Posted on: Sunday, February 20, 2005

Bowing out: Bandmaster Mahi tells his story

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Aaron David Mahi looks back on more than 24 years of conducting the Royal Hawaiian Band and vows to continue to keep Hawai'i's classical music heritage alive for future generations.

Aaron Mahi, longtime director of the Royal Hawaiian Band, sits under a tree at 'Iolani Palace, where every Friday he brought the band to play a midday concert near the Coronation Stand. Mahi completed more than 24 years as bandmaster on Tuesday. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

He is saddened that the last chapter of his city career will be remembered as tumultuous and controversial, but he's happy about the band's many accomplishments over the years. Under his baton, the only full-time municipal band in the nation has marched in hundreds of parades (from Kamehameha Day to Wai'anae at Christmas and Kailua on the Fourth of July), played at countless schools and parks and even performed at New York City's Carnegie Hall in 1988.

With a repertoire that ranges from classic Hawaiian composers to Mozart and an occasional Broadway tune, the Royal Hawaiian Band performs hundreds of times each year. "This band is like a step out of time," Mahi said.

His last official day as its conductor was Tuesday.

In his first in-depth media interview since then, Mahi talked at length about the job and how he felt about being replaced.

He said he was puzzled to hear Mayor Mufi Hannemann say he had accepted the ouster and wasn't fighting for the job.

"If I'd get to go back, I'd dive back in," Mahi said.

He now feels disappointed because he felt that he wasn't truly considered. "The (mayor's search) committee wanted to see a change," Mahi said. "So, I had no chance."

But Mahi, 51, understands that he served in a political post, appointed at the pleasure of the three mayors under whom he served: Eileen Anderson, Frank Fasi and Jeremy Harris.

"Appointed positions are like that. You're at the mercy of the mayor. I understood that completely," he said.

Hannemann announced last month that he was replacing Mahi with longtime Pearl City High School band director Michael Nakasone. But the change has stirred considerable controversy.

City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall has proposed that future bandleaders be fluent in Hawaiian — like Mahi and longtime leader Henry Berger — and have a strong foundation in the music and culture of the Islands.

Marshall said that doesn't have anything to do with Mahi or Nakasone. "This is about the band itself," Marshall said. "We risk losing the whole link to the monarchy and the whole reason for the band's existence."

Mahi said, "the person has to understand the culture of Hawai'i."

Antoinette Lee, president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, led a group that presented 3,000 signatures to Hannemann last week asking him to reconsider his decision to let Mahi go. Lee said she was startled by Hannemann's concept of the band.

"The mayor did say to us. 'It's just a band,' " Lee said, shaking her head. "It's the Royal Hawaiian Band. It's not just a band."

Mayor wanted change

In an interview, Hannemann spoke highly of Mahi — who was the only current part-Hawaiian city department head.

Royal Hawaiian Bandmaster Aaron Mahi presented his final performance at the Kapi'olani Park Bandstand in Waikiki last Sunday. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

But the new mayor said a change was needed to invigorate the organization.

"To me, there are larger, more important issues," Hannemann said. "I'd love the Royal Hawaiian Band to be part of the city. But I have to fix roads, I've got to fix sewers."

The band does have a political past, tracing its history to 1836 when it was founded under King Kamehameha III under a bandmaster known only as Oliver.

Probably the best-known conductor was Henry Berger, a Prussian army officer who moved to Hawai'i and helped to preserve the music of the fading kingdom during his many years of leadership.

Mahi talked on the grounds of 'Iolani Palace, where he had led the band in at least 1,000 Friday lunchtime concerts.

"Look at this setting. These trees are well over a hundred years old," he said.

He said the band recounts the age of the Hawaiian monarchy and helps to tell the history. "We had a kingdom trying to come to grips with the modern Westernized world," he said. While the decades have reshaped the Islands in so many ways, "the band is still here."

Mahi said he was surprised by criticism of his leadership by some members of the Royal Hawaiian Band. More than half of the band's members signed a petition saying he had abdicated some of his duties and accusing him of being "substandard" as a band director. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Mahi is proud of the band's popularity with visitors. "They feel welcomed when they come to Hawai'i. This is a tradition that we've had for over a hundred years."

Mahi has heard some of the criticisms of the band and acknowledges that he abdicated much of its administration. "Administration is tedious and non-musical and very non-creative," he said.

Ryan Hotoke, a French horn player and full-time band member for 23 years, admires Mahi, but joined more than half the musicians in signing a petition against Mahi because he abdicated his administrative policies to others.

Mahi is "too nice a guy" who has devoted too much of his energies to work outside of the band, leaving too much authority to others, Hotoke said.

Hotoke didn't like the practice of docking musicians for two-hours pay if they were late for the roll call held 15 minutes before a performance.

Mahi said he's frustrated about some complaints from band members, saying he felt he had responded to most of their concerns: from providing sunscreen and holding jobs open for some who returned to school, to announcing the musical selections for the day at the last minute.

