Our Current Featured Artists:

Sam Keli`iho`omalu
Kawai Cocket
Myra English

---

Sam Keli`iho`omalu

The gift of falsetto is truly that--a gift.  The ability to sing in that high register and maintain that rare air for an extended time, manipulating its pure sound to create music is something wonderful to listen to.  You know right away if you have the gift or not.  What takes time is learning how to use this talent to make beautiful music.  The Aloha Festivals Falsetto Contest, held each year on the island of O`ahu, was established to help perpetuate this unique singing art form that Islanders cherish so much.  The contestants are non-professionals and the winner receives, among other gifts, a professional recording contract that starts the young voice on its way to realizing its greatest potential.  Here are the fine vocal stylizing of one such winner--Sam Keli`iho`omalu.

---

Kawai Cocket

Liner Notes from "Kawai Cockett - A Traditional Hawaiian"

"When you sing Hawaiian music, you sing from your na`au (gut), but you give from your pu`uwai (heart).  That is how I was taught by my na kupuna (elders)."
~~ Kawai Cockett

Hula Records has released 1994's Male Vocalist of the Year's first recording in five years!  Kawai Cockett - A Traditional Hawaiian, is a collection of Na Mele Maoli, literally songs of native Hawaiians, in this context meaning songs that reflect the true spirit of being Hawaiian.

At a time when others are experimenting with Hawaiian music, Kawai Cockett remains true to his roots.  Sung in the "classical" Hawaiian style are Ne`ene`e Mai A Pili, Ku`uipo Onaona, Pauoa Ka Liko Lehua, Hanohano Waiehu, He Aloha No Waimea, Anahola, Hanauma, Wahine Holo Lio and more . . . backed by the Lei Kukui Serenaders, Kawai accompanies himself on `ukulele in trademark fashion--singing with his na`au, and giving from his pu`uwai.

Kawai Cockett, born in Puko`o, Moloka`i, September 24, 1938, was the sixth of sixteen children born to Francis and Carrie Ae`a Anderson. The child was given to his father's cousin, John Kawai Cockett, to be raised (keiki hanai).  Growing up on Moloka`i, he learned, in the traditional Hawaiian way, to play the `ukulele and to sing by carefully observing his relatives and neighbors as they gathered to kanikapila (play music) in their backyards.

Hawaiian music virtuoso, John Kamealoha Almeida discovered the teen aged Kawai and became the first of many to foster Kawai's musical career.  Their names read like a page out of the Who's Who of Hawaiian cultural experts:  Alice Namakelua, Katherine Maunakea, Hoakalei Kamanu`u, Ma`iki Aiu-Lake, Sally Wood, Henry Pa and George Holokai.

Upon graduating from high school (1957) Kawai moved to O`ahu, to launch a career in the tourism and entertainment industries.  After chef's training at Kapi`olani Technical College, he began working for Pan American Airlines by day, playing music at night with Peter Ahia and Tony Lindsey on the Hilton Hawaiian Village's dinner catamaran cruise.  Under the tutelage of Henry Pa and Sally Wood, he learned to oli (chant) and in 1964 began his long standing association with Aloha Festivals (known then as Aloha Week) as chanter for the royal court.  One of Kawai's greatest influences was the much loved and respected entertainer, Pauline Kekahuna.  In 1968 he began an eight year engagement as a musician in her nightly Polynesian review, "learning showmanship and stage presence" as Kawai puts it, from one of the island's best performers.  In 1969, he was asked to chant for dignitaries at opening ceremonies of the newly constructed Hawai`i State Capitol building.  That same year, he released his first album, Beautiful Kaua`i, whose title song topped Hawai`i's charts, and for which he is probably best remembered.

During this time, Kawai and his troupe were headlining at Honolulu's major hotel showrooms and night clubs -- Hilton Hawaiian Village's Tapa Room, Ilikai Hotel's Canoe House, and Sheraton Waikiki's Ocean Terrace, to name a few.  Popular with locals and visitors alike, Kawai performed on inter-island cruise ships, at Hawaiian music events, and private functions.  He promoted Hawai`i for Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines and the Hawai`i Visitor's Bureau, traveling extensively throughout the continental United States, Europe and Asia.  Following in the footsteps of Bob Hope, Kawai packed up his musicians and dancers in 1973 and traveled to Vietnam to entertain the troops.  Taking time out from their busy schedules, Kawai and his Lei Kukui Serenaders recorded four more albums.  Then, in 1994, he was recognized by his peers and awarded the coveted Na Hoku Hanohano Award (Hawai`i's version of a Grammy Award) for "Male Vocalist of the Year."

Since then, Kawai has continued to work with numerous award-winning hula halau (dance academies) providing music for their hula `auana (modern hula) performances.  He still travels throughout the state, mainland and abroad for appearances at events featuring Hawaiian music and dance; and several nights a week, you can find him serenading diners at Ihilani Resort and Spa's Naupaka Restaurant.  Consider yourself lucky if you arrive at a party or lu`au to find Kawai and his group are the featured entertainment.  You'll be in for a real treat!  Often gracing the stage are close friend Leimomi Ho, noted kumu hula of the award winning Keali`ika`apunihonua Ke`ena `Ao Hula, and Kawai's son Ha`aheo, a professional hula dancer.  AND, if he doesn't have enough to do, the recently "retired" Kawai has joined the Department of Education's "kupuna program" to teach Hawaiian Studies to 4th and 5th graders.

Sixty years young and still very much in demand as an entertainer, this man with a big voice and a mean strum maintains a schedule that would leave most seniors in the dust.  To what does Kawai owe his successful career that spans over thirty years?  He says, "This is how I was taught by my kupuna: When you sing Hawaiian music, you sing from the na`au (gut), but you give from your pu`uwai (heart)."

---

Myra English

It's hard to resist the music of Myra English.  It's evocative and gently persuasive, like a sunrise or a full moon.  It's a riot of wonderful music sung in the "old time" style.  It's classy, unique -- like a glass of French champagne . . .

Myra is a product of a Hawai`i long gone, obliterated in the name of "progress" -- a time when Hawaiian and hapa-haole music was heard EVERYWHERE in night clubs and gin joints from Iwilei to Waikiki -- a time that created gifted entertainers like Sonny Chillingworth, Linda Dela Cruz, Charles K.L. Davis, Hilo Hattie, Billy Hew-Len, Myrtle K. Hilo, Vicky Ii, Genoa Keawe, Ed Kenney, Melveen Leed, Sterling Mossman and Alice Namakelua.  She has worked with the best in the business, and in her own right, has produced some of the Hawaiian music industry's biggest hits.

Myra English is far and away one of Hawaii's quintessential entertainers -- not just a musician, not just a performer but a world-class, well-rounded entertainer.  She's articulate, well-read, comfortable on radio or TV; she has the ability to burst into song at the drop of a hat.  Moreover, Myra has the rare gift of knowing how to "work" an audience -- before too long they're in the palm of her hand!  Myra is a real trouper who continues to perform here and abroad.  Thirty-nine years old and holding, this woman is a human dynamo.  If you ever have the good fortune to meet her DON'T call her Aunty.  If you ever get a chance to see her perform, count yourself lucky -- she is a living legend, a cultural treasure and one heck of a lady -- a Champagne Lady . . .

Hawaii Calls® Inc./Hula Records® 99-139 Waiua Way, #56 Aiea, Hawaii 96701-3228 Phone: (808) 485-2294   Fax: (808) 485-2296 Toll Free: 1-800-756-4852 E-Mail: hularecords@hawaii.rr.com