Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel
Title
Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel
Subject
Nā Kumu Hula Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 100
Description
Na Hoku Hanohano award winner Keali‘i Reichel is a popular singer, composer, and the kumu hula of Hālau Hula o Ka Makani Wili Makaha o Kauaʻula.
In comparison to other people I started hula late. I was exposed to hula through the Hawaiiana Club at Lahainaluna High School when I was a freshman. The club was under the direction of a senior named Peter Day. At the time he was considered to be a child prodigy. He studied under ʻIolani Luahine and Henry Pa when he was about seven-years-old.
I studied with Peter for one year in high school. He didn’t explain too much about the chants. I le just showed us how the mele was danced. I was a bad dancer in high school. I had no rhythm, nothing. When we had performances, the other students used to forget my outfits on purpose. Finally after the twelfth or thirteenth time, I caught on that they didn’t want me to dance. When you’re fourteen-years-old that’s hard to take so I quit and studied on my own. I practiced everyday in front of the mirror just to perfect my timing.
After a couple of years Peter saw me dance again for the Hawaiiana Club and he was impressed. He had just formed his hālau and he wanted me to dance for him and help teach the students when he wasn’t there. During that time I was able to improve my teaching skills. You can have all this knowledge but if you don’t know how to convey it, there’s no sense.
It was an intense several years that I studied under Peter. I learned dozens of dances. Then suddenly in 1981 Peter moved and left the hālau. Within a two-day period he just up and went. He had all these students who were hungry for more hula and because I was the alaka’i, they asked if I could stay and continue the training as best I could. At first I told them “no” because I wasn’t qualified. But other kumu hula on Maui urged me to continue and said they would be there if I needed help.
When Pua Kanahele came to Maui to teach Hawaiian language, I jumped at the chance to study with her. I quit all my jobs and I basically plunged into poverty so I could go back to school to study under her. The first foundation she gave me was language and she stressed the importance of language in hula and chant. The next foundation she gave me was in chanting. Through the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Apprenticeship Program, I became Pua’s apprentice and studied one-on-one with her in chant styles and techniques. Between these two different foundations I believe that I have become successful.
I love competitions. Our people were competitive from the ancient times. Hawaiians were competitive in almost every aspect that you can think of. We don’t enter competitions all the time because we don’t want to make that our one and only goal. But competition brings out an excellence in the dancers that under normal circumstances would not exhibit. One of the main reasons we go to competitions is because we want to make a statement. We want to tell people that this is our hālau, this is what we do, this is our foundation, and this is us. Whether we place or not isn’t important.
Seeking knowledge is the priority and it’s ongoing. I don’t think everybody knows everything. “‘Aʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau ho‘okāhi” (All knowledge is not taught in the same school) is really true. In our hālau there are certain things that I’m not knowledgeable in and I recognize that. I don’t pretend to know certain kinds of hula. When l feel that my dancers are ready to learn that hula, I send them to another kumu hula who has extensive knowledge in that hula. That way our students receive as much information as possible from other kumu hula who are willing to help and to share. I’m not going to deny my students a specific branch of knowledge just because I don’t know it. It’s important that I bring in someone who can fulfill that void.
A hula style is something that you develop over the years. Every person who teaches hula today is almost a direct reflection of their kumu hula. What makes a kumu hula good is that they take the knowledge from their own kumu and take it to a higher level. If they learned from two or three different people, they take the styling and they blend all of those styles together and they come up with their own. It’s not done on purpose, it just happens that way. I think that’s creativity. You gather all that you’ve learned and you make it work for yourself and for your students.
I’m not a prolific composer. I compose every so often when I’m moved to do so or stressed out to do so. I usually compose when emotions are running high. It’s a good outlet. If you are composing, you need to have that emotional connection to whatever it is you’re writing about. If you are writing about love or a broken heart, make sure that you understand what that emotion is. You cannot be writing songs about love if you’ve never been in love.
When this music thing happened, it was very much by accident. Although I knew I could hold a tune, I never thought I was a great singer. I was singing in the shower one day and as you know, everybody sounds good in the shower. Some of my friends were over and they said, “Wow, you should do an album.” They kept bugging me so after awhile I said if they could get the money together, I’ll do an album. I thought I'd nip it in the bud right there because albums are expensive to make. Well they got most of the money together and I had to do my album. We didn’t even put a band together because we didn't think it would be successful. We just thought some hula people would like it and that would be fine. We just wanted to break even on the expenses.
All of a sudden it went ballistic. Two months after the album came out, we realized we had to perform. I’m a reluctant performer. I stress out everytime we have to sing at a concert. Chanting is different because you immerse yourself in the composition. I can oli in front of a million people and not be nervous but when you’re singing, it’s different. Looking at the community however and seeing how these compositions and this music affected people, I realized that it was a lot bigger than all of us. We now had an obligation to fulfill.
Ever since I started the hālau, it’s been number one in my life. I’ve lost jobs because I chose hālau before work. I’ve been homeless because I couldn’t pay my rent. For the first time in my life I saw myself as being financially secure. But I told myself that this wasnʻt going to last long. At some point Keali‘i Reichel, the singer, will fade away. I still believe that. During the past three years I relied on the alaka‘i to continue and to try and keep the hālau together. We’ve lost a lot of students because of it. Over the last month I’ve met with the hālau and I’m recommitting myself. The singing stuff can wait. My hālau is back to number one.
