Latest / Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation / Kelly Boy DeLima of Kapena: A Life Infused with Hawaiian Music and Culture

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Kelly Boy DeLima of Kapena: A Life Infused with Hawaiian Music and Culture · Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I would enter the surf contest and on the breaks China would ask me, hey, kelly Boy, can you get your ukulele and go on microphone set up, would you mind jamming in between the sessions and stuff?
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And I was, oh shoot.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: so I would go surf my heat And I come back under the band-in tree and start playing my ukulele and start singing.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And then I soon realized that singing was I think I would get a little bit more further in life and my ukulele and singing that I was a surfer.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a clip from today's interview with Kelly Boy Delima from the band Kappana, And on today's episode we talk about all about how this amazing band started on the beaches of Waikiki.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: He talks about what life was like growing up on the West side and how he met his wife from the East side.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: That was a great story just to hear, And also just about what life was like growing up on Oahu.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: He offers some great tips for people visiting the islands as well.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: So you don't wanna miss this one.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and let's jump right on in.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Aloha, welcome to Hawaii's best.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Here you'll learn what to know before traveling, as we discover Hawaiian culture, local businesses and the experiences that make Hawaii one of the most incredible places in the world.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: And now your host, brian Murphy.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for tuning in.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: If you have been listening for a while, i just wanna say thank you.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: It mean the world If you would go ahead and just take five seconds and leave a review in a reading.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: If you are listening on Apple Podcast right now, that would be super helpful And I would be so appreciative of that.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Well, today, like I mentioned, we are talking with Kelly Boy Delima from the Island of Oahu, and he is a founder and leader of the group Kappana.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: His musical journey began in 1984 when he competed with his two Tongan brothers in brown bags, and we talk all about what that is.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: It's such a cool story behind that and how Kappana has been such an incredible presence on the islands, but also how their music has reached across the globe.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Kelly Boy has toured all over the world spreading that Kappana music that fans first fell in love with.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Kelly Boy has been bringing that feel good island music to the world for over 30 years.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: His genuine personality, captivating stage presence and timeless music has made him one of the hardest working musicians in the business.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: We impact all of that and more in today's interview.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: But enough of my yakking, let's go ahead and we're gonna talk story with Kelly Boy Delima.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Let's talk story.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Let's talk story, talking story.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Kelly Boy, i just wanna say thank you so much for coming on Hawaii's Best Today.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: How are you doing?
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, i'm doing great Brian.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Thank you, and yes, things are beautiful today in Hawaii.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: We got a little bit rain over here on the Kaniyori side, but it's in the 80s and all is well.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: That's amazing.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Have you always lived on the East Side?
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I'm originally from Waianae, makaha, those beautiful beaches out there in Makaha.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I grew up out there surfing at Makaha surfing beach And there's a place that we call Cabanas or Turtle Beach.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: We used to body surf there And so I grew up all along that coast on the West Side.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: My dad's family were all from there, had a great time growing up on the West Side.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: It's beautiful And we used to camp down there from like.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: There's a beach called Pray for Sex, there's Makua and there's just all these different beautiful areas.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: There's Yokohama, down all the way towards the end as you go into Kaena Point, and as kids we would go all the way around Kaena Point on.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: My dad's old dot-send truck would wind up on the opposite side on Mokalei here and Haleiwa on the North Shore.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: So it was a great time out there in Makaha and Waianae growing up.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: And then I met my wife in my 19, 20 years old and we got married and she's from Waimanalo.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Now She's from the East Side, over the Koalao.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, The Capulets and the Montague's Right right.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: East meets West, you know.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And she said I'm not moving that far away from my Shambi and Waimanalo.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: And so we kind of compromised, and I've been here in Kaneohe now for about 30 years now, okay, you explained a little bit what life was like growing up on Hawaii, but maybe a little bit more story about just kind of growing up running around You know, especially for the visitors and those that come to the islands Here in Hawaii, surfing is like a culture thing.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Music is a culture thing.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: It's stuff that have been passed down.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: We've seen our parents and our grandparents you know what I mean Either be fishermen or watermen or all sorts of things that we do here in Hawaii.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: A lot of kids play sports, baseball, basketball and stuff, but most of the local kids especially you'll find it on the outer islands Molokotne, maui, the big island, the big island kids.