Island Mele: Darrell Aquino’s ‘Himeni’ taps tradition

“Himeni”

Darrell Guy Aquino

(Mana)

Darrell Aquino established his versatility and range as a member of SUGahDADDY, self-defined as ‘ehawaiianrockband, and the Kailua Bay Buddies. SUGahDADDY won a Na Hoku Hanohano Award (Rock Album, 2005) and then wrote and recorded an album of powerful mele ku‘e (songs of resistance). The Kailua Bay Buddies were nonconfrontational, more commercial and mainstream — on some projects there were two buddies, on others there were three. With “Himeni,” Aquino goes solo to sing classic Hawaiian translations of traditional Christian hymns (“himeni” in Hawaiian). The year 2020 is the bicentennial of the arrival of the first company of Christian missionaries so Aquino’s album is timely indeed.

Regarding the missionaries, let’s dismiss that snarky old trope about how “The missionaries came to do good, and did very well (financially).” The fact is that Ka‘ahumanu, the de factor ruler of Hawaii in 1820, freely chose to embrace Christianity and found it politically expedient to make Congregationalist Christianity the new state religion of Hawaii. It is also thanks to the missionaries that Hawaiian became a written language.

Aquino performs these hymns as Native Hawaiians might have done before the turn of the 20th century. Two of the translations are by Lorenzo Lyons (1807-1886); Lyons is best known these days for writing the lyrics for “Hawai‘i Aloha,” but also for translating hymns into Hawaiian almost from the time he arrived in Hawaii in 1832. A majority of the other translations are the work of Clarence William Kalea Kinney (1879-1942) who is also a significant figure in the history of Christian music in Hawaii.

Aquino writes in the liner notes that translations come from a hymnal, “Na Mele O Ziona,” that was first published in 1924. He warns that some of the grammar and punctuation doesn’t conform to the standardized Hawaiian that is taught in schools today, and writes that the kupuna of old “didn’t need extensive punctuation to know how their hymns were to be sung.”

A single acoustic guitar is all the accompaniment Aquino needs to share these messages of Christian faith. The sincerity in his voice as he sings these hymns of praise and thankfulness will speak for many who hear him.

Although the songs are available as digital downloads, CD buyers are rewarded with liner notes that provide the Hawaiian lyrics, the names of the translators, the original English lyrics, and the names of the original composers and lyricists. This information provides a great starting point for people who want to learn more about the history of himeni in Hawaii.

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