The Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts’ Lifetime Achievement Awards will be held at 1 p.m. on May 3 on Oahu. ADVERTISING The Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts’ Lifetime Achievement Awards will be held at 1 p.m. on May 3 on
The Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts’ Lifetime Achievement Awards will be held at 1 p.m. on May 3 on Oahu.
The annual event, which will be held in the Hibiscus Ballroom of Honolulu’s Ala Moana Hotel, honors those who have made a major contribution to the musical landscape of Hawaii. It is being held in conjunction with the Fifth Annual Mele Mei Festival, a month-long celebration that pays homage to Hawaiian music and Hawaii’s music, with events designed to inspire, honor and entertain. Mele Mai’s culminating event is the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.
In addition, the Kamehameha Alumni Glee Club, in its 61st year and under the direction of Aaron Mahi, will be the recipient of the Krash Kealoha Industry Award.
The Krash Kealoha Industry Award, formerly known as the Industry Award, was first presented in 1982. It was later renamed in honor of the Academy’s founding president, the late Victor Opiopio, also known as “Krash Kealoha,” a popular KCCN DJ. The award recognizes an organization that has contributed greatly to the promotion of Hawaiian music education or to the recording arts industry in Hawaii.
Unlike the Lifetime Achievement Awards, this award is not given each year. Past recipients include The Bishop Museum, Hawaii Calls, and The Royal Hawaiian Band.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award honorees include famed falsetto luminaries Richard and Solomon “Sol” Hoopii, veteran radioman Ron “Whodaguy” Jacobs, the ladies of Puamana, Maui steel guitar master Henry Kaleialoha Allen, award-winning composer-producer Kenneth Makuakane, child singing sensation turned hit maker, Jimmy Moikeha and Tradewinds Records’ arranger, musician and singer, Harold Hakuole.
Examples of the variety of contributions made by some of this year’s honorees include:
Jacobs is a major figure in the birth of modern radio in Hawaii in the 1950s. His “Home Grown” albums in the 1970s launched countless local music industry careers including Nohelani Cypriano, John Keawe and Ken Emerson.
“Aunty” Irmgard Farden Aluli who founded the group, Puamana, in the 1960s that is continued today by daughters Mihana Aluli Souza and Aima Aluli McManus, along with niece, Luana Farden.
Makuakane is the author of such hits as “Pili Mau Me Oe,” “Okie Dokie Makou,” and “Sway It Hula Girl.” He has also produced works by artists such as Na Leo, Amy Hanaialii Gilliom, Raiatea Helm, O’Brian Eselu and Jeff Rasmussen.
Tickets for the event include entertainment, food and beverage. For reservations, call the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts at 593-9424 or contact co-chairwoman Cindy Lance at 291-1625. More details are available online at nahokuhanohano.org.
For more informatio on the Mele Mei Festival, visit melemei.com or call 593-9424.
