Reichel comes in from the cold

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

Keali'i Reichel joins the Honolulu Symphony in pops concerts tonight and tomorrow in a variation of his popular Maui sellouts. The singer says it's a challenge to perform with classical musicians.

"I went snowboarding again this year, taking along my young cousins who hadn't been in snow," Reichel said of his wintery spring vacation. "I figure I'd bite the bullet and do the young thing. In a sense, snowboarding is genetically like surfing. By the last day, I was pretty good."

Being in snow, he said, got him thinking in a Christmas vein, so he's making initial plans about possibly doing his first-ever holiday CD. "If we do it, we have to record in July or August," said Reichel.

This weekend, Reichel joins the symphony orchestra in a variation of his popular Maui sellouts, Kukahi 2002. "It's a different kind of challenge for us, performing with trained classical musicians," he said. "It's always stressful to do a concert, but this is a different kind of stress."

There will be hula to augment some of his vocals. And a surprise guest group, of whom he said: "We share the same kind of mana'o about traditional Hawaiian music and I'm pleased to see them expand into English songs, too."