Hawai'i musician O-Shen has lived a life along the Pacific Rim. Here's an online exclusive on his experience:

Q. You were born in Washington state, but raised in Papua New Guinea until you were 15. What was the latter like?

"My parents came from the United States. My dad (is) of Swiss ancestry; my mom (is) Irish-Indian. Growing up (in Papua New Guinea), race was never too much of an issue. ...

"My father was working as a doctor in a little countryside hospital. He really, really grew close with the community. And so I grew up with all the other kids and was never really treated too much like an outsider. I could hold my own. I always fit in real well. It always felt like home to me. ... Everybody in the community knew me from baby days. So it was a good (environment) to grow up in.

"I never really (experienced) any negativity about race until I went to America. ... America is real big on labels — you're white, you're black, you're this, you're that. Hawai'i, too, is very ethnic-minded. People are always really interested in your nationalities. Hawai'i is very ethnic-minded because it's such a mixing pot. Papua New Guinea was never really like that. Nobody ever asked me what my nationality was there, ever. Where you're from is where you're from over there."

Q. How traumatic was moving to Washington at 15?

"I had visited before ... and was familiar with it. But it was still a very foreign (place) for me. This will sound funny coming from a white guy. But I felt so weird being surrounded by Caucasian people. I'd never been in rooms full of white kids. ...

"Once I got to America, it was such a different thing. It was about the clothes you wear and your style of shoes. I had to change my mind to be superficial instead of just being real. I was used to being real with people, but then I realized that, whoa, in America, everybody has their guard up. ... People were very on guard with their feelings, would say rude stuff to each other and put down each other a lot. ... I didn't do too well in American schools. I barely, barely graduated (from) high school. ... I had to come in and be the kid that was out of style. I had to be the kid that wasn't up-to-date on style and had to catch up with everybody else. I had to get real conscious about that. And to tell you the truth, I got pretty caught up in that after a while. I got really really sidetracked by that. And after a while I didn't want anybody to know that I'd spent my childhood years in Papua New Guinea. ... So I got to feel a little bit of what it was like to not be proud of where you come from and hide it.

Q. That all changed after you were incarcerated, didn't it?

"That changed so much! I started hanging out with some kind of thuggish guys out there and really getting into that whole scene. But when I went (to prison) it just totally woke me up. I was actually locked up in there with other boys from the Pacific Islands — some Samoan guys, some Tongan boys. That was surprising to see. Polynesians in a prison in Washington. It really made me more proud of my identity.

"As soon as I got out, I was back in Papua New Guinea within a week. My flight was booked. I was in Papua New Guinea for three months. ... (Currently) I go and back and forth between here and there, but basically live here. I have a house in Papua New Guinea that I'm about to take over — my parents used to live in it. I think as I grow older I'll spend a lot more time there than here. ... It's a good place. It's a simple place. And it's a cheaper place to live, which is a big thing. If I lived there, I could live a lot more fruitfully from what I do. Music doesn't make you rich nowadays unless you really really hit a big market, which I'm trying to do."

Q. So what are your goals for your music career? Because it will be difficult.

"I hope the uniqueness of what I do and the uniqueness of the region the music comes from (can be expressed). It's not known to the world and is a very exotic place. It's one of the last places with untouched jungles and tribes in the world. It has a real future in eco-tourism, surfing and that kind of thing. ...

"One thing I'd like to do is promote the place and make it known that it's the biggest tropical island in the world. How do you not know about it? Why do you still think it's in Africa? It's 30 times bigger than the Big Island. It's the biggest island in the world if you don't count Australia. It's huge. ... So to promote the country and capture an international audience, that's the big goal.

"Touring around the world a little bit has always been a dream — playing Africa, playing Europe, playing Asia. I'd like to take a group of people from the islands to do it with me and put on a Pacific-type of modern music show incorporating dancing and traditional things like that and take the show on the road. That would be cool. Nobody's done that."

Q. What do you feel are the biggest concerns currently facing Papua New Guinea?

"Where they came from and where they're going is such a big jump. For example, when Hawaiians came into contact with Captain Cook, there was no Internet, electricity or any of these things. ... Some of these tribes in Papua New Guinea are moving, boom, straight from the stone axe to the Web. Straight out of the stone age into the computer age overnight. There's a lot of people that get brainwashed. So what I try to do through my music is make people feel proud of their culture. Don't throw away all the old ways and adopt.

"That same thing happened in Hawai'i. ... A generation of people thought like that until later generations realized what happened was that they had thrown away something good. ... A big concern I worry about with Papua New Guinea is people not having pride in their culture and abandoning it for Western ways, because they want to be seen as civilized and not the headhunters and cannibals that so many people view them as. They hate that reputation."

Q. The flip side. What's still really good about home?

"The really good thing there is the people. The people are so so real and loving. ... Papua New Guineans are just a real loving and passionate people that are very tight-bonding."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.