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Mana Maoli releases new music video

Nina Wu
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Following the success of its first collective project, the Mana Maoli Collective released its second video, “Island Style – ‘Oiwi E” to fans Monday featuring Hawaii’s award-winning singers and charter school students.

The video, released 8:08 a.m. on Monday, is an all-star, intergenerational collaboration featuring John Cruz and his five siblings, Jack Johnson, Amy Hanaialiʻi Gilliom, Eli-Mac, Paula Fuga, Taimane, Natalie Ai Kamauu, Josh Tatofi, Lehua Kalima, Kamakakehau Fernandez and Pomaikaʻi Lyman, among others, along with 1,000 youth from Hawaiian charter schools.

It was filmed and recorded live in 15 locations across the isles, and received more than 700,000 views in the first 24 hours on its Facebook page.

Mana Maoli is a Honolulu-based non-profit providing culture-based, real-world music and multimedia education across a dozen schools on Oahu and Kauai. The Mana Maoli Project brings its mobile, solar-powered recording studio around the isle, along with an extensive curriculum for a Music & Multimedia Academy.

The first video, “Hawai‘i Aloha,” received 5 million views and a Na Hoku Hanohano award after it was released last year.

The first song in the medley, “Island Style” is dedicated to the Cruz ʻohana, who lost their oldest brother Ernie Cruz, Jr. and their youngest brother Guy Cruz, two days apart, just months after losing their father, Ernie Cruz Sr. The second song, “Oiwi E,” is dedicated to kumu John Keolamakaʻainana Lake, who composed Hawaiian lyrics to the Maori melody.

As part of a fundraiser, Mana Maoli is offering a personal digital copy of the videos to anyone who makes a donation of any amount.

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