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Eddie & Myrna Kamae Archive

Eddie Kamae Film
Kahu David “Kawika” Kaʻalakea, Eddie Kamae, Rodney Ohtani, and Bob Cramer filming Hawaiian Voices: Bridging the Past to the Present. Photo credit: Myrna Kamae.

Kūpuna teaches us all. They are especially important for the young, who need a foundation of where they come from, their culture, and what it means to keep it alive.
—Eddie Kamae

Eddie & Myrna Kamae committed their lives to building an archive of stories and music about Hawai‘i. Eddie spent many decades searching archives and interviewing Hawaiian kūpuna. His research details first-hand experiences and brings to life an older time and way of thinking reminiscent of how his parents and grandparents lived and thought. Together, their vision was to preserve and share these stories in hopes that future generations would continue to learn from them.

In doing so, the Kamaes have directed and produced ten documentary films since 1988, creating over 1,500 hours of raw footage, 200 hours of additional footage, and 200 hours of recorded songs and chants. They also created over 3,000 photographs and 6,000 pages of papers.

These archival materials include original music passed down to Eddie or composed by him, many handwritten notes, interviews with Hawaiian cultural practitioners and kūpuna in Hawaiian or English, scenic shots, music performances by the Sons of Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian musicians, candid and posed photos of many kūpuna and the Sons of Hawai‘i, and the production, outreach, and education materials from each documentary film. The Kamae archive is a foundation for students and educators to remember the stories of Hawaiʻi’s past through the voices of the kūpuna and Hawaiian music. Many of these archival resources are woven into this songbook in each song pūʻolo.

We have partnered with the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu ʻUluʻulu: The Henry Kuʻualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawaiʻi to digitize, catalog, and make our raw footage available online for education and research. With this partnership, we have digitized the raw footage from all ten of our documentary films. We plan to digitize, catalog, and make available the remaining raw footage and audio tapes not used in any documentary. We are also working with the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu James and Abigail Campbell Library to make the photographic and print materials available. 

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