MUSIC SCENE
Symphony gig adds to Kapono's rich resumé

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

Henry Kapono has found success as a businessman with Kapono's at Aloha Tower Marketplace. But the veteran Hawai'i musician will take on a new challenge tonight with his debut as a headliner in a Honolulu Symphony Orchestra pops concert. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser Henry Kapono Headlining the Honolulu Symphony pops concert 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, Blaisdell Concert Hall $15-$55 792-2000 Also featuring: Robi Kahakalau, with Matt Catingub conducting

As a soloist, he has racked up a distinguished recording career dating three decades.

As a half of duo, he and Cecilio Rodriguez — as Cecilio and Kapono — have endearing fans.

As a businessman, he has put his imprint on Kapono's at Aloha Tower Marketplace, not only hiring his peers as nighttime attractions but also putting in a stint every Saturday night.

And as a showbiz veteran, he's still voyaging into new waters, still a bit on edge about the business.

"I am kind of nervous," he said of his debut tonight as headliner in a pair of Honolulu Symphony pops concerts. "I did one bit earlier with the symphony, when Michael McDonald was a guest star with the orchestra, but this will be my first time as the featured act."

Kapono, a full-blooded Hawaiian trouper who once played football at Punahou School, has matured into a seasoned professional, a role model of efficiency and dedication among his fellow musicians.

Yet he's excitable as a new kid on the block, saying he gets an occasional attack of chicken skin in a performance. Like the time he did "Sailing" with the orchestra.

"It's a lot different with the orchestra behind you," he said.

The perk, he said, will be his exposure before a more traditional crowd — symphony-goers. "And maybe my fans, who've never been to a symphony concert, might become part of that crowd," he said of the mutual benefits of the gig.

Pops conductor Matt Catingub, who also recruited singer Robi Kahakalau, has arranged nearly 90 percent of Kapono's song choices. "He's a great talent, a great conductor," Kapono said of Catingub.

The concert will revive old C&K classics as well as newer Kapono signatures. He said the evenings will "be like a journey of my music, from way back till now."

" 'Friends' is the oldest song in the lineup," he said of his popular unifying melody.

And it will be acoustic, meaning mellow, with Kapono playing his own guitar. Nonelectric, of course.

And Kahakalau, who has a slot, also will do a few numbers with Kapono.

He has been an advocate of supporting and nurturing budding talent, and he's enlisted the vocal prowess of new group Reign for a segment of the concert. Among those Kapono has taken under his wings over the years: BB Shawn, the blind singer-guitarist, who also performs as Shawn Ishimoto.

One of Kapono's anthems, "Home in the Islands," has been a signature for The Brothers Cazimero, but also has been the focus of a visitor industry awareness campaign in 2000, with Keali'i Reichel, Melveen Leed, and Catingub and the orchestra's string section involved in its recording.

With more than 20 albums to his credit ("Evolution of Poi" in 2000 was the last), Kapono has experimented with a range of music, incorporating blues, pop, reggae and soul as well as Hawaiian into his compositions. While he composes with an island perspective, his songs have universal "feel good" appeal.

His venture into club ownership and operation at Kapono's has also broadened his vision and expanded his perspective on the music scene.

"Being on the business side, as well as the creative side, takes a lot of time," he said. "But you get a better reading on how to run an operation when you own a club."

Sept. 11, he said, has had an impact on how and what he did at the harborfront nightspot.

"The big lesson was how to streamline and carry on to be effective," he said. "Sometimes, you don't realize how much waste you have until something like that (the terrorist attacks and their impact on business) opens your eyes."

But, he said, things are looking up at Kapono's. The Sunday visits by the Norwegian Star cruise ship has spurred business quite a bit. Consequently, he said, the club has been able to reopen the "inside" room weekdays as well as the outdoor, 'neath-the-sky open space on weekends.