Pūlama ‘Ohana: Cherish Family Earth
Meet Kupuna Kumu Lā’au
An evening with community creatives, cultural kumu & stewards.
Mahalo Nui Sponsors & supporters: Ka‘ūpūlehu Foundation, Kamehameha Schools ‘āina ulu, HTA
especially UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center for opening their season programs with us
Ho’ola Ka Makana’ā
2020 hui
A video by Aunty Yvonne For the 2020 Hawaii Conservation Conference
2025 hui
Ho’ola Ka Makana’ā
Meet some ‘Āina relations—ancestral native plants of Hawai’i island.
This silent slideshow of coastal and upland plants
was viewed pre-performances and during intermission.
Pu’ukawaiwai—mo’olelo, mele & hula.
The video above, introduced the wahi pana, the ancient storied place of Pu’ukawaiwai.
It was followed by a live performance of the mele composed by Keoki Apokolani Carter, and hula of remembrance by Kea Kapahua and danced by her UH-Hilo class October 3, 2025—captured here on video.
‘Ōhia LehuA
‘Ōhia Lehua by Apokolani. Special guests offer hula by Kumu June Tanoue of Halau I Kapono, with Char & Julie at UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center. November 2025.
Scintillating Hula Smile
Leilā & Maka
Generational ‘Ōhana blessings.
Mahalo UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center
for lifting up community as two generations grow up sharing on stage.
Coming Soon: More Select Clips of Featured ‘Ohana Performances.
“Why Not” A Video Clip with syncronized board audio from the evening.
‘Ohana guest Tui Masaniai on electric bass.
Featuring Paul Lindbergh on flute.
More about the evening program below.
MORE COMING SOON…
SEE THE ENTIRE CONCERT VIDEO BELOW!
An Outreach Fundraiser for Ho‘ola Ka Makana’ā o Ka‘ūpūlehu
Celebrate planet earth ‘ohana—family—
through local stories, music and dance.
Cherishing and celebrating the ‘ohana of planet earth with the original music of Apokolani with special guests and sages sharing: mele, hula, moʻolelo, dance, poetry, imagery…
Island sway weaves sounds with local and world savvy musicians, performing blended perspectives and stories that honor planet earth. All living things are inter-connected—the ‘ohana of seen and unseen—people, plants, animals, wind, waters, land. A concert of hope and gratitude. Lucky we live Hawaii.
And an excerpt from the Apokolani.com website:
Yvonne and Keoki are children from a multitude of generations—shoreline and island water people of many bloods—across many oceans. Resilient, collaborative, spirit survivors connected through time to hopeful futures for many families to come.
Our stories are not of conquerors or the vanquished. Bearing witness, they are stories of seeing, feeling—the joys, fun, beauty, the profound—the hurt, betrayals, kindnesses, uplift, renewal and gratitude for others who believe we connected through time and places. Mahalo also to the unique lenses of others who tell their stories.
We were both born in the “Territory of Hawaiʻi” before skyscrapers rose to reroute people, centuries of natural winds and waters, before beaches were cutoff from ohana campfire sharing of kani circle music, laughter and waking to a refreshing sunrise ocean plunge. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents experienced far greater losses from diseases, homeland access taken through a new system of power—language outlawed, hula outlawed, hale pili outlawed and abundance ravaged by greed. But never did they lose hope and aloha and recognition that there were people of all colors and creeds who also love place, kindness and goodness for the generations to come.
The hard work is honoring the ancestors we continue to learn from, upon whose shoulders we still lean. Harder still is forgiving our mistakes and imperfections. Lucky us…it seems to come clearer and truer in a song. May they connect us as cousins.
Yvonne Yarber Carter, left, and Keoki Apokolani Carter, with the Ho’ola Ka Makana’ā ohana of Ka’ūpūlehu, kick off the 2025-26 UH Hilo Performing Arts Center season tonight with “Pulama Ohana: Cherish Family Earth.” Courtesy photo.
By KYVELI DIENER Hawaii Tribune-Herald
The University of Hawaii at Hilo Performing Arts Center is kicking off its 2025-26 season tonight with a multifaceted presentation of stories told through music, dance, poetry and imagery that celebrates the significance of nature’s interwoven tapestry.
Performers Keoki Apokolani Carter and Yvonne Yarber Carter … joined by four additional musicians, multiple hula dancers — including a mother-daughter duo from Hilo — and an entire UH Hilo contemporary dance class for their show, “Pulama Ohana: Cherish Family Earth.” Original music by their group, Apokolani, will guide the show as it outlines the interconnection of the natural elements of the earth with the life forces of plants, animals and humans to create a source of hope and gratitude.
“I love that venue. I’ve been seeing things there since the ’70s,” vocalist Yvonne Carter said of the Performing Arts Center. “I think it’s the perfect, perfect venue for multi-dimensional sharing.”
