Kaka'ako break-in robbed songwriter of words of his soul
By Shayna Coleon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kenneth Makuakane, a songwriter and producer of traditional Hawaiian music with multiple Na Hoku awards, had more than $8,000 worth of musical instruments and two laptop computers stolen from his music studio on Thursday, but all he wants back is the "priceless" information stored in his computers.
The stolen laptop computers contained more than 200 unpublished songs and two books that he had been writing during the past four years.
"My songs and my books, they're like my life's work," said Makuakane, a producer for many Hawaiian groups such as Na Leo and Hapa, and winner of 10 Na Hoku Hanohano awards.
"Once those words get lost, no way can I recapture it. Those words are priceless."
Makuakane said the front door to his Kaka'ako studio on Waimanu Street was wide open when he came to work at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, and all the locks were broken off.
A blue and white Ovation Adamas acoustic guitar worth $3,500, an acoustic Takemine guitar worth $1,200, and the two laptops — a Macintosh iBook and Toshiba — were taken, Makuakane said.
In the past four months, Makuakane said he wrote more than 100 songs on his computer.
"You really do bare your soul when you write because it's an emotional thing," Makuakane said. "It's in those fleeting moments when you write a song. It's those small spurts of inspiration that can never be replaced."
Makuakane has owned the studio for four years, and he felt his studio never needed an alarm system. After the break-in, Makuakane said he had a security system installed.
"If they can just download the material onto a disk, and throw it back to me," Makuakane said. "If they can return that to me, I would love it. If they can't, then my whole life is lost because my whole life is my music and my words. I don't even know how to start redoing everything."
Anyone with information is asked to call the Honolulu Police Department at 529-3386.
Reach Shayna Coleon at scoleon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8004.
