Nopu ka mana‘o i ka uakea

Nopu ka mana‘o i ka uakea
Noho kua mauna i ka uka ‘iu‘iu
Kū ‘ihi‘ihi Pu‘ukapu ‘āina pōhina ē

My thoughts of the white mist swell and spring forth
Mist that lives in upland mountains
On the sacred hillsides in the land of gray fog

These first lines of the first song I wrote in this pandemic were inspired by a chant I had written for my mother, Pua Case, while I was on Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll). I was longing for my mountain, for the cold chill of the wind, for the embrace of the mist - for the embrace of my mother. Writing an oli for the wahine noho mauna, the feminine deities of our sacred peaks, was the way I returned home through my leo and my prayers.

These words took on new meaning since then and since the frontline. In the beginning months of quarantine, I was missing the Mauna and the ala so deeply. This song is the way I returned to Pu‘uhuluhulu, to the sound of the pahu, to the strength of our land and people, and to the feeling of seeing the punakea, the white rainbow, cast above us. This is the way I placed offerings on the ahu from afar.

I know many of us have longed for our time together chanting and standing for the protection of our Mauna. I hope this song holds you, I hope you can go back there through this mele.

Nopu ka Mana‘o available on 1.01.21.

With love.