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: They grew up picking up peahy, which is little shells of love that grow on the sides of our rocks and really a delicacy.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, you got to be very experienced, very watchful when you're doing that kind of thing, but you know those kind of things.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: So I grew up just like that.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: You know going to around Mokolei here, like I was seeing, and in my dad's doxing truck from Waena, and we would go to Mokolei here and go right up to the point of Kaena Point, where there's a big lighthouse out there And we would pick Vana.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Vana is like this sea urchin.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: It's a sea urchin with the pricklies and Okay, yeah, in the Vana is.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's like a delicacy too.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: So we would go to that as kids.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: We would go fishing.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: We would camp down there at Kaena Point in Mokolei, here on the Mokolei side of a Dillingham field.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: It's actually where the gliders take off out there on Dillingham.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I remember as a kid growing up out there with my grandpa and grandma and mom and dad would leave us for the whole three months.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: It's when all schools would get off during summertime and every school would be off for three months.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: There wasn't no year-round school or you go back to school, this You'd have to couple of, no, this was all over.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: You would get off at the same time.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: And I remember my father-in-law and my grandfather was pure Portuguese, my grandmother was pure Hawaiian, so I would get two sides of the food.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the food, them shipping it up down at the beach And mom and dad would actually come to the beach and then they would leave all the kids with our All the cousins and they would go to work and then after work they'd come back to the beach and we would camp for three months.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: So we would be fishing, we would be crabbing And I remember my dad them coming and they would go night diving quite a bit And I remembered him going out one time and night diving and My dad bringing back this big, i mean this big white eel.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I mean the eel was there.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: You know it was about as big as my leg.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I you know huge eel and I was like what the heck are we gonna do with this?
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: you know, and my grandfather cooked it in this vinegar style, this Portuguese way called in your Deutsch.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, and you know, i mean in Hawaii we get all these different cultures and flavors and Yeah, there's a whole fusion.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: It's just one big multipart.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: You know, brian, right, you know.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And so my grandfather cooked.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, this is the best.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, i still can taste.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I was a kid, you know, and I still can taste it in my mouth, but that's the kind of stuff that we would do.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: You know, surfing Takes you back.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it takes me back, surfing and diving and watching my father then go diving and just growing up.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: You know that life And it's great times in Hawaii.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: And you know local people.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: They love to share the culture, they love to.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I know we have plenty of family that come from the mainland and stuff and they're just so, they just want to soak in everything.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, it's that and the other.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: So it's a good life here.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now, what about music?
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Was that model growing up as well, like, where did that come from?
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, the whole music thing started in intermediate school, okay, and it kind of was linked to my surfing And you know, i thought I was going to be a pro surfer when I was growing up.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: I was this skinny little kid that was.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: you know, after I left Wainae I moved to the kind of key area and it was an intermediate high school time And I grew up on Waikiki Beach.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: I became a Waikiki Beach boy.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I would run for a lot of uncles if you needed coffee or you needed one drink.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I was your man, you know.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Anyway, you know I gave surf lessons and took people out on the canoe outrigger.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: you know Waikiki Beach, and I lived that life And that's pretty much how I learned.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: You know I had Beach Boys, friends, kids that were all growing up with me.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: James Willis was a dear friend from the beginning And another kid that I grew up with, kunia Godera, who was a grandson of our legendary Gabby Pahinui from the Pahinui family.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: He was the one that really inspired me and his abilities on that ukulele.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: But it was during that time running around on the beach I would take my ukulele.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I would give them to one of the Beach Boys on Waikiki Beach like, oh, i'm going to eat my, eat my.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Kalani.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you know, he had a group called Intangibles here.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: They did four part, the four part Hawaiian harmonies and the beautiful whole, that old surfer style you know.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: and uh, it was just you know.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: so I would give them my ukulele and I'll be watching the cord.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Anyway, um, china, we more, who organize these big China's surf board meets, longboard meets, i would put on the surf contest down in Waikiki.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: I would enter the surf contest and on the breaks, china would ask me hey, can you get your ukulele and go on microphone set up, would you?
