DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM A test of the light show for Three Dog Night's performance Friday provided background atmosphere for Paula Fuga's sound check on the Blaisdell Concert Hall stage.

Lilikoi passion

Paula Fuga dreams of creating a sanctuary for women

She was voted most promising artist at this year's Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. Her soulful music easily crosses different audiences, from skanking reggae and Jawaiian fans to the Honolulu Symphony Pops crowd.

And now Paula Fuga wants to give back to the community through her Lilikoi Foundation.

Taking a cue from friend and occasional musical collaborator Jack Johnson and his environmental Kokua Hawai'i Foundation, Fuga seeks to do her part for women whose lives are in transition. The first step in raising funds is her Lilikoi Fair interisland tour.

Despite the alliterative similarity with the equally female-centric Lilith Fair tours of the late 1990s -- organized by a favorite of Fuga's, Sarah McLachlan -- the Lilikoi Fair is very much a Hawaii event, spotlighting our wahine.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Fuga was the opening act for Three Dog Night's concert with the Honolulu Symphony Pops.

"We were all working, creating this support system for each other," Fuga said Friday in her dressing room at the Blaisdell Concert Hall before taking the stage to open for Three Dog Night's Symphony Pops concert.

"I was feeling brokenhearted, and that was why I wrote the song 'Lilikoi.' It's about how, before you can share yourself with another, you have to be one with yourself and love yourself. It's a lesson I'm still learning to this day.

"Talking about this with the girls I was sharing the apartment with reminded me how important it was to have friends like them, and how cool it was that we had this space for women who worked hard like we did."

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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Paula Fuga is surrounded by Lilikoi Fair participants: volunteer Kris Hall, front row left, Jen Cua and Indai of Tempo Valley, and Candy Diaz-Yasuda of the Girlas. In the back are Joseph Rosales of Tempo Valley, left, Kelli Heath of the Girlas, Kealopiko designer Jamie Makasobe and Tempo Valley members Eugene Carroll, Chris Suesz and Kona Askari.

It's no surprise that Paula Fuga would find an affinity with the lilikoi.

The round yellow fruit is tart and flavorful, much like Fuga's personality.

She wrote a song, "Lilikoi," and has given the same name to a music festival -- the Lilikoi Fair -- that will help fund Fuga's new nonprofit organization to support women in need.

Other independent-minded and roots-conscious female artists will share the stage with Fuga during the interisland tour that begins Thursday. They include, from New York, singer Sparlha Swa and the duo climbing poeTree, and from right here at home, the Girlas, Tempo Valley (Oahu show only), Lawa (Maui only), singer Micky Huihui from reggae meisters Ooklah the Moc, and the fashion designers of Kealopiko.

It all began with Swa's request for help setting up some shows in the islands, but Fuga saw it as a way to jump-start the Lilikoi Foundation.

"It's an honor to have these artists on the bill," Fuga said. "The Lilikoi Fair is all about celebrating the empowerment of women."

A fashion show will feature the designs of Kealopiko, which provided the custom outfit Fuga wore at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.

"In their spare time, the designers hand-print and hand-dye prints based on Hawaiian plants and animals," she said.

"We want to bring an awareness of the environment through our fashion," said designer-seamstress Ane Bakutis, who is an ethnobotanist as well. (Kealopiko also designed the concert tour shirt.)

Candy Diaz-Yasuda of the Girlas said Fuga's purpose is shared by her group even as they look forward to the fun of performing together. "We may run as a roots entity, but don't mistake it, we're fierce! ... It's for a cause we truly believe in. It's organic and it fits.

"What we do is for here," she said. "It's a collection of women pooling their resources together and pushing forward for other people to show that there is greatness and strength in women."

Fuga envisions an actual Lilikoi House, "a central location where women, for any reason, can learn anything from tap dancing to grant writing. If they need an annual health checkup, we'll help pay for it. The house would be open to all possibilities. This is not going to be just like a crochet project, where you start it and then set it aside for a while."

"Paula's voice is needed," said nurse and foundation volunteer Kris Hall. "There's a need for a program that focuses on our generation of young women. Music has the ability to gather people and draw attention to great causes. Look at what Jack Johnson has done with his Kokua Hawai'i Foundation. Paula is fortunate that she has a big following, and the Lilikoi Fair gives us a place to (provide) that needed help."