Packing a Hawaiian punch

Young Chang

Between last week’s Senegalese singer Baaba Maal and the Korean

musical percussion group SamulNori slated to perform Sunday, the Irvine

Barclay Theatre has decided to go Hawaiian.

Called “Mele Hula: A Celebration of Hawaiian Song & Spirit,” the

energetic Saturday show will feature a handful of Hawaii’s top

contemporary singers, chanters, storytellers and other artists.

Barry Flanagan, a guitarist and songwriter from the musical group

HAPA, will perform contemporary songs.

Hawaiian diva Amy Hanaiali’i Gilliom, a 10-time winner of the Na Hoku

Hanohano award, will sing her hits in the ha’i style -- a traditional

form of island singing.

Other performers including chanter and storyteller Charles Ka’upu,

bassist Jack Ofoi and hula dancer Moea Defries will round out the

evening.

“It takes you back to Hawaii for two hours,” said Gilliom. “I know a

lot of the Irvine audience travels to Hawaii a lot, and they miss it a

lot.”

Flanagan describes the show as a celebration of contemporary music

that mixes styles of today with musical traditions from yesterday.

Performers will wear indigenous leis, while the theme of the material

performed will speak about everything from Hawaii’s seas to its land and

its famous chiefs.

An island mood will envelop the show, which will progress almost as a

series of mini-concerts.

Gilliom’s repertoire of songs will be sung in what she describes as a

“female falsetto singing” style that pays tribute to the kupunas, which

means “elders.”

“Being that [the style] is dying, the old-timers will come and watch

me and just cry because you don’t really hear that style anymore,” said

Gilliom, whose new album “Pu’uhonua” has kept a place on Billboard’s

World Music Charts for weeks. “It’s real important that when you sing

ha’i, you sing it the way it’s supposed to be sung. You give respect to

the actual art form of it.”

Flanagan will perform original material from his group HAPA, whose

recent albums include “In the Name of Love” -- a compilation of Hawaiian

chants and music played on the finger cymbals, sitar and drums.

“I hope that [the audience] feels the special aloha spirit that really

defines what Hawaii is,” he said. “We really all expect to warm everybody

up quite a bit.”

FYI

* What: “Mele Hula: A Celebration of Hawaiian Song and Spirit”

* When: 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday

* Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine

* Cost: $24-$29

* Call: (949) 854-4646