Irmgard Farden Aluli

"Auntie" Irmgard Keali'iwahinealohanohokahaopuamana Farden Aluli (October 7, 1911 – October 4, 2001) was a Hawaiian composer who wrote over 200 songs. In Hawaii, she was considered a haku mele, or maker of songs. Aluli is considered the most prolific woman composer of Hawaii since Queen Lili'uokalani. She is the fourth person to be honored twice for a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts (HARA). She has also been inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.

Biography Aluli was born in Pu‘unoa, Lahaina, on the island of Maui, in the then territory of Hawai‘i, on October 7, 1911. She was born into the large Farden family of Lahaina; one of Hawaiʻi’s foremost musical families. Aluli was one of 13 children (Margaret, Annie, Carl, Bernard, Emma, Maude, Aurora, Diana, Irmgard, Rudolph, Lurina, Edna & Llewellyn "Buddy").

Aluli first started performing publicly with the Annie Kerr Trio in 1925. which was a song she wrote about her childhood home in Lahaina.

In the 1960s, she started a group called Puamana. The film features the group and also includes interviews with Aluli.

Aluli performed publicly often until she hurt her hand in 1998. In 1998, she was honored with an induction into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. She continued to play ʻukulele and made "occasional appearances until a few weeks before her death." Aluli died on October 4, 2001, in Honolulu.

In 2015, Puamana, which has continued under the leadership of her daughters and granddaughter earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from HARA.