Recently I was listening to George Winston's Plains CD while driving to work. A beautiful melody unfolded on one of the tracks and I said to myself, "I have heard that before!" The song was "No Ke Ano Ahiahi." The first time I heard the melody was in church. There is a hymn, "Song of the Body of Christ" in the Catholic Gather hymnal. A beautiful contemporary composition, the words are by David Haas. I had heard it often as a communion hymn. It is a Hawaiian chant that, like many other Hawaiian melodies has made its way into the American songbook.
Here are three versions. You can pick either one, or listen to all three. The first is George Winston's beautiful piano arrangement. Following that is the Hawaiian song with it's Hawaiian lyrics. Third in the line up is the version I first came to enjoy during the Mass.
Same thing happened with me while listening to Winston’s “Plains” album: I heard this song and remembered it from Catholic Mass years ago. I loved the melody then and still do. Thank you for posting this!
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