Na Leo Pilimehana plan yuletide concerts

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Na Leo's Nalani Choy, Lehua Kalima Heine and Angela Morales — who give a Christmas concert tonight through Sunday with The Brothers Cazimero and the Honolulu Symphony — are bound in faith.

"I think our common bond is our faith," said Nalani Choy. "I know when some of us are going through something, we all feel it. The difference is that we're friends and partners and consequently are able to offer support twice as much as most."

This bond was evident when Ricky Morales, husband of fellow Na Leo singer Angela Morales, died July 10 after a lengthy illness.

"We're OK, the kids and me; we're getting through it one day at a time," said Angela Morales, dealing with her loss. "But with the holidays coming up, it's getting to be a little rough."

Work — in Na Leo's case, performing — is a blessing.

The trio gives three Christmas concerts with The Brothers Cazimero and the Honolulu Symphony tonight through Sunday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

"Music is healing," Morales said. "I discovered, in our last tours in California, Washington and Oregon, how much people shared and cared, in a lot of different ways, about my loss. So it's comforting to be performing."

Lehua Kalima Heine said the group is made up of three minds with one heart.

"We know what the others are thinking and feeling; we anticipate a thought," Heine said. "It's like a marriage; you compromise, you respect each other's feelings. We all understand this."

Christmas is family time for Na Leo. There are a few private gigs, and the group's participating in a fourth-in-a-row sing-out with the symphony. Holiday fellowship and partying is also planned.

"We usually do a Na Leo Christmas party, and also go to a karaoke to party. Mainly, we see each other a lot," said Choy, who has three children. "Can't let everyone else have the fun."

The Choy household ritual? Church services on Christmas eve, gift-opening on Christmas morning. "My husband's mother, sister, grandmother ... they all drive over. I make us breakfast; the kids open up the presents," said Choy.

Heine, who is the mother of two, gets into the holiday mode by listening to Christmas music, putting up the lights and tree. "Then everything falls in place," she said. Christmas usually is spent here, with her husband's family. "New Year's, we all go to Hilo, to be with my family."

Morales will spend Christmas eve with her late husband's family — "it's no way quiet, but very nice," she said — and Christmas morning will at home with her three kids.

"Because my husband was ill for a long time, it helped alleviate the shock of loss," she said. "When he was in the hospital, I was praying for miracles. My miracle request changed over time; I prayed he would no longer suffer.

"But his death has made me more determined to make a statement in the music industry; he was a musician, too. My kids and I want to make him proud of us. After he passed on, my daughter found a song he had written for me, called 'Greatest Love,' and I'm working on it, to finish it, and perhaps record it. It would be a tribute."

Traditionally, Na Leo takes a holiday breather before mapping out 2005 in January or February.

For the Christmas shows, Na Leo will add a guitarist — either Bryan Kessler or Ben Vegas, over the next three concerts — who will be featured in an "unplugged" moment, said Choy.

"Throughout the year, our families make sacrifices for us," said Morales. "I need to step out of the comfort zone and move on, individually and with the group. As a single parent, there are responsibilities and challenges — in the end, everyone will be stronger."