Dozens lend their voices and aloha for audio version of ‘Da Good An Spesho Book’

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - For a quick laugh, comedian Tony Silva can bust out his best pidgin at the drop of a hat.

But he had to really concentrate on the words when he recorded his part for the “Da Good An Spesho Book.”

“I really literally had to learn this specific style of dialect of pidgin,” he said. “It took me a few days to get the proper verbiage down. But once we got it, it was good to go.”

Part of the Gospel of John wound up sounding like this: “Jesus talked l’dat fo tell Peter what goin’ happen bumbai.”

Pastor Earl Morihara recruited about 25 people to play the parts of Bible characters from the New Testament. Radio personalities and regular folks jumped at the chance to verbalize scripture in pidgin.

“It’ll speak clearly to those who may have heard the message in standard English, but it doesn’t hit that chord as it would in Hawaii pidgin,” Morihara said.

Augie Tulba also helped out.

“I’m so excited to be a part of Da Good and Spesho Book,” he said.

The project took two months to complete. The voice actors volunteered their time.

“And we get funny guys. But we not here for make jokes. We here for speak in one language of the heart,” radio announcer Sam Kapu said.

The Lumo Project ― a Bible translation group ― also dubbed the pidgin soundtrack onto its YouTube videos.

“It’s not just hearing the message. It’s watching the scenes as it’s unfolding. That is to me a big part of the project,” Morihara said.

Silva says the working on the pidgin Bible is one of the highlights of his career.

“It’s one of the things I never dreamed I would do, but here we are,” he said.

Morihira now wants to train ministers and others on how to use the special version of the scriptures.

To hear the audio version of the “Da Good An Spesho Book” go to hawaiipidginbible.org.

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