Mahalo

AT THE America concert last Friday, I’m certain I was not alone in reacting to Kalapana’s Hawaiian greeting with a sense of “sounds like… ” They opened the show by saying, “Mahalo,” a Hawaiian word that means “Thank you.” “Mahal” is of course from Sanskrit, and has found its way into Tagalog, to mean “love.” So even as Kalapana thanked the audience, we were hearing a word that to us, means love.

I’m just as certain that I was not alone in loving the show. We were a lot who had America’s music as the soundtrack of significant parts of our youth. And I think we each have an America favorite.

Filu Bugante’s favorite America song is “I Need You,” one of two encore songs at the concert, sung solo with a solo guitar. It is also the favorite of Laura Bautista. For both these ladies, the song reminds them of their respective husbands – Sam for the latter and Mike for the former. Filu also gets reminded of high school days and her children when she hears “We used to laugh, we used to cry. We used to bow our heads and wonder why… ”

At the show, my own brother Matt was shamelessly yelling out “Sandman” – a song that is part of his own repertoire, as it is cousin Jack’s. Together, they sing all America songs very well. So well that my niece Maya and my sister Annette, when they were little girls, remarked that they didn’t have to go to a folk rock concert or other because what they heard at home was better.

I thought I espied Maan Ang at the concert, but it turns out that it wasn’t her. However, her office mate Marlon Guanzon was. His favorite America hit is “Horse With No Name,” the second encore song last Sunday. Marlon just loves this song that he used to sing that with a high school band.

I found that with Kalapana onstage alongside America for that final number, the UB “au-gym” really ROCKED.

Like “(You Can Do)…Magic” – the song that reminds Jimmy Fong of his high school dances…

Mahalo.