Ulupalakua Slack Key with Led Kaapana

Songs in Hawai`i very often have a fascinating story and "Ulupalakua" is certainly one of those. It seems that a Maui chief of long ago was particularly fond of the ulu, breadfruit, that grew at Kipahulu so he would send runners to bring them to his upland district. He named the district "ulupalakua" which means "breadfruit ripened on the back." John P. Watkins visited the area and was taken with the bracing mountain air, the fragrance of ginger, and the feats of the cowboys, all of which he captured in his song. As you might imagine, "Ulupalakua" is a favorite of hula dancers, with all its details providing lots of inspiration for choreography. I was a little surprised when I realized that I've never done a video of this classic song, but it's time to correct that oversight. We are enjoying a visit to the beauty of Ka Elepulu in Kailua, `Oahu so we are also enjoying visits from Led Kaapana. He has about a million clever ways to play "Ulupalakua" and we spent an afternoon by the lake exploring his magic tricks. Led is playing his wonderfully mature long scale Martin 000-16. I'm using a Composite Acoustics OX, and both of us are tuned to taropatch G (D G D G B D from low pitch to high). I rely on my Shure KSM141 mics with their omnidirectional mode that does a wonderful job of ignoring the wind gusts. I plug the mics into the old reliable Zoom F6 then process the two channels of audio into a stereo file using REAPER. For cameras I'm using a pair of iPhone 15s, one is a Pro and the other a Pro Max. And I rely on DaVinci Resolve to create the video file from all the various parts.