The scale of these awards was nothing short of incredible---to be honest, I kind of downplayed the magnitude of the Na Hoku's for such a long time, that I didn't expect much. But, walking into the Hawaii Convention Center and seeing all the media and the legends of Hawaiian music really made me feel blessed to be a part of it all. 
Lucky table number 77 was our post for the night...good food, good views of the stage, and good folks to hang with. My brother Kris (who produced our album, 'At Your Door' and the Earth Mover's 'Build' album) flew in from California to support, and brother Keone (of One Groove--our CommonGround labelmate) was there as well. Big ups to these guys for their support and hard work. Sidenote--the new One Groove album is on the way, and it's sure to be another classic...
The moment of truth----I gotta say, seeing the album posted on the screen (and on live TV) and hearing "Aloha Mahalo" blast through the sound system was a pretty unreal experience. Definitely one of the highlights of the evening for me. Afatia (last year's winner in our category) was the presenter this year, and made the announcement that ????!?!?!?! was the winner of the evening! What can I say...it was an honor being nominated, but I can't say that we weren't a little bummed. I was ready to rep Lightsleepers in our acceptance speech....hahahhaa..
My personal highlight of the night came when none other than Cyril Pahinui sat at our table and talked story with us during the ceremonies. The Pahinui's have long been legends in Hawaiian music, and I don't know too many people that didn't grow up on Gabby's music. Uncle Cyril was super cool, and had nothing but positive insight to offer us that night.
Life goes on.....hey, we didn't win, but the experience was incredible...and hopefully one day, the voters will recognize real. Too many other folks should have been on the ballot this year (Hunger Pains, Tempo Valley, Jonah, KTC...) but hopefully someone will get their chance to rep and WIN for our scene soon!
3 comments:
I've taken the liberty of passing along your well-voiced comments, to the HARA board. We who work "behind the scenes" for the annual award show, welcome constructive criticism -- and want the final nominees to be accurately placed within each category.
Mahalo for sharing your thoughts -- and tell Kris it was great seeing him (albeit, briefly) at the awards show!
Aloha,
auntie maria (mele.com)
Aloha guys. First, congratulations on the nomination. That is a great start. I've been nominated three times and never won but it doesn't diminish the thrill. I'm sure you'll have your chances again.
Personally I didn't note in your category because I don't know the scene and don't listen to hip-hop (no offense). I figure if I do then there is a better chance that the folks who do know the scene will have their voice hear. Doesn't always happen.
With somewhere near 200 new releases coming out of Hawai'i each year, it's not feasible for most people to listen to everything. I don't vote in the categories where I haven't heard most of the finalists and know enough about the genre to make an intelligent decisions. Others, as you suggest, vote for the familiar names. Not much we can do about that. We've talked about trying to get audio files of nominees online so everyone can vote, but that's a nightmare from both a technological, logistical and potentially legal standpoint.
What you can do about it is to talk to your friends who are recording in the genre, and encourage them to join HARA. I don't have access to our members list here (I'm in NZ at the moment), but hope you are too. We have a lot of members who only sign up when they have product up for an award and want to vote, and let it lapse when they don't. If everyone would stay current and be active with the organization all would benefit - you by your peers voting and supporting each other even when you're not nominated for something. We'll be holding our general membership meeting this fall (probably in October or November) and I'd hope that you and others doing hip-hop would come out for it and let the board know what's on your mind and how we can do better.
Keola Donaghy
Board of Governors - HARA
Thanks to Keola and Aunty Maria for the comments---I'd love to hear more from you folks and also contribute some more thoughts directly to you folks. If possible, please leave your email addresses so I can get in contact with you! You can email us at nomasterbacks@hotmail.com Thank you!
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