Remove ImagesPicks of the Week
December 04, 2008
Saturday (Dec. 6), 7am-6pm, Baldwin Beach, Paia
You've spent a significant portion of your short life getting battered by the surf. Your legs have some pretty admirable scars from run-ins with coral. You have swallowed enough salt water to make you see Jesus in your bowl of saimin. Why not make all this abuse pay off? Saturday's 12th Annual Paia Bay Beach Fest, sponsored by the Paia Youth and Cultural Center, serves as an opportunity for you to do just that. It starts at the butt crack of dawn and features body board, surf and body surfing contests in Menuhune, Junior, Men's Open, Drop Knee Open, Women's Open and Freestyle Surf Open divisions. The entry fee covers you for competition in one division, a neat-o t-shirt commemorating the event and a plate lunch. The entry fee the day of the event is $30 and $20 for those who sign up ahead of time. Call 579-8354 to enter or for more info.
Lovely mele
Saturday (Dec. 6), 7:30pm, McCoy Studio Theater, MACC
The first time I saw singer/kumu hula/kahiko dancer Napua Greig was when she played Hula Shores, Hotel Molokai's waterfront bar, in celebration of her 2007 debut release Pihana (to be complete, fulfilled). The disc, for which she won the 2008 Na Hoku Hanohano Award for best female vocalist, contains one geneology chant, five traditional mele and five original mele. A sizable chunk of Molokai's population came out to see her, and rightfully so. Hers vocals are at once sweet and strong, wandering seamlessly from birdlike harmonies to commanding goddess-like leads. She blends newer approaches to songwriting with those of traditional Hawaiian music and pulls it off like a breeze. The Makawao-based songstress shares the stage with singer Hoku Zuttermeister, whose astonishing vocal range and haunting falsetto have fetched him five Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, including one for his latest release, Aina Kupuna. Zuttermeister, like Greig, embraces both traditional and modern sounds. Both heavily infuse their music with a deep reverence for ancestors as well as the "˜aina. Zuttermeister, for example inherited the song "Na Pua Lei Ilima" from his great-grandmother. This is one of those required-listening shows. For tickets call 242-SHOW (7469) or visit mauiarts.org. $30/keiki half price.
The real deal
Sunday (Dec. 7), 3pm, McCoy Studio Theater, MACC
I could go on and on about how the white man has attempted to give Barbie doll simplicity to things too ancient and profound for the steel hierarchy of his mind to grasp. But that's been done ad nauseum, usually by me, so I'll be positive this time around. Hula (the real hula), though often portrayed as two-dimensional for purposes of marketing, appears to have survived to some degree despite the above-mentioned stabs at hegemony. In fact, Maui County has designated 2008 Year of the Hula. The MACC is commemorating this occasion with a two-part film series focusing on various aspects of this vital tradition. Sunday's screenings serve as the second and final installment. Two films will show. The first, Ka Po'e Hula Hawaii Kahiko (The Hula People of Old), features footage of hulas that took place in the 1930s as performed by some of the most well known dancers and chanters of the era. The second, The Hula of Old Hawaii, features demonstrations of traditional dances and chants as performed by Mary Kawena Pukui and daughters Pat and Pele. A guest speaker will provide additional insight. Take that, dashboard dolls! For tickets call 242-SHOW(7469) or visit mauiarts.org. $12.
Put on some trance
Sunday (Dec. 7), 7pm, Studio Maui, Haiku
Kirtan (Indian devotional chant) rock star Krishna Das's new release, Heart Full of Soul, has little in common with the Yardbirds tune with which it shares its title. Yet it wouldn't surprise me if a number of music collections contain both. Both acts are essentially products of the '60s. Both have a rare degree of emotional gravity. Yet the former probably appeals more to the yoga set than it does to rock and roll history buffs (the Yardbirds did, after all, launch the careers of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck). I am told that in the realm of Kirtan, Das parallels all three of these legendary acts in popularity and impact. Sunday's show is the show fans of the genre cannot miss. Krishna Das's tunes are more accessible to Western audiences than those of others of his ilk; his melodies are highly catchy. Das incorporates a diverse array of Eastern and Western instruments into his sound on Heart Full of Soul: acoustic and electric guitar, violin, finger cymbals, harmonium and the tabla drum, the striking of which causes the listener to instantly associate this music with its nation of origin. This rare show is one of three stops in Das's Hawaiian Islands tour. Call 575-9390 for tickets. $30/$25.