Here I am ... still alive to write about this EPIC cultural weekend!

	Turtle. Photo by Tashi.

Nine months ago we started the ball rolling in presenting Descendance, an aborigine dance troupe from Australia, for a public concert at the KCC-PAC. Because their performance was only an hour long, we planned to combine it with a concert by Jeff Peterson, our Monday night presenter at E Kanikapila Kakou. We also scheduled a Monday morning school performance for students from a number of different schools.

Abruptly, two nights before the scheduled performance, I found out that the Descendance group had re-scheduled their itinerary to fly out immediately following their Sunday performance, thereby leaving us with no program for Monday. After nine months of planning and contacting and scheduling various school groups to participate in the day concert, it was not an option for me to cancel the performance on a weekend preceding the Spring break as I would not be able to get hold of the administrators to get the word out. It was back to the concert drawing board with a fury.

	Photo by Anne E. O'Malley.

Tandy Awaya of the Pacific Asian Affairs Council and I decided that, with less than 36 hours to curtain time, it would be much simpler to find other cultural programs to fill the void than to try to contact all the schools to cancel the program. Tandy managed to get Te Wananga Maori, a 13-member troupe from the Polynesian Cultural Center, to agree to come for the Monday morning concert. I managed to get Aloha Africa drummer-in-residence from Ghana and the local drumming group, Love Tribe, to perform. Jeff Peterson also agreed to do an extra performance on Monday morning. We already had the children of Ke Kula Ni'ihau O Kekaha prepared to share their many chants and the hula halau from Island School to perform hula auwana. THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

SUNDAY CONCERT: All things considered, the Sunday night concert went off AS IF IT WAS PLANNED THAT WAY. Descendance dancers, covered with ochre body paints and ritual costumes, opened the show with their primordial story-telling dances that demonstrated their affinity to and appreciation of the earth and wild creatures around them. Goomblar, the djigeridoo player created sounds that took us back to another time, another place. Immediately after their performance, they raced off to the airport as they had a half hour to catch the airplane out of Lihu'e and a connecting flight at the Honolulu International Airport. Jeff Peterson culminated the evening with a fabulous set of music that took us around the world with kiho'alu, flamenco, jazz, swing, bluegrass, classical, and numerous combinations of styles.

	Ke Kula Niihau O Kekaha.

MONDAY SCHOOL PERFORMANCE: Monday morning was sort of planned, but on such short notice, we had to go with the flow and the flow turned out to be a tidal wave of epic proportions with cultural sharing far beyond what we expected. Lopaka Bukoski and the students of Ke Kula Ni'ihau O Kekaha opened with a powerful set of chants that gave everyone chicken skin. The males had a chance to share the Pa'i Umauma (chest slapping dance) which i later found out from Sabra Kauka was the embodiment of the final fatal battle by the young war Chief Kekuaokalani and his faithful wife Manono in their effort to save the Hawaiian religion from being destroyed by Liholiho's regime.

Photo by Anne E. O'Malley.

Te Wananga Maori from the Polynesian Cultural Center of Hawai'i, in full costume and intricate facial tatoos put on a fast-paced exhibition of every kind of dance and music that one would see when visiting Aotearoa. Having traveled all over New Zealand to many cultural Maori centers, I must say that this group was as good as any I saw when I visited their homeland. Dancing with many different Maori implements, weapons, short stringed poi balls, long stringed poi balls; singing in harmony; ending with their traditional Haka performance, the group thrilled all the students with their cultural sharing.

	Photo by Tashi.

Kumu Hula Shelby Dabin's hula group from island School gave a smashing performance of hula auwana. Kalani Dabin and Raymond the Sound Man accompanied the group with live music. Auntie Mary called all the little kids up on stage as they had rehearsed a medley of Hawaiian songs for Descendance. They were going to perform no matter what and they were GREAT!

	Bread for the Journey.

Going from the singing of children to the extemporaneous jamming of two outstanding musicians from different worlds was such a surprise and treat. Jeff Peterson and Amit, a jazz guitarist of great repute from India, who had met just before the performance, gave the kids a taste of what one can aspire to if they really dedicated their lives to music. Jeff told the kids that music is a language that transcends the differences between peoples of different culture; it was apparent to all as the two musicians took us on a musical journey around the world. Clapping to keep time engaged the kids in the musical experience.

	Kids Cut Loose.

The Love Tribe came dancing and drumming onto the stage with their many drums and started the beat with Ernest, lead drummer from Ghana. Dressed in colorful African garb, the drummers soon had the little kids hopping in their seats. One older KCC student started to gyrate and dance on the steps in the back of the theater. Ernest waved for her to join them on stage, but she kept dancing in the aisle so Ernest stepped up the drumming to eye-blurring speed. I heard Auntie Mary Alfiler coaxing one little boy with dreadlocks, "go up on stage...you got the best rhythm...!" but he was shy.

