Music Scene
Harmonizing Hawaiian affairs
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Slack-key musician and composer Haunani Apoliona will be honored at Saturday's Ka Himeni 'Ana Song Contest. "I wish there were more days where we could talk about music, messages in the music and harmonizing," says the Office of Hawaiian Affairs chairwoman.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser 19th Ka Himeni 'Ana Song Contest Honoring Haunani Apoliona 8 p.m. Saturday Hawai'i Theatre $6-$30 528-0506, 395-9311 |
Wrapping a sweet vocal around "Ua Nani o Nu'uanu," she smiles between verses, closes her eyes every so often, and appears to draw the lyrics back into her mind. Finishing the song, Apoliona takes as many minutes explaining its lyrics, which speak of the valley's beauty, both visible and hidden — a reporter's understanding of the song's meaning as important to the singer as her rendering of it.
A typical day in her smallish and visibly lived-in 12th-floor OHA office?
"Not at all," sighs Apoliona, before laughing. "I wish there were more days where we could talk about music, messages in the music and harmonizing."
By day the chairwoman of OHA's boards, on Saturday nights a member of Olomana at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the noted performer and composer will be the guest of honor at this weekend's 19th annual Ka Himeni 'Ana unamplified Hawaiian song competition. A Ka Himeni 'Ana judge for nine years and counting, Apoliona will join a list of past honorees that includes music legends Aunty Irmgard Farden Aluli, Mary Kawena Pukui, Charles K.L. Davis and Helen Desha Beamer.
Apoliona was informed of the honor in June, shortly after contest founder Richard Towill phoned to ask if she had any interest in judging again.
"Richard goes, 'And oh, by the way, we want to honor you this year,'" she remembers, laughing. "I was like, 'Oooh wow, Mr. Towill. You sure?' Apoliona pauses for thought. "It wasn't something I was expecting, but I appreciated the acknowledgement for my work in music."
A master of six-string slack key, Apoliona's first choice of instrument was the 'ukulele, which her father began teaching her when she was 6.
"My father, my cousin and me would play under the lychee tree in our front yard," she says of her St. Louis Heights youth. "The first song I learned to play was 'Manuela Boy.' My appreciation and understanding of Hawaiian music comes from home. We'd play at family parties where everybody would bring out their instruments. That's how I got comfortable playing and singing."
Teaching herself to play her father's Martin guitar, Apoliona would tote the instrument to Maryknoll High School classes, determined to master it with as much practice as she could squeeze into a day.
"To this day, I play by ear," says Apoliona, proudly. "I don't read music. A lot of my instruction has been just learning and watching and then playing and experimenting."
In high school, Apoliona hooked up with a couple of friends from Palolo to form a folky light rock trio called Friends of Mine, then with fellow University of Hawai'i-Manoa Hawaiian Studies students Haunani Bernardino, Aaron Mahi and Eldon Akamine to form the Hawaiian music combo Kaimana.
"We recorded our one and only album together in 1977," Apoliona says of Kaimana. "We played together a long time before all getting pretty busy."
While Mahi went off to conduct the Royal Hawaiian Band and Bernardino and Akamine left for careers as educators, Apoliona — master's degree in social work in hand — began a nearly two-decade career with the Hawaiian assistance and job-training agency Alu Like in 1978. She would eventually serve as its president and CEO for six years before leaving in 1996 to join OHA as a trustee. Apoliona has been OHA chairwoman since December 2000.
She has managed to make an impact on the local music scene even with a professional career that leaves precious little time for her continuing passion for composing and performing.
Her only solo disc, "Na Lei Hulu Makua, Na Wahine Hawai'i," captured six 1988 Na Hoku Hanohano awards including Traditional Hawaiian Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. Her studio work with Olomana on 1992's "E Mau Ana Ka Ha'aheo — Enduring Pride" won Apoliona a third Hoku award for Haku Mele for her original composition "E Mau Ana Ka Ha'aheo."
Apoliona has also performed live with Olomana since 1982, including a regular weekend gig at the Hilton for the past nine years.
"I know we're considering doing another Olomana recording," says Apoliona, excitedly. "I also know I have at least another solo project somewhere inside of me. It's got to be the right time, and the inspiration has got to be there, but ... I know it's going to come pretty soon. It's lurking."
Apoliona says her artistry is simply the result of working with great musicians, starting with her family and continuing through her work with Kaimana and Olomana.
"I've been very fortunate to work with musicians who have a mission not just to entertain, but to put forth a message that engages the audience to think about Hawai'i in a way that's more serious," reflects Apoliona. "To understand and appreciate Hawaiian history, culture and tradition."
