24 Sunday, April 1, 2018 Hawaii Tribune-Herald
E lei i ka lei lanakila!
Wear the lei of victory and accomplishment!
The Merrie Monarch Festival is a time e to
celebrate our culture and community.
Good luck to all participants, and mahalo
to the many people who have made
this festival a success for 55 years!
. halo
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2018 Merrie Monarch Festival
fishing, accounting for genealogical
rank, voyaging quests
or seasonal star alignments,”
Kanaka‘ole Zane said.
Also performing will be
the kane Halau Na Kamalei
O Lililehua under the direction
of kumu hula Robert
Cazimero. Na Kamalei won
Merrie Monarch overall and
kane overall titles in 2015 and
turned in a memorable set on
Ho‘ike night of the festival’s
golden anniversary in 2013.
“I’m just going to say we’re
doing some of my favorite
things,” said Cazimero, who’s
also been a Hawaiian music
star for almost five decades.
“It’s going to be both kahiko
and ‘auana, and I just want it to
be a representation of Hawaii.
We’ll start off with kahiko and
we’ll be focusing on things
that have been written by guys
in the halau themselves.”
The “guys in the halau”
he referred to are Kaipo
Leopoldino and Kyle Atabay,
the latter a kumu hula whom
Cazimero describes as “more
than an alaka‘i, more like a
co-teacher.” Cazimero, who
turned 69 last month and shows
no signs of slowing down, plans
to enter his halau in the competition
again in 2020. He said
this year’s Ho‘ike will serve
as a dress rehearsal of sorts —
for the halau and for Atabay.
“We’re coming back to
the competition so I can
present him in more of a formal
kind of way,” he said.
Cazimero’s brother, Roland,
one-half of the Brothers
Cazimero, died last July, but
Cazimero promises “an A-plus
group of musicians” — including
Horace Dudoit and Glen
Smith from the band Hookena,
Moon Kauakahi of Makaha
Sons fame, and Keao Costa,
formerly of Na Palapalai.
Although Cazimero’s Merrie
Monarch history is defined
more by the competition, he
provided one of the great Ho‘ike
moments in 2013. Sitting alone
at the piano, Cazimero sang a
medley of “Pua Lililehua,” “Ia
‘Oe E Ka La” and “Waika.”
During “Waika,” he rose and
left the piano, strode up the
ramp to the stage and sang
the final part of the song a
cappella with his dancers providing
four-part harmony.
“I wanted to be closer to
them. I felt far away from them
and I didn’t like it,” Cazimero
said. “There’s a point where I
looked at them and it looked as
though I was pointing toward
the ceiling of the auditorium,
but I was actually pointing outside
that window back there.
When I’m singing, I love to
sing for people that I can’t see.
And I always think of them as
being in that faraway, distant
light, kind of like ghosts. That’s
what I was telling them to do,
sing out there to everybody.
Include everybody and everyone.
And that’s what we’re
going to do when we perform
on that Ho‘ike night, as well.”
Also dancing will be Hula
Halau ‘O Kamuela Iapana,
the Japan branch of the Oahu
halau led by na kumu hula
Kau‘ionalani Kamana‘o,
Kunewa Mook and Ako
Kubota, which won the 2017
Ikaho Festival, which happens
every four years in Japan.
That victory earned the coveted
Ho‘ike appearance.
Emceeing the event will
be KITV news anchor Paula
Akana, former co-host of
the Merrie Monarch statewide
telecast, who has
extensively covered and
sailed aboard Hokule‘a.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@
hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Ho‘ike From page 23
HO‘IKE
Edith Kanaka‘ole
Multi-Purpose Stadium
5:50 p.m. Entrance of Royal Court
6 p.m. National Anthem/”Hawai‘i
Pono‘i” — Mamo Vaimagalo
Renee Esera
6:10 p.m. Pule – Kahu
Kaunaloa Boshard
6:15 p.m. Honoring Hokule‘a
and her original crew
6:35 p.m. Halau O Kekuhi —
Nalani Kanaka‘ole Zane
6:55 p.m. Hula Halau ‘O Kamuela
Iapana – Kau‘ionalani Kamana‘o,
Kunewa Mook and Ako Kubota
7:35 p.m. Ka Pa Hula O
Ka Lei Lehua – Snowbird
Puananiopaoakalani Bento
8:15 p.m. Halau Na
Kamalei O Lililehua, Robert
Uluwehionapuaikawekiuokalani
Cazimero
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