100 Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel
In comparison to other people I started hula late. I was exposed to hula through the Hawaiiana Club at Lahainaluna High School when I was a freshman. The club was under the direction of a senior named Peter Day. At the time he was considered to be a child prodigy. He studied under ʻIolani Luahine and Henry Pa when he was about seven-years-old.
I studied with Peter for one year in high school. He didn’t explain too much about the chants. I le just showed us how the mele was danced. I was a bad dancer in high school. I had no rhythm, nothing. When we had performances, the other students used to forget my outfits on purpose. Finally after the twelfth or thirteenth time, I caught on that they didn’t want me to dance. When you’re fourteen-years-old that’s hard to take so I quit and studied on my own. I practiced everyday in front of the mirror just to perfect my timing.
After a couple of years Peter saw me dance again for the Hawaiiana Club and he was impressed. He had just formed his hālau and he wanted me to dance for him and help teach the students when he wasn’t there. During that time I was able to improve my teaching skills. You can have all this knowledge but if you don’t know how to convey it, there’s no sense.
It was an intense several years that I studied under Peter. I learned dozens of dances. Then suddenly in 1981 Peter moved and left the hālau. Within a two-day period he just up and went. He had all these students who were hungry for more hula and because I was the alaka’i, they asked if I could stay and continue the training as best I could. At first I told them “no” because I wasn’t qualified. But other kumu hula on Maui urged me to continue and said they would be there if I needed help.
When Pua Kanahele came to Maui to teach Hawaiian language, I jumped at the chance to study with her. I quit all my jobs and I basically plunged into poverty so I could go back to school to study under her. The first foundation she gave me was language and she stressed the importance of language in hula and chant. The next foundation she gave me was in chanting. Through the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Apprenticeship Program, I became Pua’s apprentice and studied one-on-one with her in chant styles and techniques. Between these two different foundations I believe that I have become successful.
I love competitions. Our people were competitive from the ancient times. Hawaiians were competitive in almost every aspect that you can think of. We don’t enter competitions all the time because we don’t want to make that our one and only goal. But competition brings out an excellence in the dancers that under normal circumstances would not exhibit. One of the main reasons we go to competitions is because we want to make a statement. We want to tell people that this is our hālau, this is what we do, this is our foundation, and this is us. Whether we place or not isn’t important.
Seeking knowledge is the priority and it’s ongoing. I don’t think everybody knows everything. “‘Aʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau ho‘okāhi” (All knowledge is not taught in the same school) is really true. In our hālau there are certain things that I’m not knowledgeable in and I recognize that. I don’t pretend to know certain kinds of hula. When l feel that my dancers are ready to learn that hula, I send them to another kumu hula who has extensive knowledge in that hula. That way our students receive as much information as possible from other kumu hula who are willing to help and to share. I’m not going to deny my students a specific branch of knowledge just because I don’t know it. It’s important that I bring in someone who can fulfill that void.
A hula style is something that you develop over the years. Every person who teaches hula today is almost a direct reflection of their kumu hula. What makes a kumu hula good is that they take the knowledge from their own kumu and take it to a higher level. If they learned from two or three different people, they take the styling and they blend all of those styles together and they come up with their own. It’s not done on purpose, it just happens that way. I think that’s creativity. You gather all that you’ve learned and you make it work for yourself and for your students.
I’m not a prolific composer. I compose every so often when I’m moved to do so or stressed out to do so. I usually compose when emotions are running high. It’s a good outlet. If you are composing, you need to have that emotional connection to whatever it is you’re writing about. If you are writing about love or a broken heart, make sure that you understand what that emotion is. You cannot be writing songs about love if you’ve never been in love.
When this music thing happened, it was very much by accident. Although I knew I could hold a tune, I never thought I was a great singer. I was singing in the shower one day and as you know, everybody sounds good in the shower. Some of my friends were over and they said, “Wow, you should do an album.” They kept bugging me so after awhile I said if they could get the money together, I’ll do an album. I thought I'd nip it in the bud right there because albums are expensive to make. Well they got most of the money together and I had to do my album. We didn’t even put a band together because we didn't think it would be successful. We just thought some hula people would like it and that would be fine. We just wanted to break even on the expenses.
All of a sudden it went ballistic. Two months after the album came out, we realized we had to perform. I’m a reluctant performer. I stress out everytime we have to sing at a concert. Chanting is different because you immerse yourself in the composition. I can oli in front of a million people and not be nervous but when you’re singing, it’s different. Looking at the community however and seeing how these compositions and this music affected people, I realized that it was a lot bigger than all of us. We now had an obligation to fulfill.
Ever since I started the hālau, it’s been number one in my life. I’ve lost jobs because I chose hālau before work. I’ve been homeless because I couldn’t pay my rent. For the first time in my life I saw myself as being financially secure. But I told myself that this wasnʻt going to last long. At some point Keali‘i Reichel, the singer, will fade away. I still believe that. During the past three years I relied on the alaka‘i to continue and to try and keep the hālau together. We’ve lost a lot of students because of it. Over the last month I’ve met with the hālau and I’m recommitting myself. The singing stuff can wait. My hālau is back to number one.
100 Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel
Citation
“Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel,” Nā Kumu Hula Archive, accessed November 15, 2024, https://nakumuhula.org/archive/items/show/148.