Alice Nāmakelua

“Auntie” Alice Kuʻuleialohapoinaʻole Kanakaoluna Nāmakelua (1892–1987) was a Hawaiian composer and performer. Nāmakelua was also a kumu hula dancer and lei-maker. She was an expert performer of the slack-key guitar and a master of the Hawaiian language. Nāmakelua was a mentor of other musicians and wrote around 180 songs of her own. As a teenager, she sang for the deposed queen, Liliuokalani. Nāmakelua spent most of her life on O’ahu. Nāmakelua would work on the Maui float for the parade, starting in 1944. While working for the city, she also taught hula, Hawaiian language and music classes. She was also the playground director. In 1978, she was one of the special award winners of the Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Hawai’i Academy of Recording Arts. In 1980, she received a Na Makua Mahalo ia award, which was originally developed to recognize the musical accomplishments of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Selected works Songs * Haleakalā Hula (originally, Kuahiwi Nani 1941) * I‘iwi a‘o Hilo (1950) * Aia i Hilo ka Ua Kani Lehua (1956) * Hanohano nō ‘o Hawai‘i (1958) * Aloha K’olau (1959) * Lei Hala O Kaua’i (1959) * Polynesian Welcome (1967) * Ka’ahum