The multi-dimensional sharing Carter refers to is the organic flow of harmony which is created by the artists that come together on stage.
“It’s diverse, and maybe not a performance [as much as]…community sharing, and that’s the deepest kind … where we learn from each other, and it’s a beautiful sound,” she said. “Everyone performing has been teachers and continue to be, and yet do their art. With performance and learning, we don’t think you can separate them. When people ask, ‘What genre of music do you play?’ We play what fits the story.”
The pair said they like to let the art guide the people performing it and draw new collaborators in as well.
“The music, the lyrics, I call them gifts from heaven,” said Keoki Carter, who creates the music in addition to playing the baritone ukulele, guitars and singing. “It talks about global issues (and) personal experiences … to try to get the community involved. Wherever we go, we try to provide a platform so others can join us and share their art form. That’s a blessing that makes me excited and happy when that happens because it’s a big surprise for me, too.”
The Carters said several of the musicians and dancers joining them tonight have a long history of sharing the stage with them, giving the show a true ohana vibration.
Saxophonist Paul Lindbergh has the longest history with the group as a collaborator since 2012, but keyboardist Elliot Maker became instant family when he joined several years ago because he teaches at Waianae High School, the Carters’ alma mater. Gregory Maker, the brother of the keyboardist and special guest from New York, on upright bass and newest addition Michaeloha Elam on trumpet round out the musicians. [creative energy from Puna]
Keoki Carter’s cousin Kea Kapahua is a dance instructor at UH Hilo and will be bringing her full Beginning Contemporary Dance — Hawaii Themes class on stage to dance to the music during the show. Laupahoehoe native June Kaililani Tanoue returns to Big Island for the opening show of the season to share the hula prowess she now shares in her new home of Chicago.
Local mother-daughter hula dancers Leila Dudley-Frasier and 5-year-old Maka Dudley-Frasier also will be dancing hula to the music in the show, offering a full-circle moment for Leila Dudley-Frasier, who has been performing with the Carters for over 10 years. She recalled how she performed at the Performing Arts Center throughout her childhood in both a showing of “Pinocchio” and international nights where she sang and danced in French with her mother.
On Friday, her own daughter, at the same age Leila Dudley-Frasier was when she first graced the Performing Arts Center, will perform there with her.
“I have so many good memories from the many international nights and Pinocchio that I was in there when I was a small keiki,” she said. “I’m so excited Maka will be able to have a similar experience in that space.”
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Meet The Band
Songwriter, Keoki Apokolani Carter on guitars, baritone ukulele & vocals; Yvonne Yarber, vocals; Paul Lindbergh on saxophone; Elliot Maker on keyboards (and teacher at Waianae, the alma mater of Keoki and Yvonne); Gregory Maker on upright bass; and Michaeloha Elam on Trumpet. More about these creative, community loving individuals below….
Keoki and Yvonne share their original music stories — borne on the winds, tides and reverberations of the Earth. These are not easy times but to maintain balance and wellness, they write and sing their truths of beauty, sorrow and life. Joining them are the above gifted musicians of many genres weaving their sound stories.
The Concert Video.
Mouse-over for chapter names and locale. Don’t miss the special hula by Leilā with keiki Maka, Kea’s UH-Hilo class dancing to “Puukawaiwai”, and June Tanoue trio to “Õhi‘a Lehua
Mahalo to Kea Kapahua & Dave Bennet for the video capture!
Off-island Guests
Gregory “the bass player” Maker is Elliot’s brother and a special guest from New York. He’s back for an island visit, to play music together again. Several years ago, he spent time here for recording sessions at Kumau Barn in Kohala—released in 2022. Backstories shared at: https://apokolani.com/kumau-barn-session/.
Gregory has worked as a musician/bass player in New York City and internationally for more than 40 years in a variety of venues and genres that include jazz and jazz fusion, orchestras and broadway musicals. Credits include: The Symphony of the New World, Harlem Festival Orchestra, New York City Housing Authority Orches-tra, Hubert Laws, Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, Frank Foster’s Loud Minority, Billy Harper, Buddy Rich, Peggy Lee, Jerry Lewis, Chuck Berry, and Marvin Gaye. Broadway credits include ” Evita”, ” A Raisin in the Sun, “Eubie”, The Royal Shakespeare Company, and off Broadway “The Great McDaddy”.
