This grouping has proved to be the most innovative and prolific. He’s also received gold and platinum RIAA awards for his work on Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Daylight Again” LP for Atlantic Records. As a producer/ recording engineer/ musician, he has worked with some of the best, including Cecilio & Kapono, Olomana, Country Comfort, Marvin Gaye and Japan’s, RC Succession. His driving bass lines compliment Kalapana’s sound providing a distinct rhythmic edge to the groove and Gaylord Holomalia who is the keyboard wizard who provides the technical know how reflected in all the current Kalapana releases. who is a well respected record producer and studio musician and is responsible for the success of many mainland and Japanese rock groups. The current configurations of the group consists of: Mackey Malani DJ Kenji Sano, a brilliant bass player from Kobe, Japan & L.A. Malani released a solo album “Islands” which contained the tune “Molokai Sweet Home”, that has become his signature. The group members interchanged over the next few years while each pursued solo and duo efforts. In Hawaii, Mackey & Malani regrouped and recorded “Kalapana Live Reunion” from concert at the Waikiki Shell. DJ, as Kalapana, also released “Hold On” and a solo LP “Branded”. They were nominated for four categories and received “Best Performance by a duo or group”, and “Best Male Vocalist” for Mackey, who had split from the group and joined up with Billy Kaui (Country Comfort).īy this time, the group reorganized to include Randy Aloya, replacing Mackey, ( who, was pursuing a solo career and released two albums: “The Mackey Feary Band” & “From The Heart”), DJ, Malani, Kirk, Michael & Alvin.This re-organized group, now including Kimo Cornwell, formerly with the group Beowolf (and currently with Hiroshima) on keyboards, toured in Japan and released “Kalapana Live In Japan” (Sun Plaza), “Northbound” and “Kalapana Alive at Yokohama”. The next big achievement was to win several Nani Awards, the predecessor to the present day Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. In 1977, they took part in selecting the entrants for the “Home Grown” album project which showcased Hawaiian talent. The overwhelming success they experienced held through to a three concert event, at the Waikiki Shell, on June 25-27, 1976, where a record 25,000 attended. The preceding events and the events to follow had such an impact on the Hawaiian music scene, topping all local record charts & having Billboard magazine do a review of their work, inspiring musicians and groups then and to the present day. The adept and flexible talents of these six musicians set a high standard for the future. Within years time, they opened concerts for Earth, Wind & Fire, Batdorf & Rodney, The Moody Blues, Sly & The Family Stone, and Cecilio & Kapono, released their first self-titled album, Kalapana which included, as sidemen: Michael Paulo on sax and flute and Alvin Fejerang on drums. The popularity of Kalapana grew and with farsighted management, they moved on to be the regular band at a new club called, “The Toppe Ada Shoppe” (the current location of Wahlgreen). DJ thought it meant “Black Sand”, and after a couple of shakes of the head and a few smiles it was agreed, and they emerged as Kalapana, playing their first gig at Chuck’s in Hawaii Kai. Kirk said the meaning was “beat of the music”, but he wanted “Dove” anyway. The literal translation is “sprouting money”. They wrote a few songs, rehearsed, and there was a discussion about the meaning of Kalapana. They got together in DJ’s grandfather’s garage with Bryant Mackey Feary, who was another solo act, at the Oar House. Malani was performing solo at the Oar House in Hawaii Kai and DJ was downstairs at Chuck’s in Sunlight with Kirk Thompson. Cecilio & Kapono encouraged them to put a band together. In 1973, childhood friends, David John (DJ) Pratt and Carl James Malani Bilyeu, auditioned at the Rainbow Villa for the newest popular duo, Cecilio & Kapono.
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