Island Viking has produced a
Hawaiian musical tribute to the Emperor of Japan
First 10,000 visitors download it FREE!
It is the FIRST song ever written for/about the Emperor, and among other things this Hawaiian chant honoring the emperor also features vocalization from kabuki (actually Noh drama) and taiko drumming -- a significant first. And the typical brass band arrangement of the national anthem also includes the sound of a Japanese flute, the shakuhachi.
On the links below, "Right Click" and select "Save As" to download. Download cover art!
6. "He
Pa`ipunahele no Tenno Heika (song)"
7. "Medley
of Kimi-ga-Yo and He Pa`ipunahele no Tenno Heika"
News Release Hawaiian song honoring
On July 14, 2009, when the Emperor of Japan arrived in
"He Pa`ipunahele no Tenno
Heika," composed by Keith Haugen,
award-winning local singer/songwriter and Hawaiian language teacher
at Star of the Sea Schools in Wai`alae,
is believed to be the FIRST musical tribute ever written to honor
an emperor of Japan -- in this case, the 125th emperor of the
2500-year old empire.
It is also the FIRST Hawaiian song and the FIRST Hawaiian chant
composed to honor an emperor.
And it is the FIRST time that Hawaiian chant and Japanese taiko
and kakegoe have been recorded together,
a blending of art forms from two genre from two distinctive
ancient cultures -- Hawaiian and Japanese.
Haugen, who photographed the Imperial couple on their April 1959
wedding day parade in
His research showed that the Japanese national anthem, "Kimi-ga-Yo," (the emperor's reign) is a possible
exception. It was written as a
tanka poem in the 10th century and was set to
music in the late 19th century, during the reign of the Emperor
Meiji. It is the oldest national anthem in the world,
and one of the shortest. The Gregorian-style arrangement
of a gagaku-style melody is similar
to the music of the court. The words express the desire
that the emperor's reign will last forever. Translated, it is very generic in reference
to the emperor. That ancient poem says: "May the reign of the Emperor continue for a thousand,
nay, eight thousand generations and for the eternity that it takes
for small pebbles to grow into a great rock and become covered
with moss.” Keith called
upon one of
To round out the package, Haugen added three short, spoken introductions
-- in English, Hawaiian, and Japanese -- and a "sung"
version of the song, plus a new recording of the Japanese national
anthem. That rendition features the composer's son, Stanton,
playing all the brass instruments in the traditional Japanese
arrangement, but with the addition of a shakuhachi flute sound to make it stand out as different from
all other recordings of that anthem. Haugen wrote the
melody for the new song in a pentatonic (5-tone) scale, to
give it a more Japanese "sound." It may be the
FIRST Hawaiian song ever set to music in other than the traditional
European 8-tone scale. Haugen
wrote his first song in 1962, while working for the
This is not the first time that Haugen has offered free downloads
of his award-winning music.
Two years ago, after winning The Literary Award for Song Lyrics
from the Hawai`i State Legislature and the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace, as part of the Inaugural Peace
Day Hawai`i, Keith put his "Cease
Fire" song on the web site as a free download. It is still available as part of his promotion
of peace. Keith and his
Maui-born wife, Carmen, produce the annual “Peace on Earth” concert.
He is currently writing a new song to honor Father Damien, who
will be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in October.
He'll probably give that one away too.
© 2009, C. Keith Haugen, Island Viking, P.O. Box 1976, Honolulu, Hawai`i, 96805 USA.
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