Entertainment

‘A Folkloric Journey from the Caribbean to Argentina’ with Tanama Colibri

A gifted musician, author and poet of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage, Tanama Colibri will present "Recorrido: A Folkloric Journey from the Caribbean to Argentina" at the ProArts Playhouse on April 19.

Colibri describes the show as a collection of some of her favorite folkloric songs that she discovered between 2011 and 2014 while traveling from Mexico to Argentina. "Recorrido is my personal journey through Latin America," she says. "I did three years backpacking from Mexico to Argentina and along the way, I learned a lot of folkloric styles of music and have a collection of songs from the countries that I visited."

Performing songs from seven countries at the show, she has created a booklet with the song lyrics in Spanish and translated to English for people to purchase, "if they want to follow along," she says. "I love languages. I speak four, and I'm working on my fifth, Japanese." That's English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, and she's ready to dive into learning ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.

The South American adventure was part of an eight-year journey that included the Virgin islands, then over to Paris, and finally back to Hawaii, where she learned to play a variety of instruments, and absorbed the folklore of differing cultures.

Spending two years in Paris, she played in coffee shops and restaurants, and studied Afro-Cuban percussion.

Born in New York City's Washington Heights to Dominican and Puerto Rican parents, the soulful musician grew up singing and dancing. "I call myself a radio baby because my mom played the radio all day," she recalls. "We even slept to the radio. I would listen to everything from jazz to our cultural music, which is salsa, merengue, bachata, and pop. I feel like I had a lot of early influences, mainly American and Caribbean influences. Later on, I went on to explore music from other countries."

As far as her own music, she composes a broad repertoire that ranges from soul to jazz, hip hop, spoken word and world music. "I've been writing songs since I was 10 years old," she notes.

In 2023, Colibri performed original songs inspired by Kahoʻolawe and Wailuku in front of the County Building, as part of a SMALL TOWN * BIG ART project.

"I was the grant recipient for Maui Public Arts as one of their first cohorts as musicians," she recalls. "Usually they would do art pieces and they wanted to include music. Myself and Anthony Pfluke were the first musicians that they added to the grant. They sent me for four days to Kahoʻolawe to do volunteer work and receive inspiration and stories to write songs about it. Then they also commissioned me to write songs about Wailuku town. I interviewed some kupuna to hear their views and their experiences in both places."

The project included her leading 80 ʻĪao Intermediate School 6th grade students in a songwriting workshop celebrating the history, culture and sense of place of Wailuku. Resulting songs included "Aki Aki," "We Are For The Future," "Kaho'olawe," "Blessed 'Īao," and "Kaho'olawe Anthem." "It was really well received," she says.

She is currently working on an EP of the songs, which she hopes to release in a couple of months. It will include a new song for Lahaina that she has composed.

Having previously released two singles next up is a new song "called 'My Love,' and it's an Afro beat," she says "It's so fun. I love my concerts because you can be sitting and listening to a ballad, and then the next song is a hip hop tune, or some folkloric inspired song about the earth. It's just very varied."

Along with her "Recorrido" show, she will also participate at ProArts in the "Maui Songwriter Rounds" with Uncle George Kahumoku Jr., Tempa & Naor, and Scott Buchholz. on April 24. "I'm really excited about that because I love small, intimate spaces and experiences," she says.

This versatile musician also has a jazz show coming up on April 20 at the Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate Factory in Lahaina featuring the Tanama Colibri Quartet. "I do jazz as well, straight up jazz at the Sunday Sunset Jazz Series." And she has a "'90s R&B tribute" gig at Da Playground on April 25.

Colibri's "Recorrido" show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. April 19 at the ProArts Playhouse. Tickets range from $25 to $40.