Song competition helps
promote native languageAbout 900 students will be
in the annual Na Mele O Maui
KAANAPALI, Maui >> What began as an idea to help bring back the Hawaiian language has turned into a Hawaiian song competition with 900 student participants in Maui County.
The 30th annual Na Mele O Maui, involving students from kindergarten through high school, starts today in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali.
This year's song and art theme is "Hanohano Haku Mele O Maui," in recognition of composers who wrote about Maui.
"It is very moving to be there and watch the excitement and the energy that so many young people are putting out," said Pete Sanborn, who helped create the first event.
Sanborn said the idea of Na Mele O Maui came from Valley Isle resident Eddie Wilson, who was then the Maui manager of the Hawaii Visitors Bureau.
During the period now known as the "Hawaiian renaissance" in the early 1970s, Wilson wanted to create an event that would promote the development of the Hawaiian language through music, Sanborn recalled.
"The whole thing was designed to perpetuate the Hawaiian culture and arts through music," Sanborn said.
Sanborn, then vice president of Amfac Properties, said the first event took place in 1972 at the Lahaina Civic Center and involved Hawaiian entertainers from throughout the state performing for free at a scholarship concert for Hawaiian-studies students.
"It was absolutely great," he said. "People sang their hearts out for nothing. It was manuahi (free)."
Na Mele O Maui concerts have evolved since then into an annual song competition in which students from public and private schools in Maui County sing in Hawaiian.
Sanborn, who was involved in organizing the first three years of the event, credits volunteers for developing Na Mele over the years.
Major sponsors, including the state Department of Transportation and the Kaanapali Beach Resort Association, have provided free facilities and transportation.
Association marketing director Shelley Kekuna said the event promotes the learning of Hawaiian culture.
"These children are learning a brand-new song in Hawaiian they might have not otherwise learned," Kekuna said. "It's a beautiful thing."
Under this year's competition, each classroom performs two songs in Hawaiian.
The first is the contest song chosen by a committee; there is a different song for each grade division to perform. Each classroom and teacher also chooses a song.
Classroom choirs are judged on language proficiency, musical competence and interpretation, stage presence and enthusiasm. A combination of scores for the two songs determines the winner in each grade division and the overall winner of the entire competition.
Complimentary event parking is available in the dirt lot behind Giovani's Tomato Pie Restaurant at the entrance to Kaanapali. There will be free shuttle service from this lot to the Hyatt beginning at 8 a.m. Admission to the song competition is $2.
The Na Mele event has expanded to include a high school student art exhibition with juried artworks on display at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa through Sunday.
Because of the cost of organizing the event, scholarship money has been limited to $1,000, but organizers hope to attract more scholarship sponsors next year, Kekuna said.
The recipient this year is Krista Alvarado, a Lahainaluna High School student studying at Maui Community College.
Sanborn said although he is no longer involved in organizing the event, he is happy that the annual song festival has continued to promote the Hawaiian language.
"I was in the right place at the right time and was fortunate to be part of it," he said.