For a lot of Hawaii residents, even kamaaina, the Kamehameha Schools song contest is a notable event, but it isn’t something they know much about. They’ve seen the images of the competition, which is televised live each March: teenage song leaders directing their classmates, mouthing silent commands as their arms glide through the air.
And then it’s time for the news or they switch channels or go to bed.
But an award-winning, locally produced documentary has the power to change all that.
"One Voice," which chronicles months of preparation with candid interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, will open Friday in Consolidated Theaters’ Ward 16, Kahala 8 and Kaahumanu 6 on Maui.
The film is a moving look at Hawaiian culture and the powerful role language plays in preserving it. The song contest, now in its 91st year, is the thread that connects generations of Kamehameha students.
One of the featured song leaders is Zack Lum, who was a sophomore when the camera crews arrived at the Kapalama campus for the 2007-2008 school year. As a song leader it was his job to organize, encourage and occasionally scold his classmates as they readied for the contest, then lead them in the competition.
In "One Voice" Lum called himself a "song contest geek."
"I love song contest," said Lum, recalling the experience. "I just (couldn’t) wait for January when rehearsals start. The atmosphere, the excitement. That idea that students who kind of don’t want to be there sometimes, but at the end, in March, they all love it."
Everyone has to participate, from bookworms to jocks. They might not want to at first, but most come around in time for the contest, said Lum, now a 19-year-old University of Hawaii sophomore.
"Because it’s such a deeply rooted tradition, it’s possible that the students don’t get the meaning of why we are doing it," he said. "But we are using Hawaiian music. We are using this choral setting of Hawaiian music to give them a message that we are still Hawaiian."
When he first heard that he would be followed by cameras, from his home to campus, Lum thought it would create problems. It was weird at first, he said.
"It took a little while, but eventually nobody was scared to say anything they wouldn’t have said," he said. "It was real."
FILMING STARTS Monday on ABC’s new TV show "The River," which plans to use Oahu locations as a backdrop for a spooky supernatural drama set in the Amazon.
Kahana Valley and its meandering stream will serve as the show’s primary location for the midseason replacement, according to William Aila Jr., chairman of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Aila attended a recent community meeting in the valley to address concerns raised by a few area residents. None of the show’s proposed activities or the concerns raised would prevent permits from being issued, Aila said.
"The majority of the residents in Kahana are supportive of the filming in Kahana," he said. "Basically they have given their consent."
About 40 families live in the valley.
The use of Kahana would be fairly typical TV fare: 14-hour days, some night shooting, a small fleet of 10 to 15 trucks and trailers on site, soundproofed generators. It will also involve an unpowered, 80-foot-long boat made of foam — it’s a floating prop — and several motorized skiffs to push it around.
ABC plans to film just a few hundred yards mauka of Kamehameha Highway.
"There is a nice bend where they can get some nice angles," Aila said. "It’s beautiful. It isn’t as big as the Hanalei River, but it is about 20 to 30 feet wide with hao bushes. It will definitely look like the Amazon."
AND that’s a wrap …
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
