Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 5, 1 May 2011 — Hana hou: ʻo Mei no nā Mele nei [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hana hou: ʻo Mei no nā Mele nei

Aloha nui e nā 'ōiwi 'ōlino mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau a puni ke ao mālamalama. For the second consecutive year the Hawai'i Academy

of Recording Arts (HARA), established as a Hawai'i-based 50 l(c)3 nonprofit organization in 1981, is declaring May the month of "Mele." In 2011 two full days of panel discussions, workshops, demonstrations, sessions with recording artists, perfonners, producers, distributors and manufacturers organized by HARA as the Nā Hōkū Hanohano

festival will precede the 9th annual HARA Lifetime Achievement Awards (on day 3) and the 34th annual HARA Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards (on day 4). The dates areMay 26-29, 2011. The Nā Hōkū Hanohano Festival aligns with HARA's mission to "preserve, protect and promote Hawai'i's music and the welfare of the Hawai'i music industry." The Festival provides timely support and infonnation while concurrently reaffinning Hawaiian cultural knowledge, whieh is the foundation. The Festival sparks the opportunity to involve successful Native Hawaiian and minority business leaders to empower other Native Hawaiians in the "business" or thinking about their "business entry." The menu of choices for attendees over the two-day Festival will include topics such as: new media (social networks); CD production, recording and engineering; distribution (physical and digital); marketing and promotion; the business of music; legal aspects of record production; artist image and marketing; songwriting and haku mele; hula and music; contemporary Hawaiian issues in music, including sovereignty issues; meet-the-artist sessions; talk story sessions with kūpuna and cultural practitioners; sessions with manufacturer representatives (i.e. Pro Tools, Taylor Guitars, Roland, etc.) demonstrating new trends and applications. In a December 2009 report of the State of Hawai'i Department of Business, Eeonomie Development and Tourism, Benchmarking Hawai'i's Emerging Industries, it was reported that "Honolulu's music industry has declined over 36 percent for the last six

years." The President of one of Hawai'i's largest distribution companies for traditional and contemporary Hawaiian music reports the State's music industry "has decreased from $25 million to $20 million in the

last several years," and attributes the decline to a change in buying habits of consumers that have shifted from traditional sales outlets to digital delivery systems such as iTunes and artist web sites. Festival organizers note the Festival workshops and panel discussions are "designed to promote the welfare of the industry by anning Hawai'i artists with knowledge to compete in the marketplace. And the workshops on

specific Hawaiian arts are designed to preserve and protect the integrity of Hawaiian music and language." Such inspiration and guidance should spark continued growth especially for Hawaiian music and perfonnance as artists and practitioners compose and record in the Hawaiian language. It is expected that the 2011 Haku Mele award will be chosen from nearly 50 Hawaiian language entries, and the 2011 Hawaiian Language Perfonnance award from nearly 20 recordings. Festival organizers note, "The workshop, panel discussions and demonstrations will teach our Hawai'i musicians to incorporate new media and marketing trends, and equip new artists with industry practices, giving them the opportunity to leain from veteran artists and cultural practitioners (i.e. masters in haku mele, kl hō'alu, 'ukulele, etc)." Congratulations to the Board of Governors of HARA who as volunteers implement the Hōkū Hanohano Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Awards and now the Hōkū Hanohano Festival. They are: President Ku'uipo Kumukahi, Vice President Pali Ka'aihue, Secretary Lea A. Uehara, Treasurer lohn Aeto, Innnediate Past President Hailama Farden, and Keola Donaghy, Maria Hickling, Gaylord Holomalia, Fred Krauss, Mailani Makainai, Kenneth Makuakane, Tim Mathre, Bill Meyer, Skylark Rossetti, Marlene Sai. For more infonnation, go to www. nahokuhanohano.org or email info@ nahokuhanohano.org. Mai poina kākou, 'o ka mahina o Mei no nā Mele nei. E 'ike ana iā kākou ma laila. 29/48 ■

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