keep politics and religion separate from music when we talked, but he did feel very strongly about both. Now because of his size and his mobility issues, he couldn’t really go out there and demonstrate with the other Hawaiians that felt similarly in ’93, like when they had the Onipaʻa events at ʻIolani Palace to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the overthrow.
But there were lots of people that he would talk on the phone to try to inspire and encourage to stand their ground on protecting Hawaiian culture. Those people, and Israel too, wanted a say in their own future. I think that’s really what Israel was about. Protecting the depth of what Hawaiian people have to offer. And they do have a lot to offer the world.
I don’t know that he really thought in terms of sovereignty—actually pulling away from the United States. That was still a fairly new idea. I think Israel, and Hawaiians in general at that time really just wanted a say in the ceded lands and other things that had been taken away from them.
But he was never nasty toward anyone. He never blamed Caucasians living here for the missionaries coming and throwing Hawaiians into the church system. He wasn’t bitter about that—to him that was a part of his history too.
WC: Yeah. That comes through very strongly in his music.
JM: It does. He really was one of a kind. A major question I get asked all the time is who do I see as the next Israel and, honestly, I don’t know that there ever will be someone else like him. He would say, “I’m full Hawaiian, except for a skoshi bit Japanese.” But he was the closest thing to a pure Hawaiian giving a pure Hawaiian message to the world in a simple but powerful way. And 20 years later, the world is still responding to the message he presented through his music on this album.