Saint Matin Island

Hawaii island hootenanny has music and hula

When Cyril, Martin and Bla Pahinui took the stage together for the first time, it was not in a prestigious venue. They didn't perform before a horde of reporters, and there wasn't a single TV camera in the house.

They did it to pay tribute to their dad.

That day in 1994, the Afook Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo was packed for the fifth annual Big Island Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival, which was dedicated to slack-key legend Gabby Pahinui. Although "Pops" had died 14 years before, he remained a beloved figure in Hawaiian music circles, and the community came to celebrate that.

"To date, that was the most emotional performance in the festival's history," recalled Dennis Taniguchi, executive director of the East Hawaii Cultural Center. "Even people who were too young to have seen Gabby in person were touched to see his sons playing guitars and singing from their hearts in honor of him. Everyone in the audience had tears in their eyes."

The Big Island Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival was launched in 1989 by Gay Tolar, owner of Gay Tolar Productions, which, among other things, produces concerts, manages and books local musicians and provides lighting, stage and sound services.

In 2002 the festival's name was changed to Big Island Hawaiian Music Festival to reflect its change in management and its inclusion of other forms of Hawaiian music, including the steel guitar, ukulele and falsetto. Over the years, the event has been held at various Hilo venues, including Mooheau Bandstand, Hilo High School and the University of Hawaii at Hilo's Performing Arts Theater. The Civic Auditorium is now its permanent home.

The cultural center began coordinating the event in 2009, with Ben Kaili at the helm. Taniguchi met Kaili at a concert in 2008, shortly becoming executive director. "His musical talent really impressed me, as did the fact that he stayed afterward to help clean up. I soon learned that he was part of a big, well-respected Hawaiian music and hula family that included renowned kumu hula George Naope, his uncle."

Taniguchi thought Kaili would be perfect to run the center's cultural events, including the music festival.

St. Martin's Island : Just a Haven in earth « The most beautiful ...

St. Martin’s Island is a small island in the northeast of the bay of bengal, about 9 km south of the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsular tip and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar at the mouth of the river naf. The island lies between 92°18´ and 92°21´E longitudes and 20°34´ and 20°39´N latitudes. The local people call it Narikel Jinjira. It is almost flat and is 3.6m above the mean sea level. The 9.66 km wide channel between the mainland and the island is much shallower than the open sea southwest of the island. There are reefs from 10-15 km to the west-northwest.

The island is 7.315 km long and is aligned NNW and SSE. Geographically, it is divided into three parts. The northern part is called Narikel Jinjira or Uttarpara and is 2,134m long and 1,402m wide. The southern part is known as Dakshinpara, which is 1,929m long, with a narrow tail of 1,890m towards the southeast, and a maximum width of 975m. A narrow central belt or Maddhyapara connects the two parts. The length and the width of this belt are about 1,524m and 518m respectively and the narrowest collar is known as Golachipa. In addition to the main island there are a number of tiny islets ranging from 100 to 500 sq m which are locally known as Chheradia or Siradia which means separated island.

There is a shallow lagoon in the middle of Uttarpara and it is connected to the sea during high tide by a narrow channel on the western coast. The topsoil of Uttarpara consists of alluvial sands mixed with shells of molluscs. There are two small dead lagoons and a stretch of marshy land in Dakshinpara. Fish landing sites, bazars and schools are present only in Uttarpara.

Launches and country boats ply between the island and teknaf regularly. The population is about 3,700 and most of them are fishermen belonging to 535 families. One hundred eighty-two species of wildlife are recorded from the island. Of these, 4 species are amphibians, 28 reptiles, 130 birds and 20 mammals. tourism to the northern part of the island exists during four months (November to February). The most densely populated part is Jinjira. There is scarcity of sweet water on the island. Only a few ponds and a number of tubewells supply sweet water for drinking as well as for cultivation. Though the island falls in the monsoon zone, the climate is much influenced by the sea. The main vegetation is coconut, betel nut and bamboo. Coconut trees are abundant and more concentrated in the Jinjira area. The soil of the island is not so fertile. The main agricultural products are onion, watermelon and some rice.

Frommer's Portable St. Maarten / St. Martin, Anguilla and St. Barts

St. Martin and St. Barts

Frommer's Caribbean 2010

An accompaniment to Mitchell's Map of the world, on Mercator's projection, containing an index to the various countries, cities, towns, islands, etc., represented on the map : and so connected therewith, that the position of any place exhibited on it may be readily ascertained : also, a general description of the five great divisions of the globe, America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceanica, with their several empires, kingdoms, states, territories, etc

Antigua & Leeward Islands