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He Mele Aloha No Waipiʻo

Written by Sam Liʻa Kalāinaina and gifted to Ginger Auna at Christmas for her and her husband John who was fulfilling his military service in Vietnam at the time. The song highlights Sam’s love for Waipiʻo Valley and describes its beauty in detail. The song, and Ginger’s manaʻo about it, illustrate Sam’s generosity in writing and gifting songs to others.

Pūʻolo contains

  • lyrics and translations
  • song story
  • educational questions
  • music sheets
  • bibliography
  • resources from Kamae archive

Listen with Lyrics

Press play in the video and open the lyrics
or music sheets to follow along.

Recording from the documentary, Liʻa: The Legacy of a Hawaiian Man. Performed by Eddie Kamae and The Sons of Hawaii. © ℗ The Hawaiian Legacy Foundation. All rights reserved.

Watch Video Clips on YouTube and ʻUluʻulu

YouTube videos are documentary clips and full song performances.
ʻUluʻulu videos link to short preview clips from raw footage.

John and Ginger Auna share about the time their grandpa, Sam Liʻa Kalāinaina, gifted them the song, “He Mele Aloha No Waipiʻo Valley” in the documentary, Liʻa: The Legacy of a Hawaiian Man.

Eddie Kamae and The Sons of Hawaiʻi (Claybourne “Braddah Smitty” Smith, George Kuo, Joe Marshall, and Dennis Kamakahi) perform “He Mele Aloha No Waipiʻo Valley” at Camp Olomana, Oʻahu in 1987.

B-roll aerial footage of Waipiʻo Valley from the ocean, over its green floor and back into the valley past Wailoa stream, 1987.

John Auna, with his wife Ginger, shares how the song, “He Mele Aloha No Waipiʻo.” is a story of love for Waipiʻo Valley.

To explore more of our digitized collections of raw footage with ʻUluʻulu, visit:
Hawaiian Legacy Foundation: Eddie & Myrna Kamae.

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