Page 5 - MidWeek Kauai - March 16, 2022

She’s Letting The Music Play For Today’s Youth, Kūpuna
Astonishingly, this brave soul de- cided to launch her venture right in the middle of the pandemic.
was Parish whose reassuring words convinced her to stay the course.
MARCH 16, 2022 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK 5
FROM PAGE 4
“I guess it was the scariest time to open a business,” admits a chuck- ling DeLima, whose school began offering private and group lessons in vocals and instrumentation (‘uku- lele, bass, guitar, piano) last July within the mall’s 2,500-square- foot space previously occupied by BedMart Mattress Superstores.
“He was the one who was pret- ty much like, ‘I don’t know why you’re worried about it. You’re going to figure it out; it’s going to be all good,’” she recalls. “I guess you always need that one person in your ear.”
“But for me, I thought it was also the best time because it seemed like we were just coming out of COVID, and I was thinking that it would be the perfect time because all of this was going to go away and every- thing was going back to normal.”
(Left) Student Jaxon Saavedra follows along as instructor Bowe Souza leads a piano lesson. LAWRENCE TABUDLO PHOTO (Right) Kelly Boy DeLima supervises an ‘ukulele class for youth with the help of several teaching assistants. PHOTO COURTESY KALENAKU DELIMA
In recent years, the two have made beautiful music together, performing at private weddings and Big Island resorts such as Au- berge at Maunalani and Waikoloa Marriott.
Of course, when the conventional didn’t return immediately, she wise- ly adjusted her sails. To help her stu- dent vocalists learn proper singing techniques, for example, DeLima had large plastic barriers installed in private rooms so that the students’ masks could be briefly removed and “we could see how their mouths were moving.”
they actually learned how to do it and that you literally changed the Rtrajectory of their life just from tak- ing 30 to 60 minutes a week with them, that makes this all worth it.’”
play any instrument, you give him anything and he’ll figure it out in 10 minutes ... he’s that guy! — that you’ re expected to be really good really quickly.”
solo, my first instinct was, ‘Oh, my gosh! I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to be on stage by myself,’” she explains. “There was this fear of, ‘Are they going to like me? Am I any good without them?’”
“Our date night has turned into a duo,” explains a grinning DeLi- ma. “But it’s kept me busy — doing solo, duo and full band work, and then, of course, the school.”
“For vocalists,” she continues, “how your mouth moves is very important in how you sing.”
children born to musicians Kelly Boy and Leolani DeLima. Her fa- ther is the founder and frontman of the well-known island music outfit Kapena (meaning “captain” in Ha- waiian) and growing up in such an atmosphere naturally brought with it expectations of being exceptional in entertainment.
Somewhere along the way, how- ever, DeLima found herself pulling into port next to Parish, who was seated at the piano, and lending her voice to his lyrics.
Today, the school boasts an en- rollment of about 250 students while registering six new pupils each month — impressive numbers when considering that DeLima and staff perform almost no marketing other than through word of mouth and “promoting and boosting posts” on Instagram and Facebook.
“We were all called up on stage from when we were really young,” she recalls. “In the third grade, I danced Ulupalakua for May Day and I also learned how to sing it. Every single performance after that, my dad would call me up on stage to sing that song.”
“I can dabble in other things,” continues the school’s voice instruc- tor, who began her classical training at age 10 under acclaimed coach Eunice DeMello and counts several local songstresses — Raiatea Helm, Aunty Genoa Keawe and Amy Ha- naiali‘i — among her strongest in- fluences growing up.
“I have aunties and cousins who still work in the school,” she shares. “One of my cousins is a teaching assistant in the ‘ukulele class, and my cousins run the front desk and are the managers.”
“I don’t know how I booted my sister out of that position, but she has forgiven me since,” quips De- Lima.
“What we learned in this pro- cess after such a short time is how worth it this all is. The school has a mission to enrich the emotional, mental and educational wellness of
The pressure only mounted when Kapena’s other original members — brothers Teimomi and Tivaini Tatofi — left the band, thus providing her father with the opportunity to chart a new course for the group, one fea- turing he and his children.
All of which means that the tight- Ily run ship called Kapena School of Music & Creative Expression remains in good hands.
Now, with her hands (and his) comfortably placed on the wheel, they appear ready for the horizons that await. So says the captain of her ship and leader of the band.
f the youth in our community,” says DeLima, noting that most of her stu- , dents range in age from 9 to 17, but she also has pupils “in their 70s or 80s” who take part in the school’s kūpuna ‘ukulele class on Saturday
“It is true that there was a lot of pressure to succeed,” DeLima admits. “I think a lot of people ex- pect that because you come from two parents who are musical, and because my older brother (also named Kapena) is so talented — he’s a recording engineer, he can
If she and her siblings have been particularly exceptional at some- thing beyond music, it’s been in their willingness to support one an- other in all tides. But that familial reliance also left DeLima feeling a bit adrift when she chose to set out as a solo pianist at The Moana Sur- frider a few years back.
the school and more to do with a new adventure she’s about to em- bark on. Come St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, she and Parish will of- ficially tie the knot.
mornings.
“I’ve heard so many of our teach-
For DeLima, she won’t be marry- ing just her best friend, but one of her staunchest advocates and wisest counselors, too. When she briefly considered pulling the plug on the school early on due to “cold feet,” it
“There’s a lot more work to be done, but we’re both ready and de- termined to do good work for our people.”
ers say, ‘Wow! When you see that E 5 you taught them something and then
“When I stopped performing with my siblings and I started performing
aised in the town where her school is berthed, De- Lima is the second of three
To her credit, DeLima chose to stick to her strengths — singing, and playing keyboards and ‘ukulele — despite being capable of backing up her brother on drums and percussion (“I’ll keep the beat, nothing fancy. Just don’t give me a drum solo!”) or younger sister Lilo Tuala on bass (“I don’t usually like to tell anyone that I play bass because it’s nowhere near what Lilo can do; I mean she’s one of the best”).
When similar doubts surfaced just prior to and immediately after starting her school and left her in desperate need of a blast of wind in her sails, DeLima found strength in knowing that support would be there — and not just from her par- ents and siblings, but from extended family and friends as well. Many of her employees, in fact, are ‘ohana.
In recalling how their ships first crossed paths about a decade ago, DeLima notes, “I like to tell every- one the mail lady dropped him off. But really he was at my house and doing a song with my sister. My sis- ter and his cousin were good friends in high school and Kala‘e had writ- ten a duet that he wanted to hear a female vocal on.”
“But when you’re in this fami- ly, you don’t dabble. You’re either good at it or you don’t play.”
f DeLima appears a bit anx- ious these days, her nerves probably have less to do with
“This school has been a journey of ups and downs and we have a long road ahead of us,” she says in closing. “I’ ve heard that marriage is a similar kind of journey, but I’m grateful to have found a partner who supports and encourages every dream I have.
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