20 years of music

KAPAA — “Celebrating 20 Years of Music,” a reunion luau hosted by the Kapaa Middle School Choir Boosters Club, drew several hundred people to the Kapaa Middle School covered courtyard Saturday.

“Those were the days,” said Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., one of the guests. “I was a student of Mrs. Renee Thronas after starting choir in 1975. Mrs. Thronas didn’t just teach us music — she brought out the best in all of us who had her as a teacher. In choir, we had to learn self-confidence and performing before people before she started to teach us how to sing.”

The luau paid tribute to Kapaa music teachers Mary Lardizabal, currently the music director at Kapaa Middle School, who is celebrating her 20th year as a music teacher; and Thronas, who was the music director at Kapaa High School for more than 30 years before retiring and being succeeded by Lardizabal.

Combined, the two teachers, whom Carvalho described as “the queens of Kapaa music,” offered more than 50 years of music leadership for students at Kapaa High and Middle schools.

“A lot of students who had music continue to perform today,” Thronas said. “I used to teach the students to learn about music because it is something they will enjoy all their life. Today, I still see some of my former students singing in the church choir where I go. I see many more singing in other church choirs, and when I talk to them, they almost always tell me they dig out the old tapes and watch.”

Another pair of guests, brothers Josh and Jason Iloreta, were part of the first band Lardizabal took to the Heritage Music Festival, which was held on Oahu at that time.

“In 2006, we were invited to participate in the Heritage on Oahu,” Jason Iloreta said. “I remember we took gold, and one of the numbers we performed was ‘Why We Sing.’”

Jason Iloreta said the impact of learning music stayed with him and his brother long after they left the class.

Josh Iloreta, currently confined to a wheelchair but training for a marathon race with Jason, has plans which stem from his days in Lardizabal’s class where he “felt” the music by sitting close to her keyboard and placing his hands atop the instrument while she played for the class.

“My favorite music is worship and hip hop,” he said, with the help of his brother and a microphone placed near his communications keyboard. “I want to one day made music as a producer, and produce my own CD.”

Carvalho said Lardizabal was the sparkplug for getting the Kapaa Middle School Ukulele Band and Choir to continue participating in the Heritage Music Festival, which is now held in Anaheim, California.

Many Kapaa alumni, including the featured performers in the entertainment lineup — Shilo Pa, Darryll Rapozo, Malia Bessert Swenson, Micah Viluan, Kamuela Thronas and Tyrus Kupihea — learned under the tutelage of the well-known music teachers.

The luau, in addition to honoring both music teachers, also served as a fundraiser to help the Kapaa Middle School group with its scheduled trip to the 2016 Heritage Music Festival.