Join host Manu Boyd in the second episode of the Mele Hoʻoheno podcast series highlighting cherished Hawaiian songs.

Continuing the theme of last month’s moʻolelo on Princess Likelike’s “ʻĀinahau,” the newest episode will showcase a lesser known mele for her daughter, Princess Victoria Kawēkiu Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Kaʻiulani Cleghorn.

A mainstay in Kamehameha Schools’ choral music repertoire for generations, “Kaʻiulani Aliʻi” is the classic composition by Charles Edward King honoring Princess Kaʻiulani. A member of the inaugural class of 1891 Kamehameha School for Boys, King’s elegant Hawaiian poetry and regal musical composition is based on an earlier work: a poem by world-renown Scottish writer and poet Robert Louis Stevenson.

The story is a magnificent blend of two worlds inspired by the 1889 visit to Hawaiʻi where Stevenson had audiences with Hawaiʻi’s elite including King Kalākaua, Princess Liliʻuokalani and their beloved niece, Princess Kaʻiulani. Enjoying several extended stays in the Pacific including Hawaiʻi and Sāmoa, Stevenson grew fond of the people and cultures of Moananuiākea.

At the luxuriously landscaped Cleghorn estate at ‘Āinahau, Waikīkī, Stevenson was warmly welcomed and lavishly entertained in true Hawaiian style. He found delightful curiosity in the 13-year-old daughter of Archibal Scott Cleghorn, Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani, the heir to the Hawaiian throne. As it turns out, Cleghorn and Stevenson shared something significant in common: they were both born and reared in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

In April 1889, the young princess spent many hours with Stevenson in the shade of her beloved banyan tree, having conversations about interesting aspects and histories of the world beyond Hawaiʻi. Kaʻiulani was deeply intrigued by Stevenson’s animated storytelling style and vast world knowledge resulting in such famous literary works such as “Treasure Island” and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Stevenson’s quick pilina with the young aliʻi wahine would be short-lived as he knew that within less than a month, his cherished Kaʻiulani would be travelling to his far-off homeland, Scotland, to receive the high-level education that would prepare her for her eventual role as sovereign of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

As writers and poets naturally do, he put pen to paper and composed one of his most poignant poems simply titled “To Princess Kaiulani” with the following note:

“Written in April to Kaiulani in the April of her age; and at Waikiki, within easy walk of Kaiulani's banyan! When she comes to my land and her father's, and the rain beats upon the window (as I fear it will), let her look at this page; it will be like a weed gathered and pressed at home; and she will remember her own islands, and the shadow of the mighty tree; and she will hear the peacocks screaming in the dusk and the wind blowing in the palms; and she will think of her father sitting there alone.
- R. L. S.

Forth from her land to mine she goes,
The island maid, the island rose,
Light of heart and bright of face,
The daughter of a double race.

Her islands here, in Southern sun,
Shall mourn their Kaiulani gone,
And I, in her dear banyan shade,
Look vainly for my little maid.

But our Scots islands far away
Shall glitter with unwonted day,
And cast for once their tempests by
To smile in Kaiulani's eye.”

Years later, composer Charles E. King took Stevenson’s poem and set it to music adding his own ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi savvy paralleling the original poetic foundation. One line that stands out in particular is King’s treatment: “The daughter of a double race.” King says, “He lei ʻilima me ka pīkake,” calling out two regal adornments, the native ʻilima and the introduced pīkake — the fragrant white jasmine that bloomed profusely in the luxuriously landscaped Waikīkī home of Princess Kaʻiulani, ʻĀinahau.

The 30-minute podcast culminates with an exquisite all-male choral performance of “Kaʻiulani Aliʻi” by Webley Edwards & His Hawaiʻi Calls Orchestra. Hawaiʻi Calls was the legendary radio broadcast from the Moana Hotel and other sites aired weekly throughout the United States and beyond from 1935-1975. Surely, this regal rendition of “Kaʻiulani Aliʻi” left an indelible mark on the ears of millions of listeners, as did the grace, charm, intellect and beauty of the Hawaiian princess who inspired both Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles E. King.

E ho‘olohe mai! Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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