Kuana Torres Kahele, founding member of Na Palapalai, will be performing at Maui Arts & Cultural Center Saturday. Photo courtesy MACC

Kuana Torres Kahele, the multi Na Hoku Hanohano award winner and founding member of Na Palapalai, will be performing at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s McCoy Studio Theater in Kahului.

Kahele has been active in Hawaiian music and hula since he was a 6-year-old boy growing up in Hilo. He refocused his talents at the age of 13 when his incredible musical abilities were noted by his kumu hula, the legendary Johnny Lum Ho, and he was added as a permanent halau musician.

Not even out of his teen years, he and fellow Hilo native and falsetto musician, Kehau Tamure, founded one of the most popular Hawaiian music groups, Na Palapalai. Their 2002 release, “Makani ‘Olu’olu” was met with rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Kahele’s original song from the album, “Ke Anu O Waimea, remains the most popular hula song in Japan to this day.

In 2011, Kahele released “Kaunaloa,” his long-awaited solo album. His album lead to a creation of new hula from kumu the world over due to its freshness of style and content. That same year it swept every major award at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

Kahele developed a long- standing relationship with the Niihau halau after being asked to teach hula to a small group of women based on mele he had written specifically for the island. This relationship led to him raising awareness and funds for the Ni’ihau Ohana. He passionately supports their efforts by selling their lei pupu, or shell lei, at his concerts and returning 100 percent of the profits to the lei makers. This has benefitted many families in need of assistance, as well as encouraged the art and appreciation of lei pupu.

Kahele currently runs his own Hawaiian Music & Culture School in Japan and teaches over 200 combined students in courses ranging from voice, haku mele, mele hula, fresh lei making, ukulele and guitar in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

In 2014, he embarked on an ambitious project where he planned a multi-year release of a six-CD series entitled, “Music for the Hawaiian Islands vol. 1 Hawai’i Keawe” in which he pays tribute to each individual island with original music and poetic lyrics written specifically for hula. The fifth CD, “Music for the Hawaiian Islands (Lana’ika’ula, Lana’i), Vol. 5,” is scheduled for release Friday.

This ambitious, passionate undertaking has contributed nearly 100 new songs specifically designed to inspire new hula and will have created an indelible record of everything that is loved about Hawaii.

Despite his busy schedule, Kahele even found time in 2014 to voice a lead character in the Pixar short animation film, “Lava.”

Tickets for the show are $40 for adults and $20 for children ages 3 to 12 (plus applicable fees). MACC members receive a 10 percent discount. Tickets are available at the MACC Box Office, by phone at 242-7469 or by visiting www.mauiarts.org.