HAPA, Hawaii’s Super Group, Appears at Orcas Center

Great Hawaiian music comes to Orcas Island

HAPA, Hawaii’s Super  Group, appears at Orcas Center Friday, July 8 at 7: 30 pm.

HAPA is Barry Flanagan & Ron Kuala’au and Hula dancer Heali’i Stanley. Like the Hawaiian Islands themselves, HAPA’S Pan Polynesian music is an amalgam of influences ranging from ancient genealogical chants to the strummed ballads of Portuguese fisherman, Spanish cowboys, and the inspired melodies and harmonies of the traditional church choirs of the early missionaries.  Add to this a dose of American acoustic folk/rock, and you have what has been described as the “most exciting and beautiful contemporary Hawaiian music the world knows!” Maui Times

“These disparate ingredients blended together musically in the Pacific emotes the unique flavor of what Hawaii and HAPA music is: beautiful, fragile, spiritual, powerful, urgent, compelling, muscular, hypnotic!” L.A. Times

Often encapsulated as the “Sound of Maui”, HAPA’s music includes the majestic tones of the oli (chant), mele (song), the elegant movements of the sacred dance known as hula, and the exhilarating innovative sounds of virtuoso slack key guitar. HAPA’s self-entitled debut cd released in 1993, swept the 1994 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawaii’s equivalent of the Grammy’s), becoming the biggest selling CD by a group or duo in the history of recorded Hawaiian music. The group’s ground breaking music has established them as the most recognized name in Hawaiian music internationally since their debut release, with sold-out shows from Tokyo to New York.

Dinner & Music at the Kitchen
Enjoy a tasty Asian-fusion dinner at The Kitchen before HAPA and receive a 10% discount.  Just mention that you are going to the show. The Kitchen is open 11 am – 7 pm, 376 -6958

Tickets for HAPA are $25 for adults, $17 (Orcas Center members) and $11 for students. Tickets may be purchased on the website or by calling  376-2281 ext 1 or visiting the Orcas Center box office during box office hours which are Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12- 4 pm. For more information about Orcas Center 2011 season events, please visit www.orcascenter.org.