He was stung by the petition that accused him of being "substandard" as a band director. "I was shocked. How can you go 24 years and be substandard? It was just a way to mock me."

And he resents the criticism that he should have made it a personal mission to hire more Native Hawaiians.

"Nobody brought me along," Mahi said. "We are an equal opportunity employer. That would be racial discrimination at its highest level."

But he does think the director should speak Hawaiian and know "Hawai'i Pono'i" and "The Queen's Prayer."

Since the announcement that Nakasone would be his replacement, the two have spoken but didn't have an official transition. "It would have been good to have a passing of the baton," Mahi said. If Nakasone wanted to, Mahi said, he would meet with him again.

Nakasone declined to be interviewed in-depth, but has said he's excited about the job.

Band's aloha spirit

"Hawai'i bands are different," said Enoka Young, part-Hawaiian former band member and Pearl City High alumnus. "We possess a warmth in our music, a feeling that cannot be described. Many have tried to explain it, but can't. All of us here know what that feeling is and it's called 'the spirit of aloha.' Mr. Nakasone has embodied that spirit and has passed on his teachings to tens of thousands of students. His students spread the aloha spirit to people in New York, at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, to Japan at the World's Fair, the Rose Bowl Parade and many other concerts all over the nation."

Mahi, a Kamehameha Schools Class of 1971 graduate, says the leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band must understand Hawai'i's culture. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Mahi said he's proud that he went out on a strong performance last Sunday at Kapi'olani Park, backed by picture-postcard weather and good harmony.

"The musicians played very well up to the last minute, up to the last day. I tried to conduct the best way that I knew how."

Where to now?

"I'm going to take a rest; take a break, rest for a month or two," he said. "I've got to put some things in perspective."

And Mahi's been heartened by the strong show of support he has gotten from near and far —even from some strangers who saw him walking his dog.

He retold one encounter: "And the homeless guys said: 'Eh, Mahi. What going happen now, Mahi? How come they doing this to you?' "

He shrugged. "I don't know what to say. I did what I could do. The mayor can do what he did. And now we continue life."

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.

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Residents, visitors react to change

Here's what some had to say about the leadership of the Royal Hawaiian Band:

"(Mahi's) warmth of personality, his encyclopedic knowledge of the universal musical literature, and his Hawaiian soul are tributes to him and to the band that he has so ably served. He has served his Island, his country, and the heritage of classical and Hawaiian music and spirit as an ambassador without peer."

Lanny and Phyllis Younger, former Hawai'i residents and frequent visitors

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"Hawai'i bands are different. We possess a warmth in our music. A feeling that cannot be described. Many have tried to explain it, but can't. All of us here know what that feeling is and its called 'the spirit of Aloha.' Mr. Nakasone has embodied that spirit and has passed on his teachings to tens of thousands of students. His students spread the aloha spirit to people in New York, at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, to Japan at the World's Fair, the Rose Bowl Parade and many other concerts all over the nation."

Enoka Young, part-Hawaiian former band member and Pearl City High alumnus

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"What this means to me personally is that our mayor has put his personal agenda above everything else, including world opinion, and the health of our tourism industry which, I believe, will be negatively impacted by the mayor's decision. The mayor is tarnishing Hawai'i's image around the world."

Ed Wagner, Mililani

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"It seems important to me to express my and our concern about developments of dismissing the famous bandleader Aaron Mahi, which will eventually lead to the tragic fact that this world-famous band can neither be called Royal nor Hawaiian anymore. By the drastic change you are planning, the reputation of the Band as a world-class ensemble is greatly endangered."

Christa Maerker, filmmaker, Berlin

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Aaron David Mahi Age: 51 Home: Kalihi Education: Kamehameha Schools, Class of '71; bachelor's degree, Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford (Connecticut); Herbert Bloomsted Institute of Conducting, Loma Linda University, California. Married: Since 1990 to performer Cathy Foy Other conducting experience: Hawai'i Ecumenical Chorale, 1980-present; Honolulu Symphony, 1988-95; Milwaukee Symphony, summer series, 1985-88; Ballet Hawai'i, 1978-88; Concordia Hawai'i, 1979-84 Honors: Received Golden Ring of Honor from the Association of German Musicians; and Order of Merit of Germany. Fun facts: Speaks fluent German and Hawaiian. Has three dogs who are a mix of Rhodesian Ridgeback and pit bull. Mahi leadership second-longest Aaron Mahi joined the Royal Hawaiian Band in 1981. Second-longest tenure of any bandmaster: 24 years (1981-2005) Longest tenure: Henry Berger, 43 years (1872-1915) Number of members of band: 1981-82: 40 full-time employees; 38 musicians, bandmaster, clerk-typist Now: 40 full-time employees; 38 musicians, bandmaster, clerk-typist Annual budget: 1981-82: $763,288 Now: $1.6 million Number of performances each year: 1981-82: 238 Now: 304