Kalapana is a Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an group that performs pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and soft rock

Soft rock

Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...

 music. They are known for their songs "Naturally

Naturally (Kalapana song)

"Naturally" is Kalapana's signature song. Released in 1975 from their eponymous album, "Naturally" quickly became Kalapana's most popular song, even though it didn't chart on the Billboard Hot 100....

" and "The Hurt".

Early history (1973 - 1986)

In 1973, childhood friends David John (DJ) Pratt and Carl James Malani Bilyeu auditioned at the Rainbow Villa for Cecilio & Kapono

Cecilio & Kapono

Cecilio & Kapono are a Hawaiian music duo formed in 1973, comprising Henry Kapono Ka’aihue and Cecilio David Rodriguez, who have released 14 albums to date...

. Malani was soloing at the Oar House in Hawaii Kai

Hawaii Kai, Hawaii

Hawaii Kai is a largely residential area located in the City & County of Honolulu, in the Honolulu CDP on the island of Oahu. Hawaii Kai is the largest of several communities at the eastern end of the island. The area was largely developed by Henry J. Kaiser around the ancient Maunalua...

 and DJ was downstairs at Chuck's in Sunlight with Kirk Thompson. They got together in DJ's grandfather's garage with Bryant Mackey Feary, another solo act, playing at the Oar House. They wrote songs, rehearsed, and at one point discussed the meaning of Kalapana. The literal translation of the word "Kalapana" is "sprouting money". Kirk said the meaning was "beat of the music", but he wanted "Dove" anyway. DJ thought it meant "Black Sand". Regardless, they named themselves Kalapana, playing their first gig at Chuck's in Hawaii Kai.

They became a regular band at a club called "The Toppe Ada Shoppe". They opened concerts for Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...

, Batdorf & Rodney, The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....

, Sly & The Family Stone

Sly & the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...

, and Cecilio & Kapono

Cecilio & Kapono

Cecilio & Kapono are a Hawaiian music duo formed in 1973, comprising Henry Kapono Ka’aihue and Cecilio David Rodriguez, who have released 14 albums to date...

. They released their first, self-titled album, Kalapana, which included Jackie Kelso on sax and flute, Bill Perry on bass and Larry Brown on drums.

Kalapana performed a three–concert event at the Waikiki Shell

Waikiki Shell

The Waikiki Shell is a venue for outdoor concerts and other large gatherings in Waikiki area of Honolulu, Hawaii. The Waikiki Shell seats 2,400 persons and the lawn area has capacity for an additional 6,000 persons. It is under the management of the Neal S. Blaisdell Center...

 during the span of June 25–27, 1976, where 25,000 people attended. In 1977, they helped select the entrants for the "Home Grown" album project.

Kalapana won several Nani Awards, the predecessor to the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. They were nominated for four categories and received "Best Performance by a duo or group", and "Best Male Vocalist" for Mackey, who had split from the group and joined Billy Kaui (Country Comfort).

The group reorganized to include Randy Aloya, replacing Mackey, who was pursuing a solo career, DJ, Malani, Kirk, Michael and Alvin. The reorganized group included Kimo Cornwell (formerly with Beowolf and later with Hiroshima) on keyboards, toured in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and released "Kalapana Live In Japan" (Sun Plaza), "Northbound", and "Kalapana Alive at Yokohama". DJ, as Kalapana, also released "Hold On" and a solo LP "Branded".

In Hawaii, Mackey & Malani regrouped and recorded "Kalapana Live Reunion", a concert at the Waikiki Shell. The group changed members over the next few years while each pursued solo and duo efforts.

Hurricane and Pony Canyon (1986 - 1999)

In 1986, the band had their album Hurricane released. Kalapana presented the album at a release party at Rascal Discotheque in Waikiki

Waikiki

Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....

. The invitations were sent out with singles from the album; roses and T-Shirts were given away at the venue.

