E Kanikapila Kakou audience members can give their own first responses on Monday when Iron Mango is the featured group of musical artists, at 6 p.m. at the Aqua Kauai Beach Resort near Hanamaulu.
It’s a heritage Hawaiian music program, and it means “let’s play a stringed instrument together.”
Each year, EKK brings people together on 10 consecutive Monday evenings, January through March, to celebrate the Hawaiian culture through music, song and hula. EKK is in the ninth week of its 36th season.
A breakout group forms at 6 p.m. and goes 45 minutes. Attendees with or without ukulele who desire to learn a Hawaiian song gather and, later in the evening, show their stuff, playing and singing the song to the audience.
From 7 to 9 p.m., the visiting artists take to the stage and, in keeping with this year’s theme, “Music is our Mo‘olelo,” or “Music is Our Story,” they will sing and talk story.
Iron Mango was destined to be. Individually inspired by their love to perform with other well-known musicians throughout the world, Iron Mango has become a fusion of their years in the music industry.
The players hold multiple Na Hoku Hanohano awards, many of them from their time with the band Pure Heart before the band broke up and some of them including Jake Shimabukuro went out on their own.
Jon Yamasato started his career as the lead singer for Pure Heart, and has performed throughout Hawaii, the mainland and Japan, accumulating multiple Na Hoku Hanohano awards along the way.
Lopaka Colon, also a multiple Na Hoku Hanohano award-winner and a co-founding member of the group Pure Heart, was inspired by his father, Augie Colon Sr., an original member of the Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny.
Richard Gideon is a member of the award-winning group Maunalua, plays several instruments and holds multiple Na Hoku Hanohano awards.
World-touring Kalei Gamiao, a soloist and youngest of the group, has been nominated for several Na Hoku Hanohano awards.
A suggested donation in the calabash is $10 to $15.
