ANUENUE (HAWAIIAN FOR "RAINBOW")

"Where I live there are rainbows

With the laughter of morning

And starry nights.

Where I live there are rainbows

With flowers full of color

And birds filled with song.

I can smile when it's raining

Touch the warmth of the sun

I hear children laughing in this place

In this place that I love."

Those are lyrics to "Hawaiian Lullaby," written by Hector Venegas. Peter Moon wrote the melody. His group, Sunday Manoa, recorded the song in the 1970s. It's become a standard, recorded and often sung ever since.

My friend Hector--I met him way back, when he was an advertising salesman--wrote the song for his daughter, Krista. Hector has said: "The song evolved from the situation of my daughter's life ... her life-threatening illness. I was extremely broken-hearted." As a young girl, Krista was recovering from a long battle against bacterial meningitis. Putting his feelings on paper helped Hector deal with the emotions--fear, anger and resentment--to love, he says. "I needed to turn my negative thoughts into positive ones I wanted to see things in a different light."

Things worked out. Krista, now 37, works at Easter Seals as a Youth Services Program aide, giving back to the agency that provided her services as a child.

I write about all this for several reasons. First, it's a story with a happy ending, one that has endured. Second, Hector and his family are representative of the "rainbow" of people who populate Hawaii Nei. And, third, "Hawaiian Lullaby" remains, and resonates, with meaning that transcend its creation.

Growing up, this place was called "The Melting Pot of The Pacific." Race was not an issue. I was color-blind when it came to ethnicity. All the kids around me reflected the many countries from which the settlers to these shores came. The population comprised a "rainbow," in the Rev. Jesse Jackson's concept of the word: A unity of souls rather than skin color.

As I thought about the meaning of the Fourth of July, that idea kept coming back. Words such as, "freedom, independence, liberty" are of little value when merely that: Just words on a document. Real battles were fought, actual human blood shed, to achieve America's sovereignty. To those of us who learned of those events in the 1770s in history books, the recent HBO special brought to life John Adams and all those alive at the time who made it happen. There was no little sacrifice involved. The TV series "brought to life" the events that enable us, as Americans, to live as we do today.

It has never been perfect, or anywhere close to it, since then. But, the easiest way to learn that this is the best of all systems in the history of civilization is to live in a "foreign" country for a while. Just as folks from Hawaii need to spend some time on the mainland to be convinced that this, in our opinion, is the best of all the United States in which to live. And we're not alone, judging from those whose dream it is to live in "Paradise."

I could be the first to tell you about what is wrong with Hawaii 2008. But little, if any, of our problems do not exist throughout the land. While people are the chief source of much of what is not right, we are blessed to live, as Hector wrote, "in this place that I love."

If you are reading this, chances are you are listening to what is currently streaming on WhodaguyHawaii.com. The host, yours truly, is of Eastern European ancestry, by way of grandparents who immigrated through Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century. I was conceived, best as I know, somewhere between the birth places of my parents, which were Hempstead, Long Island and New Brunswick, New Jersey. My dad's store burned down when my mom was hapai (pregnant) at the halfway mark. They made the adventurous move to Honolulu, first driving a new Dodge across country to San Francisco. Then they put themselves, the auto, and the embryonic me aboard a Matson liner and set sail across the Pacific. They were living in Waikiki, in the now-tumultuous corner of Seaside and Kuhio, when I was born at Queen's Hospital.

My right-hand person since I started this project is Edmund Villaruel. He is of Filipino ancestry. His parents' people were in the wave of those who came from the opposite direction as mine: West, from the Philippines. I first met Ed in 1976, when he was a teenager hanging out at KKUA. He progressed up the radio chain, eventually going on the air at that station. When I moved to Waipahu, Ed's home town, and KDEO Radio, Ed was experienced and talented enough to be our program director. He then spent some time learning and experiencing the biz in Southern California. Then he put in his time on our neighbor islands of Hawaii and Kauai. Back in Honolulu and on the air, Ed was recently voted Most Popular Radio Personality in the annual readers' poll conducted by the morning paper.

Our featured guest, Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, is one of a shrinking number of full-blooded native Hawaiians. Bumpy can trace his origins to before the rule of Kamehameha The Great. I've had the pleasure to know, interview, write about and associate with many folks born here. No one I know of locally has lead a more, diverse, interesting and exciting life. No need to write about it. Bumpy goes into it in detail. with some never-before-told stories, on our current Holiday Edition of WDG. Point is, his Hawaiian roots add another tinge to the spectrum of those represented on the program now running.

The young folks singing and chatting with us belong to the new group, Manoa Voices. They earned a contract with Hula Records as winners of a prestigious choral competition. Founder and musical director of the group is Chadwick Pang. He is one of the many Chinese-Hawaiians who have contributed so much to this place over the centuries. To give it the required twist, although born and now living back here on Oahu, Chad spent much time growing up in, of all places, Aloha, Oregon. We talk about that during his visit.

With him is a young lady born in Brooklyn, New York. Rosanna Perch's father was from Barbados. Her mom is from Hawaii, Nanakuli on the leeward side of this island. Rosie moved to Hawaii to stay at an early age. She attended Punahou School, which seems to gather even more stature as people learn that is where Barack Obama spent his school years, graduating from there in 1979. Both Barry and Rosie are of part African descent, each with mothers who gave them a unique background and point of view, one much of us are denied.

The other member of their group in town for the summer--they are all students or post-grads of the University of Hawaii, Manoa--is Justin Ku'upu. He was born on the Big Island of Hawaii. After going to several schools there, with a stop on Maui, he finished up at Kamehameha School, up in Kapalama Heights. To go there one must be at least one-half Hawaiian. Justin brings the schools' spirit of imua (forward!) to his singing and acoustic bass playing.

So there are some biographicals about those who contributed to our Independence Day Weekend programming. From them you will learn some of the history of Hawaii's music: Chad teaches ethnomusicology. The others are his former students. Bumpy knows Hawaiian history from long before the Americans arrived. He is an activist in the truest sense of the word. Some here consider him controversial, very few know of his extensive background of community service and his specific vision for a Hawaiian Nation.

When we launched this website on July 7, 2007 our stated Mission was: To spread the culture of the aina around the World. May the Music flow to wherever the Four Winds blow.

That is our goal with everything we produce and present. But besides the melodies and information currently streaming, we hope you note, "The flowers full of color," as Hector Venegas wrote in "Hawaiian Lullaby," represented by those who do this, a combined effort of love and aloha, for you, online around the world.