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Maui artists win big at virtual Hoku awards

Josh Tatofi, Na Wai ‘Eha and others celebrate from home

By Colleen Uechi 7 min read

Singer and Baldwin High graduate Josh Tatofi raked in five Na Hoku Hanohano Awards on Saturday night, building on an already stellar career that started when he was just a teenager on Maui playing gigs till 1 a.m.

Tatofi won awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for "Ua Kui A Lawa," Hawaiian Single of the Year for "Melia," Island Music Album of the Year and Favorite Entertainer of the Year, a public choice award.

"I'm really at a loss for words," said Tatofi, who spent the awards night in a Waikiki hotel with his family and fellow Hoku winners Maoli. "Especially during this COVID year, there hasn't been really too much light for the music industry, so for last night, to come out with a big win was a big one not only for myself but just the music industry alone."

Because of the pandemic, the 43rd annual Na Hoku Hanohano Awards was held virtually, with many artists celebrating the night alongside family in their own homes, including Maui's own Na Wai 'Eha, last year's Most Promising Artist and this year's winner of three awards -- Group of the Year, Hawaiian Music Album of the Year for "Lovely Sunrise" and Hawaiian Language Performance Award.

"We had everybody dress up like they were going to the Hokus and we watched it in our living room," said Kamalei Kawa'a, one-quarter of the band of brothers that includes Kamaehu Kawa'a and Kahikina and Kalanikini Juan.

While he missed celebrating with fellow artists, Kamalei Kawa'a said it was nice to spend the evening with family -- he and his brother in Paukukalo and the Juan brothers in Wailuku.

"The positive side to it was we were able to spend a little more intimate time with our family, really appreciate the work that our families do for us," he said. "I think sometimes that goes a little unnoticed when we're caught up in all the lights, all the cameras and the big stage."

The band's album, "Lovely Sunrise," pays homage to Maui. Zach Lum of Hoku-winning group Keauhou helped arrange for Na Wai 'Eha to meet with Uncle Sam Ako of Lahaina, who mentored the group over the past year and taught them 10 classic Maui songs in the four-part harmony that helped birth "Lovely Sunrise," which is dedicated to Ako.

"I'm just so grateful that we had that last night to be able to celebrate Hawaiian music and music in general in Hawaii through a time like this," Kawa'a said. "I know it's been tough for all musicians."

Before the pandemic hit, Na Wai 'Eha had big plans with lots of traveling and gigs.

"It kind of felt like this was our year to really share our music with the world," Kawa'a said. "And then the pandemic hit and all of that literally got erased."

He said the brothers took a long break to focus on their personal lives and "found so much good that came out of that, so many things we kind of realized that we were missing out on."

Tatofi has also tried to stay busy as his slate of shows dropped from about 200 a year to 25.

"I'm not really one to weep about it," he said. "It's like, you know what? We have no shows. The least I can do is write, get better at my craft, record, get better at things I know we'll need once things pick back up."

Tatofi said he wrote most of his latest album on Maui, where he spent 11 years. "Ua Kui A Lawa," which he performed and produced, is about life lessons and was translated into Hawaiian language with the help of Kumu Keawe Lopes.

"Sometimes when you're lost you kind of just gotta look back to know where you came from," he said. "I spent a lot of my time in Maui in the beginning years of music, and that's why I went back."

As a student at Baldwin, Tatofi would wake up at 5:30 a.m. to go to school, finish football practice at 7 p.m., do his homework and perform gigs from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tatofi said that regimen instilled a sense of hard work that "set me up for real life" as a professional entertainer.

"Before I used to play like three-hour gigs . . . and you're probably making like $40, $50. And so now it's like, wait, you're telling me that you're going to pay me $100 for 60 minutes? And you're going to give me lunch? It's a dream really," Tatofi said.

Maui artists were well-represented on Saturday night -- Ekolu won Single of the Year for “Desecration” and Anthology of the Year for their 20th anniversary album "Timeless," Maoli won Reggae Album of the Year for "Sense of Purpose" and Wailuku-born Dane Fujiwara of Ei Nei won Most Promising Artist of the Year alongside bandmates Grant Kono and Ekolu Chang.

Brothers Kala'e and Kamaka Camarillo won Contemporary Acoustic Album of the Year for "Feel At Home" and R&B Album of the Year for "S.O.U.L. Songs of Unexpected Life," respectively.

Jeff Peterson pulled in two awards for Instrumental Composition of the Year (Composer's Award) for "Cyril's Mele" and Hawaiian Slack Key Album of the Year for "Ka Nani O Ki Ho'alu, The Beauty of Slack Key."

And, Wailani Artates and Kumu Micah Kamohoali'i won the Graphics Award for their work on Amy Hanaiali'i's album "Kalawai'anui."

Kevin and Ikaika Brown won the Ki Ho'alu Legacy Award -- the first father and son duo to win the honor, according to Kevin Brown, who was cutting math class as a freshman at Baldwin the first time he heard a teacher play slack key.

Brown, who was not allowed to touch his dad's guitar, spent four years sneaking the instrument out of the case, practicing slack key, then quickly tuning it back and shoving the case under the bed the second he heard his dad's truck in the driveway. Under the tutelage of Henry Meyer Jr., he flourished as a musician and made his first album at age 22 alongside his brother Sheldon Brown and Arthur Betts in 1979.

Ikaika Brown, who grew up listening to his father and uncle play in hotels five nights a week, asked his dad to teach him after watching the annual slack key festival on TV at age 9. Kevin wasn't sure he was ready, but after watching Ikaika pick up a song in an hour that had taken the elder Brown two days to learn, "I told my wife, I said, 'This is the one.' " Ikaika made his first solo CD at age 13 with the help of his cousin Lukela Keala, a future member of Ekolu.

Father and son made it a tradition to play music for patients at Maui Memorial and inmates at Maui Community Correctional Center and have both gone on to long careers, with Hoku nods and a Grammy nomination. Both were shocked by the legacy award.

"As a musician, you don't see things coming your way . . . and then when it does, you've got to stop and kind of like smell the flowers," Kevin Brown said.

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.

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