The final field of nominees
for the 2020 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards is now official as the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts (HARA) announces the finalists for favorite entertainer of the year — the only Hoku Award category where the finalists and the winner are determined by public vote.
This year’s finalists in alphabetical order are Natalie Ai Kamauu, BEAT-LELE, Ei Nei, Ka‘imi Hanano‘eau, Kailua Moon, Michael Keale, Kupaoa, Na Wai ‘Eha, Josh Tatofi and John Valentine.
Voting to select the finalists and determine the winner was conducted earlier this summer. The winner will be announced at the 43rd Annual Na Hoku Hanohano Awards show, which will be held as a virtual event on an undetermined date in October.
The list shows Hawaiian music being perpetuated by a new generation of musicians as Ei Nei and Na Wai ‘Eha stand alongside music scene veteran Michael Keale and multi-Hoku Award-winners Kupaoa and Natalie Ai Kamauu. The continuing evolution of Hawaiian and hapa haole music in embracing music from outside the islands is heard in the work of Josh Tatofi, Ka‘imi Hanano‘eau and Kailua Moon (the duo of slack key guitarist/vocalist Danny Carvalho and vocalist Nani Edgar). Waikiki showroom veteran John Valentine has been singing falsetto and playing many styles of music for decades — he won favorite entertainer in 2018.
And there’s BEAT-LELE, unique in their ability to re-create the music and vocal arrangements of the Beatles using ukulele and cajon (a Peruvian percussion instrument).
The history of public voting at the Hokus goes back to their creation by KCCN radio deejay Krash Kealoha in 1978. Until 1981 the winners in all categories were determined by public vote. With the establishment of HARA in 1982, the Hokus were restructured as Hawaii’s regional equivalent of the Grammy Awards; voting was restricted to members of the Hawaii recording industry and related professions. Kealoha ended his involvement with the awards at that time.
When HARA asked Kealoha to return as its president in the early 1990s, he agreed with the condition that a category be created for the public to vote on.
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole became HARA’s first favorite entertainer of the year winner in 1994 and won a second time in 1997. Taimane won the category in 2019.
For more information, visit harahawaii.com.
