There isn’t much that Melissa Mojo would rather do than sing and listen to music. So, in late 2012, Mojo and Mary MacDermott founded Kauai Island Singers Showcase. “The whole purpose of it is to provide singers with regular performance
There isn’t much that Melissa Mojo would rather do than sing and listen to music.
So, in late 2012, Mojo and Mary MacDermott founded Kauai Island Singers Showcase.
“The whole purpose of it is to provide singers with regular performance opportunities with live accompaniment,” Mojo said. “The thing about KISS is that it’s singer-supported. We, the singers, pay the musicians — and they’re professional musicians — and it’s free to the audience.”
For the past two years, the group conducted regular performances at Wit’s End in Coconut MarketPlace.
But when the Wailua shopping center began renovations, the organization moved out earlier this year, and the search for a new performance venue began for KISS.
Since then, the group has performed at Ohana Sports Bar and will make another appearance at 2 p.m. Sunday in Mahiko Lounge at Gaylord’s Restaurant in Lihue.
“It has really been a wonderful experience because we’ve become sort of like a family, who support each other,” Mojo said. “Everybody is different and it’s a very eclectic mix of voices — people bond and it all works together.”
The Sunday performance will feature Mojo, pianist Hank Curtis, percussionist Cary Valentine, and KISS singers Dhyana Dunville; Diana Leone; Barbara Pendragon; Erik Hagen; S. Kamal Salibi; Mike Kobayashi; Fran Nestel; and Trishana Star.
Each one of the eight to 10 singers who participate in each performance sing two songs — one up-tempo song and a ballad or two up-tempo ones — that fit into a specific theme.
“We try to pick a theme that everybody can find a song that people can relate to,” Mojo said. “It’s really for people to develop their repertoire and to practice performing in front of live audiences.”
The theme for Sunday’s performance is “Island Rhythms and Songs of the New Millennium,” featuring island and tropical genre songs, as well as selected pieces from modern artists, including Adele, Amy Winehouse and Corinne Bailey Rae.
“It’s a great learning experience for this island, because with the theme, you have to find a song that works in your range,” Mojo said. “There are several genres that I have never sung, and I basically just focused in on substance. I’m getting into blues, jazz, songs that were written in the 1950s during the Beat Generation. I’m going places that I never thought I would.”
For more information, contact Mojo at 822-0545.
