Makana serenades APEC leaders with pro-Occupy protest song

Slack-key celebrity Makana used his performance at an APEC dinner last night at the Hale Koa Hotel as an opportunity to get his pro-Occupy Wall Street movement views out to President Barack Obama and other world leaders.

Makana wore an "Occupy with Aloha" t-shirt under his black blazer and sang his newest song, "We are the Many," an anthem of sorts for Occupy protestors.

The lyrics include, "Ye come here gather ’round the stage; The time has come for us to voice our rage."

Makana said he sang the song for about 45 minutes during his 2 1/2-hour-performance at the official dinner, changing its pacing because "he had to be subtle about it."

"I didn’t want to get shut down," said the 33-year-old, adding that though some people at the dinner appeared to catch on, no one stopped him. He said the president did not appear to notice.

This morning, Makana said he was initially afraid about singing the piece, but decided to do it anyway because he believes APEC’s leaders are not representing common people.

"It was my message that they are occupying Hawaii right now and they need to do it with aloha and not just say it," he said. "I don’t personally feel they’ve done that. They are not representing the people they purport to represent."

He added that he wanted to send his message without being disrespectful or rude. 

"They don’t really know what happened and that’s the beauty of it," he said.

Makana posted a video on Youtube.com this morning explaining his decision to perform the song. The post includes shaky video of Makana singing at the APEC dinner at Hale Koa.

The video had more than 300 views by mid-morning. And more than 45 people had left comments on Makana’s Facebook page, most applauding his decision to sing the song.