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Hundreds of paper lanterns glowing on dark water along the shoreline

Kai ManaRadianceTrack 11

Lanterns on the Water

For the ones we carry.

On a moonless night, small wooden rafts carry paper lanterns past the reef — one flame for the ancestors, one for a child taking flight, one for a beloved far from home. Lehua sings the names out to the current.

Watch the film Full song · 4:30

Album Radiance Vocals Lehua (solo, with ceremonial chorus) Feel Ceremonial · Remembrance · Slow Prayer

Enter the journey

01 / The journey

Follow the lanterns out.

A hand lowers the first flame to the dark water, and one by one the names of an ʻohana go drifting toward the horizon.

A work-roughened hand holding a small bamboo raft with a paper lantern over dark water — 0:00The first lantern. A work-roughened hand lowers one small flame to the sea — not for the net, not for the fish tonight.

Hundreds of paper lanterns spread across the dark water of the bay — 0:16The names go out. One by one the lanterns take the current — for the ancestors, for a child taking flight, for a beloved far from home.

Lehua singing the lantern ceremony under a dark sky — 0:44E ō mai. The chorus opens — lanterns on the water, carrying our ʻohana names.

Dozens of lanterns spread across the dark sea like stars — 1:19A constellation set free. Each lantern a story on the deep, breathing sea.

Lanterns drifting together on calm night water — 2:39Forgiving the enemy. The bridge turns the prayer outward — for the weary, for the friend, for the forgiven.

The last lanterns shrinking toward the horizon at dawn’s edge — 4:10Past the horizon. The spoken outro: watch them drift, until the sea and sky are one.

02 / The film

Let the current set the pace.

The full music video is hosted here on Kai Mana’s media site, so the film can breathe inside the page — with YouTube available whenever you want to share or watch there.

Lanterns on the Water — the official music video, cut to the real recording. Watch on YouTube ↗

One lantern, briefly

One minute on the water.

A compact cut for the moments when you want the feeling quickly: one flame lowered, one name sent out to the sea.

03 / Explore

Discover the moments.

Move through the song chapter by chapter. Each marker brings the film back to a different point in the drift.

A work-roughened hand holding a small bamboo raft with a paper lantern over dark water

Chapter 1 of 6

The First Lantern

“Beyond the reef, where the moana sleeps dark.”

One lantern in a work-roughened hand — a heart, a manawa, about to be set adrift.

04 / Go deeper

Lyrics · sound · story.

The complete lyrics, the story behind the song, and how it was made live on the full Kai Mana song page.

Stay with the song a little longer, then return here whenever you want to step back into the film.

Read the full song page →

05 / Keep listening

Stay with the lanterns.

“Lanterns on the water…
carrying our ʻohana home.”

Listen on

Spotify Apple Music YouTube

From the album Radiance — twelve songs of light, gratitude, and the sea.