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: would you mind jamming in between the you know the sessions and stuff?
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: And I was, oh, shoot, so I'll go surf my heat and I come back under the banding tree and start playing my ukulele and start singing.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: And then I soon realized that singing was, uh, i think I would get a little bit more further life where ukulele and singing that I was, that I was a surfer, you know.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: So about like, what year was, was this around?
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Oh, that was in the eighties.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: That was that was the eighties.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely early eighties.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: So things were really starting to kind of build up.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, i graduated in 84.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that was.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: That was around the intermediate and guiding that in the eighties, definitely.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was, uh, it was 85.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: You started at Kappana.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Um 80, 85,.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I started the Kappana that I would go on for the next 20, 20 years with Oh okay, yeah, maybe unpack that a little bit.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: How'd that start?
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: So in 84, i entered the Brown Becks to Stardom, which was the equivalent to like American Idol, or the voice, the Hawaiian version of American Idol, and it was high schools that competed against each other And the finalists would compete at the Waikiki Shell.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, I tell you what, brian, this thing was loaded It was.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: We never had the internet, we didn't have any.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Maybe we couldn't download somebody's song or or or.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: You know, you go to Tom Records and you buy your CD or cassette.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, But I'm not as old as the E-Tracks, So you get your cassette and man, I tell you it was just phenomenal.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: It was a phenomenal turnout, that Waikiki Shell, I mean you'd have 10,000 people in the Waikiki Shell and another 4,000 outside Just hanging, just listening and hanging out and tailgating and potlucking and doing all of that stuff.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: And it was huge.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: And I entered with a couple of friends of mine from school in 84.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And we were against that year.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: The guys that won was Naleo, Kilimejano, Oh yeah, Three girls.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: They did their original and they just blew everybody out of the park And it was.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: It was awesome.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: But that was my first time entering the Brown Becks.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: And then the next year I entered with my group with the two Tongan brothers, Tiva and Tiva.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: That was in 85.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: But they had an elimination process which was before we got to the shell, before you just went for your school and you go straight.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: You would win at your school and then you'd go straight to the shell.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: But the next year we won for the school And then the top three from our school would compete another high school top three and they called it Hawaii High And we didn't make it out of that round to go to the Waikiki show, but we went other places after that in our career.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: It was just a lot of you know stuff, you know the groundwork, and then we went on and traveled and won, you know, countless Nahuakuhonohono, which is equivalent to the Hawaiian Grammys for those of you guys that don't know, and I got a couple in the back there, all in my I see that, or the bunch of them in the back there.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: You know just a contemporary group of the year, album of the year and on different you know years and stuff, and you know it was just, it's just been a wonderful journey.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: You know the music has been a wonderful.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Of course then went for about 20 years, so for the past I would say 10 to 15 years.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Now I've been performing with my children, which has been another, you know, like another season and another chapter in my life.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: You know which has been, i think, the biggest blessing for me.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I bet And I was telling you earlier, you guys, about culture here in Hawaii Culture is really important.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: You know it's stuff that you know.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: The language is what is passed on.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Our language is not something that we just, you know, figured out, let's.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: It's, it's just a cultural thing.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: You just like the music.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: So my dad taught me, i'm teaching my kids and now my grandkids are performing too with us.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: You know, it's just the circle of life, you know, and and to Hawaiians, you know that's very important, it's a very, it's our culture, like sort of music, surfing, everything to do.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: That is, you know, it's to do it.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Ohana, and I guess the Ohana is, you know, the family Unit, is the biggest you know, on here in the islands, as you well know.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, the kids are carrying on the carrying on the legacy and You know, the beautiful thing is I get to sit back and and still breathe in and I'm alive and I'm enjoying every moment of of this.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: That's incredible.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: You hit it on the head as you were talking.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: The word, this legacy just kept popping into my To my head, and it just must be super cool seeing you, know your family, carrying this on and seeing some of the fruits you know out of these.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: You know how many years you know.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's, that's incredible news.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: It's one thing to pick up the ukulele, any instrument, and like, hey, i think I have this talent, i've been getting, i, i should, i should, you know, refine it and and press into it.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: But then on the other side, there's this whole songwriting journey, and Maybe talk a little bit about that.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: When did you discover or what was the songwriting process like for you, or what is it like for you currently?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Well, i'll talk about a song that I wrote.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: It's called kalena cool.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I wrote this for my daughter.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I kind of shot myself in the foot writing this one, because now the other two kids are like wow dad Gee.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Thanks dad.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: We know his favorite.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know who the favorite is.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: But It's just, you know what this?
