours of these two people talking about everything under the sun. then mr. meinecke chanted the half of the chant he was given. and mrs. pukui, who really did have the other half, chanted her half. at the end of the day, he said goodbye to them all, went home and packed up the tapes, and sent them back to pahala school for his teacher, who said she would have the tapes transcribed. two weeks later, robert called the school to see how the transcribing was coming along. the school registrar answered and told him that pahala school had burned down and the tapes were nowhere to be found. he was bummed, and that was it.
three weeks ago, robert (who lives on oahu) said he was watching olelo (i think the program with james and me about james' life story) and something he heard caused him to call the school again (as it is still there) and ask if they knew the whereabouts of his former teacher. they suggested he call information, as she lived in pahala town. so he did. he called her, she answered, he asked if she remembered him, and she said yes. he asked her if she had listened to the tapes before the fire happened, and she said no, but that he shouldn't worry about it, because she had the tapes. for some reason, she had taken them home with her before the school burned down. and she had been carrying them around with her for the last 34 years. last week they arrived in the mail. robert took them to an audio guy and had the tapes' contents transferred to cd. he gave me a set (6 CDs from the six tapes) and asked if i could help transcribe. i said yes, in my spare time (hah!). yesterday i started listening. yikes! talk about history coming alive!
anyhow, robert mentioned that tape 3 (or CD 3), the one that had the chant on it, seems to have been taped over, so the chant is unavailable to him. he simply couldn't make it out. but all the other tapes were pretty clear. that sounded weird to me. but that's kinda what's happened. is that interesting or what?
so they stayed all day and he taped about six hours of these two people talking about everything under the sun. then mr. meinecke chanted the half of the chant he was given. and mrs. pukui, who really did have the other half, chanted her half. at the end of the day, he said goodbye to them all, went home and packed up the tapes, and sent them back to pahala school for his teacher, who said she would have the tapes transcribed. two weeks later, robert called the school to see how the transcribing was coming along. the school registrar answered and told him that pahala school had burned down and the tapes were nowhere to be found. he was bummed, and that was it.
three weeks ago, robert (who lives on oahu) said he was watching olelo (i think the program with james and me about james' life story) and something he heard caused him to call the school again (as it is still there) and ask if they knew the whereabouts of his former teacher. they suggested he call information, as she lived in pahala town. so he did. he called her, she answered, he asked if she remembered him, and she said yes. he asked her if she had listened to the tapes before the fire happened, and she said no, but that he shouldn't worry about it, because she had the tapes. for some reason, she had taken them home with her before the school burned down. and she had been carrying them around with her for the last 34 years. last week they arrived in the mail. robert took them to an audio guy and had the tapes' contents transferred to cd. he gave me a set (6 CDs from the six tapes) and asked if i could help transcribe. i said yes, in my spare time (hah!). yesterday i started listening. yikes! talk about history coming alive!
anyhow, robert mentioned that tape 3 (or CD 3), the one that had the chant on it, seems to have been taped over, so the chant is unavailable to him. he simply couldn't make it out. but all the other tapes were pretty clear. that sounded weird to me. but that's kinda what's happened. is that interesting or what?
he came with us to kaniakapupu on sunday. he mentioned that his life has been rather unusual, although he's not quite sure what's going on. seems like there are some entities following him around. more details on that as i get them.
on another issue, yesterday morning i spent a couple hours talking story with my neighbor at his house up the road. mike went to school with my sister. they both grad from roosevelt in 1960. he used to be the manager of star market when i lived in kailua in the late 1960s and early 70s. mike's a hiker and has hiked all over this island and come across all kinds of interesting sites and stuff. he has an interest in how hawaiians built walls, in drywall stacking. over the years he has walked all the mountain ridges on both kaneohe and kalihi sides and found a bunch of bottles, so inadvertently became a bottle collector. i went around his house with my camera (of course) and took a bunch of photos. what an impressive collection! i'm going hiking with him sometime next week (with my trusty camera!) and will post photos. btw, the two little bottles are ink wells.
No comments:
Post a Comment