The Na Hoku Hanohano Awards always have intriguing races and memorable matchups, but rarely on the level of those in play at Saturday’s 40th annual awards show.
In a break from the usual, both front-runner finalists are first-time recording artists. Keauhou has 12 nominations, including three of the five nominations for Haku Mele (best first-released song or chant primarily in the Hawaiian language).
Maui’s Kalani Pe‘a, who this year became Hawaiian music’s first Grammy winner since rule changes in 2011, has nine nominations, including one for Haku Mele. If he wins in any category he will become the first to capture a Hoku and a Grammy for the same album.
Both front-runners are part of a new generation of Native Hawaiian entertainers who are fluent with their ancestral tongue and have chosen to perpetuate Hawaiian musical traditions while bringing them forward.
If Keauhou sweeps the three major categories it’s eligible for — most promising, group of the year and album of the year — it will be only the third group in awards history to do so. Hapa was the first, in 1994, and Na Hoa the second, in 2013.
If Pe‘a sweeps most promising, male vocalist and album of the year, he would join only three others to have done so: Willie K (1992) and Keali‘i Reichel (1995), both from Maui, and Mark Yamanaka (2011).
None of this is a slam-dunk.
Pe‘a and Keauhou are going head-to-head in six categories and are up against major competition in the big ones. Kupaoa — the multi-Hoku-winning duo of Kellen Paik and Kalikolihau Hannahs Paik — is Keauhou’s biggest challenger for group of the year.
If Pe‘a is going to go home with the trophy for best male vocalist, he will have to prevail over multi-Hoku winners Kawika Kahiapo, Cyril Pahinui and Hoku Zuttermeister.
Haku Mele is no “gimme” for Keauhou despite its precedent-setting three nominations. The fourth song in the category is “He Lei Aloha (No Hilo),” written by Pe‘a and Devin Kamealoha Forrest and included on Pe‘a’s album. The fifth is “Ka Pua Kokala,” written by Puakea Nogelmeier and recorded by Kupaoa; Nogelmeier is a previous honoree in the category.
The race for best female vocalist looks like a toss-up between perennial winners Amy Hanaiali‘i and Ra‘iatea Helm, but Mailani is also in contention. Helm is the only woman to have won most promising and female vocalist in the same year.