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of people think that you just sit down at a table and you just start writing and Normally that's what it is, you know it's.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: It's about experiences and it's about, you know, things that you've been through through life and and you know.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Basically, music is like I mean I'm sure I can answer for everybody It's like the Soundtrack of our life, right, and you know, i mean you can remember when shoot, i remember when rock the boat don't ride the boat, baby.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: That was in the 70s.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I was in line, i.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: You know that it's the kind of songs that come up and it's like boom, you just you're right back to exactly.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I'm just like I remember that, where I was walking and where I was, anyway.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: So it was like that, but in this song in particular, yeah, well, that's the process of songwriting, i presume.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: But in this time particular, i dreamt.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I was dreaming and I dreamt the melody and I woke up from my sleep and I Came to the table over here that I'm sitting on same living room.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I've been here, for Kalena was three months old when we moved into this house.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: She's 28 now.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: She was nine months old when I wrote the song kalena cool, so it was right here, came to this table and I started writing the lyrics And it just came, the melody, everything just coming, funny faces, i just try, you know, and it's like, yeah, and and that was like a very unique process, i guess, of the songwriting for me with that one, and that thing became, you know, i mean, honest to god brain, yeah, we just did a baby party.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: You know, in hawaii we celebrate baby parties for you.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no baby luaos.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I'm very, very important.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a thing, you know, it's a huge thing.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Everybody has a baby luao and it's because of you know, another cultural thing if the kings in old hawaii would make it for a year was a celebration, you know, because anyway, i won't get, you know.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, you're feeling the blank Yeah.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Anyway.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: So the baby luaos are very important to our local people.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: So I want to say, maybe a year or two ago I wrote this song 28 years ago, guys, you know I mean it.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: So they hired us to come and play for your baby luao and the baby's name was kalena cool, you know what I mean.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: And there's so many kalenas named after you know the song after all of these years and I'm like What a timeless thing Yeah, songwriting is.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: You know, it's like, you know I mean I could have.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I wrote that song 28 years ago and people still name it their kid kalena And they want to, you know they mean they want to, you know, hire you so that they can play for their brand new babies.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: You know, birthday party kalena, you know, and it's yeah, it just it blows me away How much on the effect music has on on our lives and everybody's life in general.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely speaks to the soul in ways that words can't sometimes.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: I totally agree with that.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know I told the kids that we have a responsibility.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: You know when we're where we're up there performing, that's why it always comes from from a good place.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: You know when we perform Because we have a responsibility, because you know, i mean, we are The soundtrack for a lot of people's lives and you know I mean I mean I get it all the time Right.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: This one kid told me brought Kelly boy.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I remember he.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: He sent me a message on Facebook.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: He said I remember when the first capena Cassette came, all me and my friend, we heard about this group on KCCN radio and we caught the boss from Holly Eva All the way to all the Moana shopping center just so that we could Get the capena cassette tape.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: And brah, we had on and we carried it all the way back on the boss back to how the evil had popped it in.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: And you know countless stories and I'm like brah, thank you.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: I just I said brah, i'm Forever indebted brah, you know, thank you.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: You know you don't realize how much the music touches people.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: You know like I tell the kids all the time We, you know we have a responsibility to keep it up, keep going and keep singing from the heart.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: You know Totally not playing with the kids, maybe going back even a little further.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: What was that transition?
