Dr. Carlos Andrade, Individual Achievement Honoree

By Chipper Wichman, Ph.D., FLS
President, National Tropical Botanical Garden

Dr. Carlos Andrade is receiving a Preservation Award in Individual Achievement for his work in documenting and perpetuating the historical and cultural knowledge of Hā‘ena, Kaua‘i. I have known Carlos for most of my life and remember him as one of the pioneering surfers who came to surf the hollow barrels on the reefs in front of our home in Hā‘ena in the 1960s.

Carlos’s love for surfing was second only to his talent and passion as a song writer and musician.  Inspired by the majestic beauty of the north shore of Kaua‘i and the epic stories of love, like Ko‘olau the Lepper, Carlos became a talented haku mele – one who weaves melodies and words into songs.  That many of his songs have been recorded by other artists is a testimony to their relevance and beauty.

I believe it was Carlos’s love for music and Hawaiian culture that led him back to school late in life where he not only learned to speak and write in Hawaiian, but began to do research on the ahupua‘a of Hā‘ena, a place where he worked and surfed in his youth. As a student of the history of Hā‘ena myself, I was honored and pleased to see Carlos make Hā‘ena the focus of his PhD dissertation and was able to provide grant funding to help him with this research and writing.  The project resulted in countless hours of digital interviews with our kūpuna who shared their priceless memories of growing up in Hā‘ena when it was still an isolated community at the end of a long road punctuated with many small bridges.

One of the awesome products that came out of these interviews was a map of the traditional place names on the reefs of Hā‘ena. This map has become a treasured resource by younger Hawaiian fishermen who now consistently call these places by their ancient names!  This is the ultimate success for a historian, when the knowledge you document becomes valued and mainstreamed by the younger generations!

While the map is incredible, it is the publication of his book, Hā‘ena: Through the Eyes of Ancestors, that finally brings the fascinating history of Hā‘ena accessible to the larger public.  As a scholarly work, this book is and will continue to be cited and used by many generations to come as they seek to better understand the evolution of a community that has perpetuated its deeply-rooted cultural traditions.

Dr. Carlos Andrade will receive a Preservation Award in Lifetime Achievement from Historic Hawai‘i Foundation at the 2021 Preservation Honor Awards Virtual Ceremony on May 21^st. Please click here for information on how to participate.

This 2017 episode of PBS Hawai‘i’s Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox features a fascinating interview of Dr. Andrade with clips of his musical performances.

“The Hawaiian term for people who lived on the land is hoa ‘āina. Hoa ‘āina is a companion to the land and I think that the relationship of Hawaiian people to the land is one of, as a companion to the land…It’s echoed in the sort of philosophy, the unspoken philosophy that Hawaiian people have that Aloha is a reciprocal thing.”

 

The book, Hā‘ena: Through the Eyes of Ancestors is available for purchase from UH Press.