Kimié Miner’s Christmas tour features famous friends

Hoku winner and Grammy nominee Miner to perform on Maui next week

Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner and Grammy nominee Kimié Miner will head to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Friday as part of her "Christmas in Hawai'i: Kimié Miner & Friends Tour 2022."

Touring in support of her latest recording, an expanded edition of her award-winning EP "Christmas in Hawai'i," Miner will be joined at her Maui show by Napua Grieg, Kalani Pe'a and Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka, with special guest Paula Fuga.

Mixing beguiling originals with updated versions of festive classics, she opens "Christmas in Hawai'i" with the uplifting, reggae-flavored title track, singing, "No mistletoe, no coats, no snowflakes in our hands, we traded all that in for one foot in the sand." It's an instant seasonal classic.

"I love that song because I wanted a song that celebrated the true uniqueness of Christmas in Hawaii," Miner explained. "Because it's so special here and we don't have snowflakes in our hands. We don't have to wear big heavy coats. We get to be riding the canoe, surfing the waves and hanging out with our ohana. Those moments that we cherish and love here."

"Jingle Bells" is completely revamped with a sparkling, contemporary arrangement assisted by Fuga and uke master Jake Shimabukuro, while Maui's Josh Tatofi delivers a fabulous duet with Miner on the soulful original "Coming Home for Christmas."

"That was a cool song," she said. "We were just in the studio, like let's write a fun Christmas song and it turned into this song about being home, because I think so much of us spend so much time away from home in Hawaii. We move away or we're in college or whatever it may be, so when we get to be home, there's just that feeling of we're in paradise and we're with our family. We're so big on ohana here. So it really like just feels like something to celebrate when we get to be at home."

Other highlights include the jubilant original "Season of Joy," with American Idol finalist DeAndre Brackensick. She closes with a lovely version of "Silent Night" (Po La'i E) sung in English and Hawaiian, simply accompanied by Brad Watanabe on ukulele.

Ironically, the joyous project was birthed from grief.

"I was searching for joy and had to rely on this music to help me," she explained. "I was needing joy in my life and this music helped. It started with the song 'Season of Joy.' We had experienced a tragedy in our family. We lost someone right around the holidays in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and everything crazy going on. We were like, how do we come out of this? For me, I always turn to my music, and it started with me writing that song in order to remind myself that we still have so much to be grateful for and the real reason for the season is to help others."

In conjunction with her tour, Miner will introduce the newly adapted community program, Na Leo, which aims to teach young aspiring musicians in Hawaii how to develop their craft. The free program will include educational, economic skill building, behavioral health and mentorship components.

"It's for aspiring artists to come and to learn how to write quality songs and they get mentored by established artists like Henry Kapono, Paula Fuga, Josh Tatofi and myself," she said. "It will be on Maui next year. They will create the new soundscape of Hawaii and we want to kind of feed into that machine of what does Hawaii sound like today and how do we make it as quality as possible? We're expanding the program to all the islands, so it will be in Maui next year, and they can sign up at my concert."

Raised by parents of Hawaiian and Portuguese descent, Miner traveled to the Azores Islands earlier this year to explore her Portuguese roots.

"It was a life-changing experience," she said. "Having children (she has three) made me more interested in my own roots. It was really eye opening to learn about my roots and meet my family three generations back that still lived there. I thought I knew what it was to be Portuguese, but I only knew it from the lens of living in Hawaii. It reaffirms this whole idea of aloha 'aina or connection, how the land feeds you and then you feed the land, and the connection to the land makes you who you are. It was nice to go back to the motherland. It was just really magical."

A Grammy nominee for organizing the "Hawaiian Lullaby" compilation, Miner won her first Hoku, for Contemporary Album, in 2016. Winning Female Vocalist of the Year in 2018 for her album "Proud As the Sun," as well as Song of the Year for the inspiring "Bamboo," Miner loves crafting uplifting, empowering songs.

"That's definitely my purpose," she said. "Music is the vehicle how I share it. It's definitely based on empowerment and finding the good in the bad, in the hard trying times.

"My music definitely incorporates a lot of the elements, ocean, sun, and I think that's a reflection where I grew up. Here we are in paradise. How can we not use all the elements around us for inspiration and to kind of help amplify our message? So that's really what I do is just using that as sort of the tool, and I really believe that we are the echoes of our kupuna. We're the wayfinders of a new generation, but our songs carry the echoes of our kupuna, and that's really beautiful that we can do that."

The "Christmas in Hawai'i: Kimié Miner & Friends Tour 2022" is presented at the MACC's Castle Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are $35, $45, $55, $75 and a limited amount of $125 premium seats plus applicable fees. Discounts for MACC members are available. Proceeds from the concert will support the Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui.