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 Ka Himeni Hehena in Real Audio while viewing the score. Hawaiian Words Used in Ka Himeni Hehena |
Ka Himeni Hehena (1997) Introduction This sound text
composition is in the rhythmic sound poetry style of my earlier live
performance works Dutiful Ducks, Church Car and Dumbek
Bookache. It was inspired by a trip to the Hawaiian island of Maui,
during which time I became fascinated with names of various streets
with Hawaiian names and subsequently purchased several Hawaiian dictionaries. The piece is written in four-part counterpoint and can be performed
by two voices with two pre-recorded on tape or other various combinations.
It was composed at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy
after preliminary work at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in the Republic
of Ireland and commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain for performance
by their music director David Robertson with the composer on December
19th 1997, a the Cité de la Musique in Paris.
*
This work, for two live speaking vocalists and two pre-recorded speaking
vocalists, is written in the Hawaiian language. The sequence of words
was selected more for sound values than those of literal meaning, comprising
a kind of percussion ensemble in four-part counterpoint. The un-shaded
columns of words in the score are to be peformed by live voices 1 and
2, respectively (left to right), and the shaded columns are for voices
3 & 4 (left to right) and are to be pre-recorded. Nevertheless, certain
variations on this "ideal" scheme are permitted. The work
may be performed in various combinations with 1, 2, 3 or 4 live voices.
All voices, live and pre-recorded, should be channeled through the two
loudspeakers, blending live and source sounds at volume levels which
are identical, or nearly so. In an ideal performance, voices 1 & 2 should
create pre-recorded voices 3 & 4, respectively, giving the final performance
a blend which will lend ambiguity to the perception of who is saying
what when. But it is acceptable for one voice to perform the work with
parts 3 & 4 pre-recorded; four voices to do the work live with or without
pre-recorded accompaniment, or three voices live with part one (which
is the lead voice) done by two of the three live performers. In all
performances employing a pre-recorded tape, it is acceptable to have
parts 3 & 4 done by the same voice or by two different voices. In the
score, each syllable represents the value of one eight-note. Numbers
at the end of a box indicate the number of quarter notes per measure.
Rests are indicated by either _ (equaling a quarter note) or / (equaling
an eighth-note). The score is laid out in such a manner as to encourage
performance by non-music-readers. Each of the four boxes in each row
across is performed simultaneously. Tempo and dynamics are left to the
individual performers who may refer to the composer's version as a suggested
starting point. This work was composed at the Rockefeller Foundation's
Bellagio Study & Conference Center in Bellagio, Como, Italy, to which
I am most grateful. The selection of Hawaiian words was made during
a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerig, County Monaghan,
Ireland, to which I am also indebted. The work was written for a performance
by myself and the conductor David Robertson for a concert of the Ensemble
Intercontemporain in Paris on 19 December 1997. Sources for words used
in this piece are The Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian-English Dictionary
- A Complete Grammar, by Henry P. Judd (Hawaiian Service, n.d.), and
Place Names of Hawaii, by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert and Esther
T. Mookini (University of Hawaii Press, 1974). There are twelve letters
in the Hawaiian alphabet: the normal five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) but
only seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, w) which never appear contiguously*.
The following pronunciation rules obtain in Hawaiian: Vowels - a as
in the English word father, e as in vein, i as in peep, o as in own,
u as in book; Consonants - h as in hale, k as in Kate, l as in laid,
m as in moon, n as in noon, p as in peak, and w as in always, except
when it appears after a vowel, in which case it is sounded like v as
in valuable. (For example, owe is pronounced ''OH-vay.'') In Hawaiian,
every word and syllable must end in a vowel and any amount of vowels
may be used together; for example, hooiaioia, which means "certified."
The gutteral break represents the elision of k in other Polynesian dialects.
It is indicated by the hamzah ( ' ). There are no true diphthongs, but
for the European or American speaker, the following may be labeled as
such: ae, ai, ao, au, ei, ia and ua. Double vowels are pronounced with
a glottal break between them (ii = ee-ee; oo = oh-oh). Vowels which
are underlined (normally they are written with a bar over the letter
- impossible here without Hawaiian language software) are emphasized
and given a slightly extended amount of time.
*with the exception of use in a foreign word or name
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