Hawaii’s Back yard
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Maui song fest features
sweet voices of youthThe performers don't wear fancy costumes, and their stage presence can be described as more passionate than polished. In fact, some of them have never been under a spotlight before. Yet Na Mele O Maui, hosted by the Kaanapali Beach Resort Association, is regarded as one of Hawaii's most memorable annual concerts.
The 900 singers are all Maui County students, ranging in age from kindergarten through the 12th grade, and that is what Lynn Erfer believes makes this presentation so special.
"The kids sing from their hearts, with such pure joy and innocence," says Erfer, KBRA's resort representative and the coordinator of Na Mele O Maui. "Their voices are so sweet, they sound like angels."
Friday's performance marks the 30th anniversary of the acclaimed Keiki and Opio (Youth) Song Competition, which was the brainchild of kumu hula Emma Farden Sharpe. She and other members of Maui's community wanted to find a way to encourage young people to learn the Hawaiian language, Hawaiian dance and the use of Hawaiian materials for art.
COURTESY NA MELE O MAUI
Na Mele O Maui concert will bring together hundreds of Maui students. All songs in the program are sung in Hawaiian.
They hoped to launch an event that would perpetuate the islands' cultural heritage, instill a sense of pride in its youth and establish a scholarship fund with an emphasis on Hawaiian music and the arts. By doing that, they reasoned, the culture would be kept alive.
And so, Na Mele O Maui was born in 1972. It was originally held beneath the Banyan Tree in Lahaina; however, after it was rained out several times, the Kaanapali Beach Resort Association stepped forward to offer it a permanent home.
THE EMMA Farden Sharpe Hula Festival was part of the event for about a decade; it was discontinued in 1997 when it became too expensive to produce. But the student song competition has endured as the heart of Na Mele O Maui.
Each year, the event's committee selects a theme and the "required" songs related to that theme that choirs in each division (Grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12) must perform. This year's theme is "He Wahine Ui" ("beautiful women").
Each choral group also will share a song of their choice about the Maui County ahupuaa (ancient land division) in which their school is located. For the first time, several classes have decided to write and sing their own "choice" song.
All songs are sung in Hawaiian. Classes are judged on their language proficiency, musical competence and interpretation, stage presence and all-around enthusiasm. A combination of scores for the two songs determines the winner in each grade division and the competition's overall winner.
All schools in Maui County, including Molokai and Lanai, are invited to participate. The event can accommodate 25 schools, which reserve a slot on a first-come, first-served basis.
"The students are not required to come in a special costume," notes Erfer. "We don't want anyone to worry about the cost of participating. The keiki are just required to look neat and coordinated. Sometimes they wear matching T-shirts or make their own matching leis."
FIVE YEARS AGO, the High School Student Art Exhibition was added to Na Mele O Maui. Entries must be original two- or three-dimensional works that reflect the theme of the event.
"Students have included ferns, bark, feathers, tapa and native woods in their pieces," says Erfer. "The art exhibit is really great because it gives the public an opportunity to see what fabulous art is being created by our young artists, and, of course, it gives the students a public forum for displaying their work. They have entered ceramics, wood carvings, oil paintings, pastels, photographs, ink drawings and even a painted surfboard in the Na Mele competition."
All entries will be displayed in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa from tomorrow through Dec. 9, along with a collection of Na Mele O Maui posters from the past 30 years.
The Na Mele O Maui Scholarship Fund, the third component of the event, provides financial assistance for a year to a student pursuing a major with an emphasis on Hawaiian culture at a college in Hawaii. Qualifying majors include fine arts, media arts, music, dance, language and Hawaiian studies; all applicants must be enrolled as a high school senior in Maui County.
"Interested seniors submit an essay and their academic records," explains Erfer. "These are reviewed by a panel, and the scholarship is awarded accordingly. Kaiolohia Funes Smith, the current scholarship winner, is a talented musician from Hana, Maui, studying at the University of Hawaii-Hilo."
Erfer sees Na Mele O Maui as an important way to encourage students to study Hawaiian language and music, which are not always included in island school curricula. "Na Mele provides an opportunity for children to learn some Hawaiian and Hawaiian music," she says. "That was the aim of the founders of Na Mele O Maui, and I think they would be very happy with how the event has evolved. For the past several years, the high school students have even sung in three-part harmony."
Earlier this year, Na Mele O Maui garnered the coveted Kahili Award in the Events category of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau's "Keep It Hawaii" program, which annually honors the efforts of local individuals, associations and companies that are working hard to nurture Hawaii's traditions and the aloha spirit.
About 1,300 people attended the song competition last year, and Erfer hopes more will enjoy this year's performance. "The most chicken-skin part," she says, "is when parents who sang in Na Mele as kids come back and watch their children sing. That really shows how Na Mele O Maui is helping to keep the Hawaiian culture alive from one generation to the next."
Place: Monarchy Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, 200 Nohea Kai Drive in Kaanapali Resort Na Mele O Maui
When: 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday
Admission: $2 per person, with proceeds benefiting the Na Mele O Maui Scholarship Fund
Phone: (808) 661-3271
Web site: www.kaanapaliresort.com
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer
and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