	Island School Halau with Ernest.

I stood at the side watching the kids as their heads turned from drummer Ernest on the stage to the dancing student on the steps and I could see many of the kids twitching and keeping beat in their seats. All of a sudden, one tiny tyke, a Japanese boy from Eleele, wiggled down the row of seats and scampered up the aisle and before he could jump on the stage...like a plug was pulled...a tidal wave of tiny bodies started trickling, then scampering and finally running onto the stage clapping and waving and dancing with the beat of Ernest's drums. At least half of the audience was soon on the stage, some of them sliding on their bellies like caterpillars, some bunny-hopping around in lines, some waving and jumping up and down like kangaroos ....all of them with looks of great delight on their faces.

	Island School Kids.

They had another chance to dance to the beat of the drums and the second time, it was a major exodus of kids from their seats to the stage and it was tough getting them off once they got a taste of fun and fame. All too soon, the exhausted and hungry kids were willing to sit down again. The amazing school performance ended with all the kids being treated to a lunch of pizza from Bread for the Journey, apples and oranges from Big Save, cookies from Kauai Kookies, and water from Kukuiula Development Company.

MONDAY NIGHT EKK: Monday night EKK with Jeff Peterson was a stellar night for those with instruments. An instructor in guitar at the University of Hawaii - Manoa, Jeff gave a crash course in a variety of strumming techniques during the ukulele hour and challenged the instrumentalists to step up to the next level by throwing in their own pa'ani, a musical interlude in the middle of the song. Even if each had to "solo" along with the whole group, I overheard some saying, "I going do that at home."

	Amit & Jeff Jammin'.

Jeff's extraordinary command of the guitar and his virtuosity in various music styles were shared in the second hour. He starts the song off in a traditional Gabby or taro patch tuning nahenahe style and begins to push the song into many different directions, incorporating jazz, swing, bluegrass, classical with his amazing picking and strumming ability; he adds harmonics and other embellishments that imitate the falsetto singers. Songs like "Maunaloa", "Puamana", "Ipo Lei Mano", "Ahe La Makani", "Sophisticated Hula" took on a whole different complexion as he kept pushing the music beyond its usual limits. Yes....he played many different songs that we normally do not get to hear in concert....and his in-depth explanations are fabulous!

He recalled that in all the music classes at USC, there were signs posted that said "NO NOODLING", but Jeff encouraged everyone to noodle away as this is how one can increase one's repertoire in playing music.

Jeff shared stories about his recent experiences playing with 99-year-old Bill Tapia who is still sharp as a tack and scolds anyone playing a wrong chord. Bill played with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Louie Armstrong and other legends. Jeff discovered that Bill was best friends with his own Uncle Mel Peterson and both of them traveled extensively together playing music all over the country. "E Naughty Naughty Mai Nei" written by Uncle Mel was a hapa-haole song that Jeff shared for everyone to sing.

We also learned "Waialae", a Spanish-style waltz written by Mekia (Major) Kealaka'i. This love song about two men in love with the same girl was featured in the successful 1912 Broadway play "Bird of Paradise", after which Hawaiian music really took off internationally. Many Mexican musicians were playing Hawaiian music after that.

He points out that Hawaii is a great place for young musicians because musical greats like Ledward Kaapana, Dennis Kamakahi and others are so approachable. He then played "Pua Hone", one of Kamakahi's best known songs.

One thing that Jeff shared is that O'ahu is nice because they have so many things going on all the time but Kaua'i has a unique sense of community that makes him love coming here to visit. So true.

And for the EKK participants, it's such a treat to have a world class musician like Jeff. A graduate of Baldwin High School on Maui, Jeff learned to play by year and matriculated at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, surrounded by the most amazing musicians as classmates. Andrew York who is today a member of the premiere quartet in the World, Pepe Romero, and many others were his musical colleagues. He has performed with Eric Clapton, Shakuhachi Grandmaster Riley Lee, Matt Catingub Orchestra of Hawai'i, Honolulu Symphony, and was one of the artists on the first Grammy winning Hawaiian Music CD in 2005.

This coming Monday, a trio that makes great music will be presenting. Pili Oha includes Glenn Mayeda, Gary Krug, and Kamuela Kimokeo. They will also be at Borders on Sunday beginning at 2:00 pm for a sidewalk concert.

Carol Kouchi Yotsuda, E Kanikapila Kakou 2007