Master Storyteller Leilehua Yuen grew up with the legends and lore of Hawai`i. As an adult, she continues to tell the tales she heard as a child. In this album, Manu Josiah, her husband, joins her to weave music, chant, and song around the stories, creating a magical journey into the world of Hawaiian folklore. Manu's Hawaiian slack-key guitar stylings and compositions for the traditional Hawaiian flute add a dreaminess which is highlighted by Leilehua's incorporation of traditional Hawaiian percussion. The album begins, like the Hawaiian day, with the evening. In "Face of the Moon," guitar and Hawaiian flute intertwine, creating a soundscape in which stone castanets, seed-filled rattles, and a small gourd on a string add a sense of movement in the night. Next, we learn about Hina, Hawai`i's woman in the moon. In the Native Hawaiian calendar, each night is named for its phase of the moon. Learn them all in the charming oli presented by Leilehua. The goddesses of Maunakea make their appearance, followed by the title song, a graceful hula for the mountain. A rousing dawn prayer changes the mood, preparing the listener for a trio of hula which begins with the rising sun and ends with birds returning to their nests. Then, we learn just why summer days are long, and hear the tapping of the kapa mallet as the chanter drums out the rhythm on her bark cloth. Finally, as evening comes on, we play the game of Na`u, and say farewell to the setting sun with a chant written almost 200 years ago. At last, after a day of adventure, the soft night sounds of "Face of the Moon" reprise. Manu's slack key stylings are simple and clean, providing a smooth accompaniment to Leilehua's vocals. In the title song, "By Moonlight, By Sunlight," Manu adds his voice to his guitar and brings a romance to the song that is sure to make it a classic in the Hawaiian repertoire. Playing the traditional Hawaiian ohe hano ihu, he adds an ethereal quality - highly fitting for an insturment which was used to entice a sweetheart to enjoy the beauty of moonlit nights. Leilehua, a kumu hula, brings in the traditions of her art and adds the percussive sounds of the `ili`ili - stone castanets, oeoe - gourd bullroarer, and `uli`uli - gourd rattle. Educational, as well as enjoyable, This album would be perfect for everything from a long car ride to just sitting and listening. BACKSTORY from Leilehua: I grew up with a view of Maunakea. Each morning, from my bedroom window, I awoke to the great mountain's presence. If the sky was clear, I saw the mountain silhouetted against the fading cyan of night and watched the brick red glow wash down her slopes. If the sky was filled with cloud, I knew the moist air had piled up against the slopes, forming clouds which would soon drench Hilo. As an adult, I have almost always lived within sight of the mountain. Even in Kona, I tried to rent where I could find some glimpse of that summit which represented, to me, "home." Through my work as a Hawai`i Natural History Association cultural demonstrator I had many opportunities to learn more about Hawaiian culture and arts from a more academic viewpoint, and to study under many highly respected kūpuna and mentors in the Park Service. As an editor at Space Age, I was able to refine my research and writing skills, and meet scientists, astronauts, and others in the cutting edge of space exploration. Around 2000, through Steve Durst, the publisher and editor in chief at Space Age, I met Koa Rice and Dave Byrne. I was invited to give cultural presentations at the Visitor Information Station. as the presentations were given at the lend of an already-long work day, sometimes I was just too tired to ride home, so I would ease my motorcycle down one of the bumpy dirt roads and park behind a handy mamane tree, lay my raingear on the ground, and curl up in my leathers to watch the stars wheel overhead until I fell into a sound and satisfying sleep. A few years later, my fiance, now husband, joined me in giving presentations. He has added a balance and depth which was missing all these years, and provides the solid bass on top of which we share our melody and lyrics. In 2010, I was approached by the Robyn Ridley, of Crystal Clear Reflections, and asked to do a workshop for one of her groups. Generally, I put together my lesson plan, record the chants and songs into my cell phone, and then e-mail everything to the haumana [students]. That's a lot of work to do for each and every workshop! This time, we decided to put all of the chants and hula for the workshop into a professionally-recorded CD. With Robyn’s encouragement - spiritual, verbal, and financial - we put it all together, phoned Charles Brotman, and headed back into his studio to record By Moonlight, By Sunlight. Although it is the second album we have recorded, due to some logistical problems with getting our first CD out, this is the first of our CDs actually to be released.