Demand Results in Third HAPA Concert, June 30

Due to overwhelming demand, Hawaiian music duo HAPA will perform for a third time at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Sunday, June 30, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.  This comes after shows performed at the MACC on May 19 and 26.

After a 17 year hiatus, the MACC presents the reunification of the original Hawaiian music duo comprised of Barry Flanagan and Keliʻi Kanealiʻi whose groundbreaking sound established the name HAPA as one of the most recognized names in Hawaiian music.

HAPA. Photo courtesy: Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

The name HAPA is inspired by the band’s two members Keliʻi Kanealiʻi of South Pacific ancestry, and Barry Flanagan who relocated to Maui from New Jersey. The Hawaiian singers/guitarists duo first met in 1983, and derived their name from a pidgin slang expression for “ethnically mixed”. They spent the next decade honing their distinctive sound, an update of traditional Polynesian textures and rhythms incorporating elements of pop and worldbeat.

The group’s self-titled album, released in 1993, remains the number one selling recording by a group or duo in the history of recorded Hawaiian music. The recording swept all six categories it was nominated for at the 1994 Hawai’i Music Awards (now called the Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards).

In 2007, the album was acknowledged by Honolulu Magazine as #31 of the 50 All-Time Greatest Hawaiian Recordings of All Time, with the original song “Lei Pikake” acknowledged as #32 in the follow-up 50 All-Time Greatest Songs issue.

Tickets for the added show are $35, $45, $65 plus applicable fees and are available at the MACC Box Office, by phone at 808-242-SHOW and online at MauiArts.org.

HAPA. Photo courtesy: Maui Arts & Cultural Center.