ALOHA FRIDAY:  Power & Grace

Howzit!?  Happy Aloha Friday!

We’ve made it to the end of another week.  Here in the Bay Area, the days are growing warmer and longer.  With Memorial Day last Monday, Summer has unofficially begun!

Although the start of my favorite season is still several weeks away, we are already in the midst of graduation and wedding season.  This Saturday I am going to a friend’s wedding, and another friend is getting married in July.   Also, four of my cousins graduated in the last couple of weeks:  one from elementary school, one from high school, and two graduated from grad school.  I am very proud of them!  They are truly a blessing and source of joy for the Salvatin family.  Congratulations to the class of 2012 (especially my cousins) and to all newlyweds-to-be!

For this week’s Aloha Friday, here is a video from this year’s Merrie Monarch Festival, often referred to as the Superbowl or Olympics of hula.  The halau featured in this video is the Bay Area’s own Academy of Hawaiian Arts from Oakland under the direction of kumu hula, Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu, whose distinctive voice and chanting style could also be heard on the Lilo and Stitch soundtrack.  I think that is a great hula kahiko (an ancient form of hula) that expresses the power and grace of flowing lava conquering its way to the sea.