Three-time Grammy Award winner Kalani Pe‘a will represent Hawaii for the fourth time when the winners of the 67th annual Grammy Awards are announced in February.
The finalists in all 94 categories were announced Friday by The Academy (formerly the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), and Pe‘a learned early in the morning that his recently released album “Kuini” is a finalist for Best Regional Roots Music Album.
“I cried, I cried so much,” Pe‘a said in a phone call from Portland, Ore. “I cried for our kupuna. I cried for those who have paved this path, Hawaiian music and Hawaiian contemporary music, and just perpetuating Hawaiian language, hula and mele in all capacities. I’m so emotional about these things.”
Hawaiian music had its own category from 2005 to 2011, but the category was eliminated when the recording academy cut the number of categories from 109 to 78. Hawaiian music was relegated to the newly created regional roots music category along with Cajun, zydeco, Native American and Canadian First Nations music and anything else the decision-makers decided to put there.
The category currently includes Cajun, conjunto, go-go (a subgenre of funk music popular in Washington, D.C.), Hawaiian, Native American, polka, Second Line brass band music, swamp pop and zydeco.
Four other types of “roots” music — Americana, blues, bluegrass and folk — continue to have separate award categories.
Louisiana-based artists have dominated the regional roots category. They’ve received a majority of the finalist nominations each year and to date have won the category eight times out of the 13 times it has been on the ballot through the 66th Grammy Awards in 2024.
The exceptions are the Gullah jazz quintet Ranky Tanky in 2020 and 2023, and Pe‘a in 2017, 2019 and 2022.
No Hawaiian music artist was a finalist for the 66th Grammy Awards earlier this year. Two Louisiana-based roots artists tied as co- winners. The other four finalists for the 67th Grammy Awards also represent various genres of Louisiana roots music.
Whatever the outcome in February, Pe‘a is thankful to be where he is.
“I thank God,” he said. “I thank God (and) the gods and goddesses and the deities, because I know there’s God, but I mahalo the Hawaiian gods and all of my ancestors and kupuna for their guidance, love and aloha.”
The 67th annual Grammy Awards will be held Feb. 2 at Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) in Los Angeles.
The winner of the regional roots music category will be announced during the nontelevised preshow awards ceremony that will stream live at live.grammy.com/.