Elliot Maker, is a familiar music figure in Honolulu at places like Jazz Minds, Blue Note and Dragon Upstairs playing piano, flugelhorn, trumpet and percussion. Apokolani has had the pleasure of playing together with Elliot in Honolulu, at Ward Rafters and Pakele Live at the Willows. And whenever possible, a part of Apokolani Band. Elliot’s love of rhythm and sound is infectious as he seems to dance sitting at the piano bench as he plays. Another bond is that Elliot teaches at Waianae High School, the alma mater of Yvonne and Keoki. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Elliot has played with David Sanborn, Tom Scott, Patrice Rushen, Bill Watrous, The Manhattans, Stylics, The Sherells, The Crystals, Pete Escovedo and Lenny Castro. Also, part of the music scene in Japan for years before making his home in Hawaii where he currently teaches Japanese and Spanish.
June Kaililani Tanoue Hula sisters and haumana Halau i Ka Pono Hula School of Chicago.
Kumu June was born in Laupahoehoe on the Hamakua (Breath of the Ancestors) Coast on Hawaii Island. She began hula classes at age six with Louise Beamer and then danced off and on with other teachers like George Naope and Newton Hitchcock. Her study seriously began in 1988 with Kumu Hula Michael Pili Pang in his Halau Hula Ka No’eau (HHKN) in Waimea where she lived for many years. https://halauikapono.org/ She is also a co-founder of the Zen Life & Meditation Center, Chicago, her present home.
Island Creatives:
Paul Lindbergh, an accomplished Hawaii island saxophonist, has been part of the Apokolani musical journey and ‘ohana since 2012. We are honored to feature his tenor saxophone that brings a rich layer of energy to the musical stories told through original Apokolani compositions and published albums. https://apokolani.com/hear-albums-here/ As a young teenage transplant from New York in 1962, Paul quickly became part of the island and ocean pulse. No doubt, years of surfing, fishing, Aikido and making boards for Hawaii Paipo Designs have influenced the ebb and flow he brings to the music—disciplined yet fluid and emotive. Music credits include: Maggie Heron, Michael Macdonald, Patty Austin, Petula Clark, Al Green, Ernie Watts, Gabe Balthazar, Ollie Mitchell, and jazz guitarist Phil Upchurch.
Michaeloha Elam, and his varied offerings on trumpet is another local talent who plays globally. Also musically trained as a conductor and composer, he performs in a variety of cross-genres, from contemporary, classical, to jazz, latin, and experimental ecstatic music. A disciplined free spirit that has also graciously collaborated on several recordings. The youngest of the Apokolani Band with seemingly boundless energy to compose, perform, farm, paint and…whatʻs next? A sample of his artwork and new composition can be heard here. This next link is Michaeloha and the Maker Brothers on the Apokolani Kumau Barn Sessions album.
Kea Cristy Kapahua is from a many generational Hawai’i island ‘ohana. Whether hula or western trained dance, she inspires and guides her UH-Hilo students to discover movement that conveys stories through movement. Choreographing hula in the spirit of community, we welcome this new group of dancers as they debut their new discoveries their first semester. Kea herself is a dynamic dancer, and instructor at UH-Hilo while also teaching Lokahi Pilates in Hilo. www.lokahipilates.com
Leilā Dudley-Frazier is another restorative “biocultural” creative and ‘ohana to Ka’ūpūlehu with a a deep passion for aloha ʻāina. She was raised dancing hula and continues as a vital part of life, always ready to grace the moment and hula to “Uncle Keokiʻs” mele since meeting many years ago teaching keiki in the forest of Ka‘ūpūlehu. Born and raised in the ahupuaʻa of Pāpaʻikou on Hawaiʻi island, Leilā has a strong sense of kuleana (responsibility) to take care of those that came before, encompassing all forms of our ancestors as seen with a Hawaiian worldview: humans, plants, animals, rocks, environmental processes & more. Leilā has a deep passion for aloha ʻāina. Presently, she is Program Coordinator for Akaka Tropical Forests, Pilina ʻĀina Program.
Mahalo to sponsors:
UH-Hilo, Ka’ūpūlehu mauka-makai; Ulu Ha`o, Ho‘ola Ka Makana‘ā, Kalaemano
HTA-Kilohana, Ka’ūpūlehu Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, ‘Ōuli Wai, HFIA, HFI.
“Let Love In” . The sound of c# births a new song for the times. Apokolani & the Maker Brothers at Kumau Barn. L-R: Elliot Maker, keyboards; Gregory Maker, bass; Paul Lindbergh, saxophone; Keoki Apokolani Carter, guitar, vocals; and Yvonne Yarber vocals. March 2019 Spring Equinox—an auspicious day.
Mixed Apokolani originals by songwriters Keoki & Yvonne.. any-kine genre that tells the song story—the mele mo‘olelo. Keoki, Itʻs all in the sound. some say they play by ear…I play by sound that moves inside and outside my kino. Some say Hawaiian jazz.
Clips and samples of live sharings on stage. Published and recorded songs can be heard on our website at https://apokolani.com/hear-albums-here/