For the "Hurricane" concert, the band wore suits. For the song "Living Without You", the band was brought out wearing white zoot suit

Zoot suit

A zoot suit is a suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing was popularized by African Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Italian Americans during the late 1930s and the 1940s...

 dinner jackets with red velvet bow tie

Bow tie

The bow tie is a type of men's necktie. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar in a symmetrical manner such that the two opposite ends form loops. Ready-tied bow ties are available, in which the distinctive bow is sewn into shape and the band around the neck incorporates a clip....

s. Kenji, Mackey, Malani, and DJ performed choreography during the concert.

Kalapana released "Lava Rock" in 1987, and performed with Hiroshima and Anri, musicians from Japan; Kalapana played at the grand opening of the Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...

 in Honolulu. They performed in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 for crowds of 10,000 people at two sold-out concerts, toured Japan, the West Coast US, Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

, Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

, Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

, and outer islands; their first feature length video of the Lava Rock Concert was taped at the Waikiki Shell. Kalapana toured Japan with Michael Paulo, who was then with Al Jarreau

Al Jarreau

Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is a seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer.- Background :Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, the fifth of six children. His web site refers to Reservoir, Inc., the name of the street where he lived. His father was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church minister and singer, and...

's band, and Tris Imboden

Tris Imboden

Tris Imboden is the current drummer with Chicago. He replaced their original drummer Danny Seraphine following his dismissal in 1990. Prior to joining Chicago, as well as during his tenure with the band, Imboden has had a career as a studio session player...

, the drummer for Chicago

Chicago (band)

Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...

. Following, Kalapana had a five album deal with Pony Canyon

Pony Canyon

is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...

 Records.

They continue to tour and record in Japan and the West Coast. The releases, to date, on Pony Canyon are: "Back In Your Heart Again", "Kalapana Sings Southern All-Stars", and "Walk Upon the Water". The fourth LP, "Full Moon Tonight", was released at the time of the royal wedding in Japan in June 1995, and included a new version of "Hawaiian Wedding Song" done R & B style. Their latest album on Pony Canyon Records, "Captain Santa Island Music", consists of songs written for a clothing line in Japan. Each album contains redone arrangements of Kalapana songs, includes guests, and studio-recorded songs made for the respective album.

In 1997, Kalapana released the Hawaii version of "Captain Santa Island Music" with liner notes by international radio DJ

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 Kamasami Kong. More recently, Kalapana released in Japan another CD titled "The Very Best of Kalapana", which is a compilations of 20 of their songs.

Post-Feary era (1999 onward)

Mackey Feary died on February 20, 1999.

During the summer of 1999, Kalapana released "Love Under the Sun", the title song for FM Nagoya's compilation

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 CD, which was used for FM Nagoya's Summer Campaign. Also, they recorded the theme song for the Asahi Super Cup, a series of sailboat races held off the coast of Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

. Both recordings were done at TK Disc Studios, which are Japanese recording artist/producer Tetsuya Komuro

Tetsuya Komuro

, also known as TK, is a Japanese keyboardist, guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer born on November 27, 1958 in Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan. He is recognized as being the most successful producer in Japanese music history and introduced dance music to the Japanese mainstream...

's recording studios in Hawaii.

In November 2002, the group released the studio album The Blue Album. Two songs off of the said album feature Maurice Bega on vocals. Guest artists included the group Chant singing background vocals on "Ten Years After" (written by Komuro), Tris Imboden from the band Chicago on "Another Lonely Night", Michael Paulo on saxophone, and Pauline Wilson and Garin Poliahu on drums. James Studer appears throughout the CD with arrangements and keyboards.

As of 2009, the band members were Malani, DJ, bassist Kenji Sano, and keyboardist Gaylord Holomalia.

Discography

• Kalapana - 1975
• Kalapana II - 1976
• Kalapana III - 1977
• Many Classic Moments - 1978
• Reunion - 1983
• Hurricane - 1986
• Lava Rock - 1987
• Back in Your Heart Again
• Walk Upon the Water
• Full Moon Tonight - 1995
• Captain Santa Island Music - 1996
• Kalapana Plays Southern All-Stars Japan release
• Best of Kalapana Vol. 1 - 1997
• Blue Album - 2002
• Best of Kalapana Vol. 2 - 2004
• Many Classic Moments: Kalapana Plays Their Best - 2008