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: like you know, doing the family ban.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: It was like a change of duty.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: I just like, like you know, things kind of fell into place.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: There was no animosity We never ever broke up with with my original group.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: It's just, you know, people moved on.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, you know, life goes on.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: You know, i, even with my kids.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: They're all grown up, they're getting married And I have grandkids now and it's like their life has moved on.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: You know, i'm trying to pull them back and say No, life moves on and that's what happened with the two brothers.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, and Timo Tiva, you know, in Tonga, on even the Tongans, you know the Polynesians too.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: So they have a heavy culture which is heavily placed on the oldest child as per se in Tongan families.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: You know, when the kupuna, or the parents, get older, their responsibility is to take care of that and kind of.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: So, tiva, what had happened was he just kind of moved into that.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: You know that place in life where he had to take care of mom and dad and Move into that responsibility.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: And they're heavy in the church Tongan church as well.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: He just had to step up, you know.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: And the music, you know he couldn't really keep keep going with the.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: How we were, you know, we were going about things and it kind of just worked out really cool, because kupuna joined in As our keyboard player and then Timo got married and he moved back to Tonga to help the parents out too, which was a guitar player, and then Kalena Koo came in.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: She jumped on keyboards, kupuna moved back to drums And then, you know but I thought, only these kids during this time, you know it was into drum lessons, saxophone lessons, trumpet lessons, drumming, piano lessons.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: They took piano, classical piano, since they were five years old.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: So they all play piano, they all can drum.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Kalena went to drum lessons too, so Kalena jumps on the drums too.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know, it was just, i like to say, divine appointment for them to be in that office and they're holding now is Carrying on the next generation of kupuna and it's just been such a great, i cannot believe it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: You know, like the piano teacher would call me up, she would say you know, kelly boy, there are families that come to me and they have multiple children too, and maybe one of them, you know, got some talent, maybe two, but all of your kids, you know she's like all of your kids, just what do you mean?
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: great, but to be honest, brian, it was a grueling time because I was like this drill sergeant, you know I mean, he's like general daddy, you know what I mean.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Like get on your lessons and one or other kids were outside playing kick ball and playing.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: You know, whatever they were doing outside, these guys was in the house, you know, practicing.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Okay, you got 45 minutes on the drum, 45 minutes.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: And then when you guys are done, you're 45, everybody switch, you know.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: So you know they worked hard for it, they really did.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: When the time came, like you said, yeah, our transition, it was all.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: You know, as we say in the islands, kono, it was all good.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: You know, like when one hand just slipping into one glove, and you know, the kids in Hawaii, you know, and I stress the culture thing and the O'Hana thing, if I chose any other group members to fill the shoes of my original group, coppano, coppano wouldn't be here today.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: But the locals look at you and they says, oh my gosh, that's Kelly Boy and all of his kids.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: They can get, because it's all about O'Hama, like I told you here.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: But you know, right, it gets so charged.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: People come up to me daily, every day I get some kind of, and it's like what a blessing to perform with your children, to do this with the kids, and I really believe that that's what's taking us from the 80s and now we're here and we're still continuing on Is.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Each one of them, in their own right, is an amazing and accomplished musician.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Totally yeah.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Obviously yeah, these huge shoes of Coppano Right to fill yeah.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: To fill right, but they're amazing musicians in their own.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: I mean they work.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: They can definitely tell they aren't here They should be.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: You know they worked really hard for it and they might be scarred a little bit Because of that.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Scars are okay.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: But they're okay, they're good, they're good they're good standing citizens in the community.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: So You perform about?
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: was it like six nights a week Most?
