The third annual Maui Music & Food Experience returns this weekend with the Grammy Award-winning rock band Los Lobos and Oʻahu-based ʻukulele virtuoso Taimane as headliners.
The two-day experience, which is part music festival and part culinary tasting — with six stations curated by Hua Momona Executive Chef Zach Laidlaw — will take place at Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa in Kāʻanapali, where performers will play sets by the ocean on Friday, Aug. 21, and Saturday, Aug. 22. Just a short walk from the stage are the resort’s penguins, which welcomed a baby earlier this year.
The Maui Music & Food Experience benefits Hua Momona Foundation’s work to provide food to those in need, help Lahaina rebuild and cultivate a music program for West Maui youth.
The first day of the Maui Music & Food Experience will also be the moment Taimane drops her new album. She spoke with Aloha State Daily about “Li’ulā” ahead of its release.
“It’s a Hawaiian word that means mirage,” she told ASD. “It's the twilight right before evening comes. ... And it also means mirage, illusion, hallucination, and so the album delves into Hawaiʻi at night and all of the magical things that happen. It's perfect for spooky season.”
One of the songs, “Kai Mahina” was inspired by the moon over the sea and features haunting siren-like vocals, ocean sounds, “and ʻukulele of course,” she said.
Another track on the album is “Night Marchers.”
“That dives more into the ghost stories of Hawaiʻi,” the ʻukulele virtuoso said.
Also included is the song, “Hilo Night.”
“I use a lot of sound effects in this album to really put the person in Hawaiʻi,” she said. “There's coqui frogs in that one so you feel like you're having a chill night listening to them with some chill ʻukulele.”
The album also features “Until We Meet Again,” a song inspired by Queen Liliʻuokalani’s “Aloha ʻOe.”
“That one is really beautiful,” Taimane said. “It came out almost medieval sounding. We have some cello in there. We have some Hawaiian nose flute happening. We have some Hawaiian ʻuliʻuli. There's a lot of traditional Hawaiian instruments, but then I've created beats with it and more of a modern sound.”
The album launch is coming off a busy summer for Taimane, who just wrapped up a tour that included a stop in Montana, where she played in 100-degree weather, marking the hottest festival she had ever played, the singer and songwriter said.
“That was intense,” she noted. “It was like a heated Pilates class.”
The stage also heated up this summer when Taimane opened for Jason Momoa’s band Öof Tatatá at Blue Note Hawaiʻi in July. That same month, she took the stage at the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards performing “Pīkake Princess.”
This weekend, Taimane will perform as a trio with Rachel Look on guitar, and Jaycobe Sierra as the cajón drummer at the Maui Music & Food Experience. The event also features Los Lobos with special guest Alejandro Escovedo; as well as What Mongoose? featuring Nicholas Tremulis 3, Naiwi Teruya, Robert Irving III, and Lisa Fischer; John Cruz; 3 Pounds of Kalo; and Kanekoa.
General admission tickets are $75 for Friday, $125 for Saturday, or $180 for the two-day pass. VIP experiences are also available. Details.
Listen to Taimane’s new music on Apple Music, Spotify and on her website. Follow her on Instagram.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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