Gabby Pahinui and Hawaiian

Have a sweet song by Gabby Pahinui!

Gabby Pahinui (also known as Pops Pahinui) was born in 1921 in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. He is especially known for his expressive vocals and mastery of traditional Hawaiian slack-key guitar.

This song is called Hi'ilawe and was his first recording made in 1946 and again in 47. Hi’ilawe is an incredible waterfall found in Waipi'o Valley on the Big Island. The song was originally written by Samuel Kalāinaina in the 1890s. It celebrates the beauty of Hawaii and its natural landscapes and is described as an invitation to appreciate and reconnect with the natural world and one’s ancestry. There are also “several stories attributed to the song, including a legend about the twin waterfalls being lovers and holding on so tightly to each other that they turn into Hi’ilawe, the waterfall, and Kakalaoa, the boulder at the base of the waterfall.”

Gabby Pahinui’s recorded Hi'ilawe for the first time and it inspired many local musicians. It is considered the first recording of a Hawaiian song with slack-key guitar. In the 1940s and 50s, traditional Hawaiian music was very hard to find. Gabby spent decades chipping away at changing this. As a result, him and his music played a major part in the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s. He recorded multiple albums in the 1960s with the Sons of Hawaii, and throughout the 70s he released 4 albums as part of the “Gabby Band”. He was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame and received the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Artists Lifetime Achievement Award twice.

When he passed in 1980, The Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper reported: “The thing about Gabby Pahinui ... was not only that he was an outstanding musician and entertainer, and a central figure – maybe THE central figure – of the Hawaiian Renaissance in the '70s, but that he was an inspiration to others. Thousands of Hawaiian kids learned that they were worthy as a people because of Gabby's example.” 

Take a quick look at this timeline resource giving an overview of the renaissance starting with the Hawaiian dictionary in 1957 to results in the present day. Gabby Pahinui shows up on this list as helping to make "traditional Hawaiian music relevant and popular."

→ Timeline for the Ha‘akoa

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Song: Hi'ilawe - YouTube