Hawaiian duo Hapa has been making music for many years but it got to a point where the group function was losing the strength that was once felt between everyone. Barry Flanagan has been the running force behind the group but after second vocalist Nathan Aweau wanted to start his own career as a solo artist and the death of Hawaiian chanter Charles Ka’upu two years ago, Flanagan thought that after 15 years and six albums, it was the perfect time to put the group to rest. (Original vocalist Keli’i Kaneali’i left the group in 2001.)
Fortunately, Flanagan found someone who wanted to share that passion of Hawaiiana and kanikapila with him, which is how he welcomed Ron Kuala’au into the group, who is actually an old friend and someone who was there when the idea for Hapa first started. On Thursday, Hapa did a performance on KGMB news and someone came along to hula to the song, news reporter Laci Deniz. She is a new addition to Hawai’i News Now and had did a traffic report by not being afraid to “brok’ da mout'” by talking in pidgin, which was helpful in showing the power of Hapa’s music and how it still moves people, figuratively and literally. The duo recently put together a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a new album and it was a success, so new music is on its way in 2016.
This Is Book's Music 