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: of the time, about seven.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, seven, okay, wow.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: The Sundays normally we take off, you know, for church and stuff.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: But if you get, we're also priests and worship leaders in our church, so we have that responsibility too.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: It's not really a responsibility, it is a joy, you know, to get into church and to do that.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it's, one of our other jobs is to do that.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: But you know, my father-in-law is a pastor.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I'm married.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I pass his daughter in.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: My father-in-law always used to say you know something, if you're working and you have work, it's a blessing.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: And if you get work, especially as an entertainer, please go do your job.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: God wants to bless you, you know.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: And so we went and shy away from you know we don't work on Christian.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: We don't work on Sundays and no, my father-in-law would encourage it And he says you got on job.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: It's a blessing, recognize it.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: That's a preach Cool Some of the times.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: You know we would.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: A lot of times we get gigs on a Sunday night evening.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: But yeah, so we worked in Waikiki.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: We work in Waikiki, to answer your question, mondays we're at the Halekulani Hotel, tuesdays we're at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, wednesdays I'm at I do a solo thing, but all of my kids remember now during the week we all do solo.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: So Cappella plays the grand piano at the Moana, on Wednesdays I do a solo at the Surf, jack Kalena does a solo piano gig at Manjiamo, some Italian restaurant, and then Thursdays the Royal, i think.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I think Thursdays, i think the Moana Beach, okay, yeah, the beach bar, yeah, yeah, like the Moana.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: So that was our studies.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: We're doing the Sheraton Waikiki on Fridays, but then we kind of be changed the times on that.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: So about maybe a year or two now we've been on that one on Fridays.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: But we get casuals, you know, like baby parties or a wedding or something on a Friday, or even we perform at the different restaurants or clubs Yeah, you know different venues, and then we do just this huge bunch of like baby party, from baby parties to weddings, to birthday parties, anniversary parties, So from the humble environment of your living room and streaming to you know millions of people to playing at the show, i'm just super curious.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: playing across the world and even in Waikiki, is there like one experience, one performance that you go back to and you're like that was that one night, that was just magical?
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Is there one performance?
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: or is there like a season or multiple performances that just kind of fled your mind, You know?
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: you know there's so many when you, when you say that, there's so many things that come up emotions and Feelings and stuff that come up in my mind.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: There's been so many wonderful experiences.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, i remember a lot of them were at the Waikiki Shell.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: It was FM 100 birthday bash And you know we started that off with with the old school guys, kappena Israel come up of you will only really key and You know we can just passed away.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Israel is has passed.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: And I remember standing up on stage rolling cousin Maro It was me really rolling and Israel were on the stage and I had this old Sketchy little video that I still have of the four of us up there on On stage at the Waikiki Shell.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: You know those are high points, definitely, yeah, and look, all three of them have gone on home and they're all jamming in heaven of.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: There was one year at the Waikiki Shell when FM 100 Which was the radio station here for those of you yet visitors out there tuning in FM 100 was the radio station that posted These big called Berkeley bashing it and they lasted for, i think, 22, 23 years And we played for every one, all 22 of them, or 23 of them.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: But one year in particular is was before cell phones and before, well, it was a days when people only had lighters and You know no cell phone lights and the color and stuff.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: They were giving away these flashlights, these little flashlights that you know you turn on and you know kind of, you know Hang at the end of your key and, okay, you know if you lost here.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I was.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: I think they gave like the first five thousand people that came to the gate and this you talking about 10,000 people that would attend these concerts.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: You know So the first five thousand times, thinking I'm backstage and I'm like man, all these people got these lights in.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: It's like what, what do I do?
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Have to been, i would say, maybe six years into the birthday bash, maybe I did six of them already.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: I stopped to myself What could I do to incorporate these lights and stuff?
