Hawaii's Fiery Heart

摘要

'Ma kau kau?" asked Kia Fronda. Ready? "Ae," I replied. Fronda nodded, and my classmates and I thumped our big bamboo tubes on the ground, making the booming sound of the kaekeeke, a traditional Hawaiian drum. "O, na kalo, na ono a ka aina," we sang, describing the goodness of taro. Not bad, considering that two days before, my grasp of things Hawaiian extended not much further than snorkeling spots. I had come looking for a Hawaii beyond tropical shirts and mai tais, condos and strip malls. "Hawaiians never wore a coconut-shell bra," said Vicky Holt Takamine, a professor of Hawaiian culture at the University of Hawaii and a hula master. Indeed, Hawaiians are increasingly concerned that the typical sand-and-sun tourism doesn't reflect their rich Pacific culture and extraordinary landscape. With tourism in the doldrums, more than a few people are saying it's time to bring visitors back to Hawaii's roots. "You want to experience Hawaii, get out and touch the land," Takamine said. "Touch the people."