Posted on: Sunday, April 3, 2005

Cazimero celebrates return to Merrie Monarch with overall title

Advertiser Staff

HILO, Hawai'i — As the more verbal member of the musical Brothers Cazimero, Robert Cazimero is the glib one, generally overflowing with easy words.

As the kumu hula of the halau that won the upset overall award in the Merrie Monarch Festival hula competition Saturday night, however, Cazimero was quiet, thoughtful and clearly very surprised. Even if he could have expected to place well in the kane (men's) division, it's unusual for a men's halau to garner enough total points to be the overall winner. And though his Halau Na Kamalei was clearly a crowd favorite, that's not guarantee of approval from the judges.

"I am mainly so proud of my students. I really only came back for them," he said, referring to the fact that he broke his own rule of only doing Merrie Monarch every 10 years because he wanted to give his students the chance to celebrate the halau's 30th anniversary there, especially two who are from the original Halau Na Kamalei, started in 1975.

He joked that he was delighted to have them see that, even as you get old and "things start to go — your knees, your sight, everything — you still have things to look forward to."

He said one of his students had asked, "where do we go from here?" He answered, "Panaewa (where the halau is staying) — to party, and then tomorrow is another day."

But he admitted that Saturday was an exceptionally good day.

"In a lot of things in life, you work hard and you don't get a nod. This is more than a nod. It's humbling, it's outstanding," he said, standing on the stage, having completed a round of thank you kisses of the judges, the TV announcers, competitor "Sonny" Ching of Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu, and a trio of lei-bedecked aunties how fussed over him like proud parents.

Meanwhile, Ching, who was the only kumu hula to be called to the stage in every one one of the six divisions, was expressing delight over the victory in the wahine division of his good friends the Lim family, who had helped Ching's halau prepare for the competition. And he was worrying over his alaka'i, Lopaka Igarta-De Vera, whose ankle "just popped" Friday night. He'd been rushed to Hilo hospital after competition, but performed with the men's halau nevertheless. "If I can just get my halau home in once piece, I'll be happy," he said.