Three-time Grammy Award nominees Ho‘okena were finalists for the music industry award in 2005, 2010 and now 2018. This time it’s different. Their album “3.0” is the group’s first as a trio.
It also commemorates the three decades that have passed since the forerunner group, Kipona Leo Hawai‘i, won the Ka Himeni ‘Ana singing competition in 1986 as a quartet composed of members William “Ama” Aarona, Manu Boyd, Horace Dudoit III and Chris Kamaka.
Aarona, Boyd and Dudoit went on to form Ho‘okena with Bozo Hanohano and Glen Smith. The quintet’s “Thirst Quencher!” album won three Na Hoku Hanohano awards, including group of the year, in 1991. Hanohano left Ho‘okena after the release of its second album, “Choice of the Heart.” For the recording of “Ho‘okena 5” in 1999, Kamaka joined the lineup. Aarona and Boyd left in the years that followed.
It’s an impressive musical legacy, and Ho‘okena isn’t slowing down. Smith, who plays slack-key guitar, said he is a “full-time musician” after 37 years as a resource manager at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Dudoit (12-string guitar) is in his 31st year working for the U.S. Postal Service and recently assisted his wife, Nani Dudoit, at the uniki ceremony that officially elevated her to kumu hula.
Kamaka (acoustic bass) and his family celebrated the centennial of the Kamaka Ukulele company in 2016.
“This year is also different because we don’t have our own (Hawaiian music) category — and we have two nominees from Hawaii, which is pretty amazing,” Dudoit said. “When Kalani Pe‘a won the category last year it was huge for Hawaii.”
“It’s nice for us as a trio because we’ve been performing together for so many years,” Kamaka said. “When I think of this national award I think of the guys who came before us — our mentors — who never really had the chance to be recognized nationally. If we were to win I’d feel that we did it for them.”
“Because we had full-time jobs, music becomes something that we love doing rather than something we have to do to survive. I think in that sense we put more into the music because it’s something we love doing,” Smith said.
Whatever happens in New York, Ho‘okena will continue to play the traditional Hawaiian music they’ve always been known for. The trio will present its annual Mother’s Day show in May.
