Inspired by her journey to Norway and England, Amy Hānaialiʻi composed new songs she will debut Nov.14 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Courtesy photo

Fresh from playing the role of Pele at a preview of the new musical, “The Epic Tale of Hiʻiaka,” Amy Hānaialiʻi will present “Kinohi: The Beginning, The Origin,” at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Nov. 14.

The performance will also feature Hālau Nā Kīpuʻupuʻu with Kumu Hula Micah Kamohoaliʻi.

Delving deep into her ancestral roots in Hawaii while also recounting the lineage and stories of her English, Ojibwe and Norwegian heritage, Hānaialiʻi invites her audiences to explore the interconnectedness of our backgrounds while unlocking ancestral memories that have shaped our present and future.

“I’ve been on this long journey,” she explained. “Last year I went to Norway and London and traced my family lineage. I’m always doing genealogy. I know my Hawaiian side down pat, but my Norwegian and my English side, I didn’t know very well. My mother is half Norwegian, half Ojibwe Indian, and my father is English, French and Hawaiian.”

Her journey into her roots inspired her to compose a bunch of new songs in English and Hawaiian.

“My grandmother always told me, ‘How do you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you came from?'” Hānaialiʻi said. “So I wrote a song about that and my journey of finding my family. I wrote a bunch of songs there that I’m going to be doing.”

Her Norwegian travels took her to Tinn Telemark, where her family is from.

“I traveled with a genealogist, Liv Burgit, and we traced three farms of my family,” Hānaialiʻi recalled. “It was like stepping back in time. The name of the river in Tinn Telemark is “Moen,” but they pronounce it “Mana.” I wrote a song about that. My whole experience there was just magical.”

While in Norway, she filmed an episode of the PBS culinary series “Family Ingredients.”

“Our family has Norwegian food and Hawaiian food too for Christmas,” she said. “It’s always been like that since we were little kids because it’s both of our ethnicities.”

Tracing the British side of her family, she said they went to London and she has been able to trace her family back 900 years.

“So it went from London to France to Normandy and then back to Norway again on my father’s side, talk about an incredible pedigree. It goes from Woodd — that was my grandmother’s last name — all the way back to the Dukes of Normandy. My family has always been around the world. They’ve been around monasteries. They’ve been priests. My fifth great-grandfather was ordained in Westminster Abbey, and his bust is there. In the U.K., I feel the same as I do here, like I’ve had that longing. When I left, I was really sad.”

The MACC concert will open with a performance by Hālau Nā Kīpuʻupuʻu and Kumu Kamohoaliʻi.

Kumu Hula Micah Kamohoaliʻi with Hālau Nā Kīpuʻupuʻu will present extracts from the Kumulipo creation chant.

“They’re doing an epic drama before my set,” she noted. “They are doing Kumulipo, our creation chant, into the birth of the islands, into the migration of our family, the Kamohoali’i migration. Kinohi means origins, where you come from and that’s going to be the first set, which nobody wants to miss, because that blends right into our family lines.”

In early October, Hānaialiʻi played the role of Pele in a preview of “The Epic Tale of Hiʻiaka” during the 2025 Native Hawaiian Convention in Washington. “It’s an epic role of a lifetime,” she said. “It’s really an amazing experience.”

The debut marked the first time the centuries-old Hawaiian legend of the goddess Hiʻiakaikapoliopele was staged as a Broadway-caliber musical. It’s being produced by Tony-award winning Maui resident Michael Jackowitz of WitzEnd Productions.

“Michael Jackowitz, Kumu Keli’i Reichel, Kumu Patrick Makuakāne and Roslyn Catracchia built the score and the music,” Hānaialiʻi explained. “They’ve been working on this for 10 years. It’s an amazing score. The lyrics, the whole story, the way they’ve done it is just epic.”

The full-length production is set to open in late 2026 at Leeward Community College before moving to the Ko Olina Resort.

“The synergy of playing Pele right now, it’s kind of like at this point in my life I’ve pretty much been there, done that on a lot of levels. But this spiritually right now for me is really a very amazing time just on every level,” Hānaialiʻi said.

“Kinohi: The Beginning, The Origin” will be presented at the MACC’s Castle Theater at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Tickets range from $25 to $87, with a limited number of $137 premium VIP tickets that include preferred seating and a post-show meet-and-greet. Discounts are available with 10% off for MACC members and 50% off for children under 12.