PROGRAM NOTES

Composed in January of 1893 and published in 1895, the original title was Mele ʻAi Pohaku or The Stone-eating Song, and was also known as Mele Aloha ʻĀina or the Patriot's Song. Composed by Ellen Wright Prendergast as she sat in the garden of her father's house in Kapālama, members of the Royal Hawaiian Band visited her, voicing their unhappiness at the takeover of the Hawaiian Kingdom. They begged her to put their feelings of rebellion to music.