Award-winning kumu hula and singer O’Brian Eselu died in bed at home Tuesday morning. He was 56.
Eselu, five-time winner of the male kahiko division of the Merrie Monarch Festival hula competition, worked as director of entertainment at Paradise Cove Luau since 1980.
The hula community was reeling from the news of Eselu’s loss just a week before the 49th annual Merrie Monarch Festival is scheduled to begin Sunday.
Eselu’s halau, Ke Kai o Kahiki, was not expected to compete this year, but was part of a planning group preparing for the 50th anniversary of the festival in 2013.
"He was an important part of Merrie Monarch. … He was awesome," festival director Luana Kawelu said. "He will sorely be missed. He had vision."
Eselu, who had been on dialysis for more than 12 years, went to bed Monday night at his family home in Halawa and was found dead Tuesday morning, a friend said.
Eselu’s alakai, or student leader, La‘akea Perry, was with Eselu on Tuesday when he died at his home.
"Besides just a kumu to us, he was like a father figure to all of us," Perry said. "Everything he taught us in hula, we could use it and apply in our lives to make us better people. It helped equip us with the things we needed to deal with in life."
Perry, 41, has been a student of Eselu’s for 22 years. He said Eselu had been preparing him for this day for the past four years and intensifying his training.
"It was his wish that I continue the halau and that I carry on his legacy," Perry said. "I’m just grateful, and I will carry out his wishes."
Eselu suffered from diabetes and was careful about his diet. In recent months he was planning to cut back on the number of his commitments.
Eselu’s halau — the name of which translates to "seas of the ancestral lands" — practices at Lanikuhonua, a scenic stretch of green in Ko Olina.
The halau took first place overall at Merrie Monarch in 2009 and 2010. In 2010 Eselu took six male dancers, and Ke Kai o Kahiki won first place overall and first for male halau overall, male hula kahiko (ancient hula) and male hula ‘auana (modern hula).
That was also the year Eselu made the bold move of introducing a new step, Ke Nakulu — which involved a jump and quick arm-cross movement reflecting the resounding thunder of Akaka Falls — into the kahiko portion of the competition. He wasn’t sure how the judges would react to the new step, so he wrote up a fact sheet explaining it.
Last year the halau also took first place for male halau overall and male hula kahiko.
"His halau was famous for being the most precise, physically fit, and they often did the hardest routines of anyone," said his manager, John Aeto.
In 1998 Eselu made his recording debut with the album "Ke Kumu," which won the "Most Promising Artist" award at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. He later released "Aloha E Aloha E Aloha E" and "Maka."
Eselu was known for his booming voice and his gentle nature. He was a kumu hula since 1979.
"I’ve been doing this for 32 years, and my role is to teach what I know and that’s it," he once said.
He was born in 1955 in Aiea and raised in Halawa public housing. He graduated from Aiea High School in 1973.
He credited his late hula partner Thaddius Wilson (who first competed at the festival with him 31 years ago as the Na Wai ‘Eha ‘o Puna halau); Wilson’s mother, Verna Wilson; and her mother, Keoho Oda, for setting him on the path of hula. Other mentors include Auntie Pat Bacon, the late Malia Craver and the late Auntie Genoa Keawe.
Aeto said Eselu’s great-great-great-grandfather was a member of King David Kalakaua’s navy sent to help a chief from Samoa in a battle against another chief.
When the battle was over, Eselu’s ancestor was among a handful of Hawaiians who stayed in Samoa. Eselu’s father and mother moved to Hawaii more than a half-century ago.
Paradise Cove Chief Executive Officer Keith Horita said Eselu never let the awards "get to his head" and was like a surrogate father and mentor to hundreds, if not thousands, of performers during his 32 years at the luau event.
Eselu said expected his dancers to have integrity as human beings and the heart of a hula dancer, which is of pure aloha.
"The Hawaiian heart is so special and beautiful. It has no prejudice, no boundaries and limits," he said in an interview with the Star-Bulletin. "Love is like that."
