The award-winning singer and songwriter Kalani Pe’a returned to his Hilo roots at Merrie Monarch this week. The four-time Grammy award winner and five-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano award winner was born and raised in Hilo.
On Thursday, April 24, Peʻa held a free concert at noon at the SCP Hilo Hotel featuring his full band and special guests Miss Aloha Hula Kaʻiulani Carr as well as Kumu Hula Leialoha Kaula of Portland and Kumu Hula Candace Mokihana Melendez of Seattle. Peʻa also has upcoming Lei Day celebrations planned for Oʻahu on Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3.
“I'm there to give back to the community, to give back to Hilo, my hometown, and give back this homecoming concert,” he said. “I’m just so honored to go back home.”
Peʻa graduated from Ke Kula 'o Nāwahīokalani'ōpu'u, a K-12 Hawaiian language immersion school, as its third graduating class.
His father and sister still live in Hilo. He grew up on a five-acre farm on Panaʻewa Hawaiian Home Lands, about a mile away from Prince Kuhio Plaza. Growing up, the kids would throw rotten guavas at each other, make Kalua pig in an imu and then shower and head to the nearby mall, he said.
This year, his husband, Allan B. Cool-Peʻa, will be taking the stage as one of eight ʻōlapa, or dancers with Kumu Hula Kamaka Kūkona’s Hālau o Ka Hanu Lehua.
“I'm excited to see my husband's debut performance,” he said. “He loves hula so much. So do I.”
Peʻa has sung at Merrie Monarch for Hula Hālau ‘O Kamuela in the past, including in 2019, when the hālau took the overall trophy.
“I am returning to Hilo to see my husband perform with his hālau — dancing for the first time on stage,” he said. “It’s so nice to smell and feel the rain and feel the dirt and just be grounded again and be around ʻohana.”
In addition to singing, he plans to visit some of the local businesses.
“I look forward to shopping,” he added.
He is also looking forward to the opportunity to eat at some of his favorite places in Hilo. Many of the business owners for his favorite spots have known his family for more than 50 years, Peʻa said.
“We all have this ʻohana relationship,” he said. “It's so nice to just be home. It’s so nice to be in my hometown.”
Peʻa comes from generations of musicians, including singers and guitar, harmonica and electric bass players. But Peʻa took music to the next level by writing music that won Grammy and Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards and starting Peʻa Records & Entertainment.
“I’m just amazed that I get to carry out the legacy,” he said. “People forget you have grandparents and parents that leave these in Hawaiian we call it hoʻoilina— it's legacies. That's the number one driving question before we depart this earth, before we leave our physical bodies: What is the legacy that we want to leave behind? … My legacy is to have the biggest aspiration to be happy but being happy while doing music and healing the world through my craft — that is my legacy."
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
