THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN BAND

The Royal Hawaiian Band came to entertain us at 15 Craigside. Clarke Bright is the Bandmaster, as he has been since 2011. I know him because when he was a student at the University of Hawaii, he worked for the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, which I directed. His father is the legendary Ronald Bright (photo to the left), who appeared in a range of entertainment venues throughout Hawaii, and seemed to have been in charge of a lot of them.

The Royal Hawaiian Band is the oldest and only full-time municipal band in the USA. Formed in 1836 when these islands were ruled by King Kamehameha III. It started as a military band, but attained global prominence under the leadership of Prussian Heinrich "Henri" Berger, loaned by the Imperial German Army to the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1872. He would later be honored as the "Father of Hawaiian Music." Berger collaborated with King Kalakaua in creating Hawaii Ponói, the official state song. Click on that link to watch a particularly majestic version, music by Berger and lyrics by King Kalakaua.

Did you know he was elected King? His wife was Kapiolani, and they traveled the world. Kalakaua built Iolani Palace and organized the Hawaiian language into a book, Legends and Myths of Hawaii. In 1881 he traveled the world. Took him 281 days, meeting President Chester Arthur in DC, Queen Victoria in London, Pope Leo XIII, Rama V of Siam and the Emperor of Japan, among others. About Iolani Palace, it was completed in 1882 and was wired for electricity and telephones even before the White House in DC.

Finally, the Royal Hawaii Band has 40 full-time members and performs every Friday at noon on the grounds of Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu, (watch that one hour concert, which occurred last week) and on Sundays at two o'clock at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand in Waikiki. Their concert at 15 Craigside was specifically for the residents, as in additional to Hawaii Ponói and other Hawaiian favorites, they played a lot of old Japanese songs bringing back memories. A particularly touching moment was Karen Keawehawaii singing Misora Hibari's Kawa No Nagare No Youni. I took a video of Karen's version, but could not apply it to this blog. However, watch her singing this song for the Japanese Cultural Center's New Year's Ohana Festival.

First, we have Babs sniffing the Band.

The 15C crowd.

At the end I told Clarke that this was the best concert I've ever enjoyed, and meant it.

Yesterday, we went to Assaggio, and had our typical Opolo wine from Paso Robles with Antipasto and Osso Bucco. Plus three loaves of bread, the best made anywhere.

Our Thursday night table at 15C celebrated our annual birthday party where Bob and I now have a combined age of 178. Knowing that we are both Dragons, and he is 12 years older than me, you should be able to calculate our ages.

Ever tried haupia and ube ice cream? Haupia is Hawaiian coconut pudding, and ube is made from Okinawa purple yam.

I enjoyed one of my favorite meals watching 60 Minutes: Pork Tonkatsu and Chu-Toro Blue Fin Tuna Sashimi, with Kirin Beer and hot sake.

We had a Hawaiian Luau at 15 Craigside, and I will later add a dinner photo with Susan and Steve.

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