Local musician Benny Uyetake will be joined by Tarvin Makia, Lopaka Colon Jr., Jay Molina, Miss Viv and the Kalama Intermediate Ensemble for a special “Christmas Kanikapila” show on Dec. 18. Courtesy photo/Bruce Forrester

One of Maui’s most talented musicians, Benny Uyetake has been hosting monthly kanikapila gatherings at Mulligan’s on the Blue collaborating with local artists like Kevin Brown, Kala’e Camarillo, Jimmy Dillon and Anthony Pfluke.

He will present a special “Christmas Kanikapila” show on Dec. 18, joined by multi-Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award winning musician Tarvin Makia, multi-Hōkū winning percussionist Lopaka Colon Jr., Jay Molina, Miss Viv, and the Kalama Intermediate Ensemble.

“It’s the spirit of Christmas in Hawaii kanikapila style,” says Uyetake. “We are featuring Tarvin Makia and Lopaka Cologne and Jay Molina on bass guitar, and a young lady named Miss Viv, one of my former students. She’ll be singing and playing guitar. She’s really talented and now a senior trying to pursue a professional career. It’s going to be a kanikapila with a variety of songs, with Christmas included.”

Teaching music at Kalama Intermediate School for around 19 years, a group of his students will perform on Dec. 18 outside Mulligan’s on the grass.

“They are going to sing and play,” he says. “At least 40 students are in the ensemble. When we play at the Shops at Wailea we get about 50 to 60 kids. They want to play, given the opportunity to play. I’m very proud of them.”

Under the umbrella of the Aloha Music Series, the kanikapila sessions takes its name from the Hawaiian term that refers to a style of music created during an informal jam.

“My kanikapila is getting seasoned musicians together ready for anything to come up,” he explains. “It’s like a backyard jam full of surprises and it’s been successful.”

Having studied jazz arranging and composition at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, when he plays solo, he can amaze audiences with how he smoothly transitions between unique covers of songs. You’d be listening to him interpret the Beatles’ “Blackbird” and then you realize he’s segued into Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” instrumental.

“I have an arrangement with ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ ‘Wonderful World’ and ‘Imagine,’ and I close it with last words of ‘Wonderful World,'” he says. “People get a kick when I do that melody. That’s kanikapila. Every Hawaiian musician I know that played in Kaanapali it’s like playing in a club in Las Vegas because you have to do and play everything. So if I’m going to play five songs, I hope everyone will relate to them in some form. They might not like ‘Classical Gas,’ but I’m going to turn around and play ‘Blackbird’ from the Beatles. Just take people on a voyage.”

Raised on Hawaii Island, he arrived on Maui, invited by an old Hilo friend, multi- Hōkū winning Hawaiian musician Kenneth Makuakane, who was performing at the Kapalua Bay Hotel and needed replacement for his A New Taste of Mango group. With Glenn Kakugawa, as the duo Ben and Glenn, Uyetake played at various Maui venues for 40 years.

“Ken calls me up, and he gave me all my gigs,” Uyetake recalls. “We were good friends from Hilo. He says, ‘I got a gig for you in Maui.’ He called me for three big gigs that were very influential. I played for him in Kapalua, then he moved to the Marriott and I played at the Crab Catcher, then he calls me and I play the Marriott. Then he produced my album, and he wanted me to move to Honolulu. I said I cannot. I’m going to live here.”

Over the years he’s opened or performed at MACC pre-shows for Diana Ross, America, Herb Alpert, Boz Scaggs, Jackson Brown, Los Lobos, Al Jarreau, Keali’i Reichel, and Henry Kapono. “People like listening to me outside,” he says. “I remember Ron Kuala’au of Hapa calls me up and says, ‘hey, you done or what? Nobody’s listening to us play yet.’ So I stopped and said, you’ve got to go in now.”

Benny Uyetake presents a Christmas Kanikapila show at Mulligan’s on the Blue on Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m., with Tarvin Makia, Lopaka Colon Jr., Jay Molina, Miss Viv, and the Kalama Intermediate Ensemble. Tickets range from $20 to $10, available at aloha.ticketspice.com/benny-uyetakes-christmas-kanikapila.