The Hawaii Christmas song best known outside of the Aloha State is R. Alex Anderson’s hapa haole classic, “Mele Kalikimaka,” which was recorded by Bing Crosby in 1950.
We asked Hawaii residents on Facebook about their favorite island Christmas songs and Willie K’s recording of “O Holy Night” was mentioned a lot.
Radio personality Devon Nekoba, on air weekday mornings at 94.7 KUMU, said “O Holy Night” will “always make Christmas for me. The soaring vocals, the verse in Hawaiian and the fantastic ending all make for a perfect tune.”
Island music industry veteran Alex “Budgie” Martin applauded Willie’s “passion and delivery,” Holly Holowach of Kailua considers the song “spectacular,” and Henry Chae, another fan, described the arrangement and vocals as “just perfect — get chicken skin.”
“It’s not the holidays until I hear it,” Waipahu resident Leigh Bugarin said. “The holidays was always my mom’s favorite time of year. She’s been gone for six years now. Hearing this song always puts a smile on my face because I can still hear her voice when she tried singing this song.”
Memories make other songs favorites too.
When Alannah Farrell hears “Mele Kalikimaka,” it makes her think of Hawaii while she is living on the mainland. She wrote: “And of course I know all the words so I would immediately sing along!”
“Christmas Luau” reminds kumu hula Lehua Kawaikapuokalani of her students: “Christmas is not Christmas without dancing the ‘Christmas Luau’ song. I hope I get to see my great-grandchildren dance it.”
The Brothers Cazimero recording of “Hawaiian Santa,” and the Surfers’ “Here Comes Santa in a Red Canoe,” take veteran musician Michael Chock back to his childhood in “old Waipahu.”
Composer/musician Brandon Nakano said the “Song of Christmas” by Kui Lee “has all the elements of what a great song should be, takes you right into the picture he’s painting. It’s debatable but I believe this was his best work. It’s also not Christmas without Frank De Lima’s Filipino Christmas medley.”
The medley, a Hawaii favorite since 1982, is also “the one song” actor Kristi Kashibottom said she “cannot do Christmas without.”
Former Kailua residents Bob Hogue and his wife, Sherri Kingsley Hogue, who now live in California, said they have always loved Ed Kenney’s original recording of “Numbah One Day of Christmas.”
Record industry executive Maryann Michalski Cord recommended slack key guitarist Ken Emerson’s instrumental arrangement of “The Little Drummer Boy” (“I’m partial to that slackness,” she explained). Actor/educator Katherine Jones loves “The Prayer,” as recorded by Maila Gibson and Ho‘okena for “the blend of English and Hawaiian in a contemporary holiday song.”
Retired judge Sandra Simms “loves” the “hauntingly beautifully” recording of “We Three Kings” by the Brothers Cazimero. Comedian Gregg Hammer goes for Freddie Shaka’s “very old school” recording of “The 13 Days of Christmas.”
Hawaii radio veteran Chris Kalani Chang has three favorites: “ ‘Merry Christmas to You’ from Henry Kapono Ka‘aihue, a very heartfelt original from Henry. My daughters and I love former Hawaii-based band’s Streetlight Cadence ‘Magic of a Christmas,’ and I also love Mailani Makainai’s version of ‘Christmas Don’t Be Late.’ ”
