Rhonda wrote to me looking for help with the Hawaiian Alphabet Song…

Good Morning Lisa

I have been looking for the Hawaiian Alphabet song and I have searched the internet for it. Are you able to tell me where I can purchase it or the name of the singer or a name of a CD it might be on.

Any information you can provide would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you

Rhonda Schmidt

My friend, Stephanie Baxter, helped with part of the answer to this one:

As I understand it, the song was written by Mary Kawena Pukui, who was quite a famous teacher here in Hawaii, responsible for getting much of the Hawaiian language down in writing, transcribing a lot of the folklore. The song might be available through the Bishop Museum, where she donated a lot of her time. I’ve not heard it sung, but if were anywhere, it would be Kamehameha Schools… only students there have to be native Hawaiian.

The lyrics are:

E nâ hoa kamali`i,
E a`o mai kâkou
I pa`ana`au ka pîâpâ.

`Â, `ê, `î, `ô, `û,
Hê, kê, lâ, mû, nû.
`O pî me wê nâ panina
O ka pîâpâ.

In English…

O fellow children,
Let us learn together
Til we’ve memorized the alphabet.

A, e, i , o, u,
H, k, l, m, n.
P and w are the last two
Of the alphabet

Thanks for the help Stephanie!

Rhonda – I would contact the Bishop Museum Store and ask them if any of their cd’s have the song on it. Otherwise, I’d contact the school to see if they sell cd’s.

If anyone else knows of any cd’s with this song on it – or where you can find/buy the mp3, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks in advance!

Mama Lisa