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: So I sang Danny song, which is we recorded it also, but it was a logins in Masina to, even though we ain't got money.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I'm so low and you know everybody goes that song, right.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: So I, i started off this thing and when we change to the chorus, even though we ain't got money, i yelled on the mic for the technician to shut down the whole house.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: You know the lights and brah right, no, these guys, it was flashing there, i said, and the whole white thing to show was live man.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: And you know what long story short after that, every year we had to do Danny song, and you know, and then it evolved, for he evolved from those lights to lighters and then it evolved to cell phones.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: You know, boy right, crazy.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: You know, it was one of many, just so many, 35 years I've been, you know, doing this and it's been a Wonderful journey, you know, to say the least, that's incredible, yeah, all those years and you've seen like a key transform and revolve and you've seen many people You know come and go.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if someone's come into the islands, maybe for the first time or or year after year, visiting what was, what be, something that you would want them to know coming to the islands, just kind of being prepared, To come wanting to learn something about the islands and our culture.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's very rich.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: You know our culture is very rich.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: You have it right there in Waikiki.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: You know surfing is a Is something that I would always suggest.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: You know, because it's.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: You know they mean the look on a muck and Our cupuna.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: You know that was their life.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: You know they mean surfing in the Waikiki beach life and and then, you know, especially, going around the island and getting the experiences of everything culturally, elani Palace is a good one, you know.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, learn about, you know history and you know our queen colony and You know it's just a lot of rich heritage, so dive into it.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, even like the Arizona Memorial.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: You know that is a lot of history to.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: You know my father-in-law We'll just pass the way last year would he would sit, i would sit with him.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: I was married to, i'm married to his daughter for 32 years.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: So I'm, you know, i knew him from my 20s and He was a little boy when Pearl Harbor happened, you know, and he actually waved at the, the, the planes going over.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: He lived where the Honolulu Airport is, and Little fun fact for you guys Is that not too many people know, but that area was called Damien track and it was track homes today And it was right where the Honolulu put Honolulu international or Daniel K Inouye Airport I stand corrected now Is there's main track.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: So right next to the Honolulu Airport is Pearl Harbor, right next door.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: So he was a little boy, he was about six, seven years old and He remembers those zeros, you know, coming over, you know coming right over their house, and they were low.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: He said they were low and all of a sudden, you know these Bombs went off and fire.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: He said they saw fire a mile up.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: You know just Going, you know I just chaos and you know sirens blowing and it right, it makes me, you know It takes me like to another place when these old timers, you know They tell you so, like I said.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Getting back to my point, a lot of history over there, yeah, and you know it.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: It even has a deeper respect for me when you hear it from The mouth of somebody that experienced in, like my father-in-law.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: You know that kind of stuff and Go around and enjoy.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Even the ex-president Obama comes here in vacations here and Definitely tries out our loves to eat, our favorite, the shave ice or shave ice and Matsumoto's on Holly in Halia and Just you know what.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: What is a unreal about Hawaii and I like people to know, especially visitors is the food.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: The food is just incredible because we have this, you know this mix, you know pop of different cultures that are Infusing in our food here in Hawaii.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Brought that is, i Would say you know what I mean.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I know a lot of people this want to get on to that beach and it's like, let me get some suntan, let me get into that water, and that's all good and well.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: No, get into go up to on Waimea, waimea Valley, and oh yeah, but it's nice stuff to do Rich history there too.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, take, take the time to kind of, you know, go over your game plan.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Oh, you know, even as locals we like to go to the believer, or not, the Polynesian cultural center too.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, i don't to spend the day.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we go, you know, maybe one before a year, and then we go, and we go visit all the villages and then you get that real quick injection of what You know to me what all the different Polynesian islands are, you know, and how they are brothers and sisters and how we are all kind of connected, you know so that perspective good stuff Yeah but good love and and stock by one of those stands on the side of the road that sells ice, cold coconuts Or pineapples or stuff.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Get some, even the locals not so you know?
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, boy, this man, we could.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: I could keep talking to forever man and I could.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: This is great.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, i Family who are Portuguese as well.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: Kelly boy, this has been real.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: I truly appreciate you and everything that you've you've done.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, buddy.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Anytime, anytime you need me, you know.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: anytime I'm good.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: Well, a big mohalo to Kelly boy for his time and coming on today, my biggest key takeaway was Not only is Kippena Amazing band, you can tell that they're so genuine.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: The heart behind Kippena is so real.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: The perspective And no matter what we go through, we always have music and to always do our best to look on the bright side of things And I just love that outlook that Kelly boy and his whole family just portray Well.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: I just want to say thank you so much for Joining me today.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: If you enjoyed this conversation with Kelly boy.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: I would just love to hear your feedback, to drop a rating and review on Apple podcasts And I just totally appreciate that.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: But until next time, be well Aloha.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: Mahalo for listening to this episode of Hawaii's best.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: To stay up to date on future episodes, please subscribe and visit us at Hawaii's best travel Dot com.