If You Like "Lots of Moving Parts", You'll Love the Story of Kalehua Krug

I knew my time to talk story with Kalehua Krug needed to fit into a tight window. We had arranged a Zoom meeting at 1:30 in the afternoon as Kalehua is the principal of Ka Waihona o ka Na’auao, a Hawaiian charter school and thus, one busy dude. Though our actual time discussing his life story would be brief; I knew I would have plenty of music to include as my first introduction to Kalehua came from the band Hi’ikua. The band had released Ala I Hi’ialo in 2011 and Kalehua was one of its three members. Though he’s a pretty good-sized guy, (was a lineman on the University of Hawaii football team), he has a beautiful falsetto voice which you hear clearly in their music. I think it’s important to point out that Kalehua composed the songs we will hear today with the exception of Ka Pili Oha. I’m including the cover picture from Ala I Hi’ialo because when I first held this CD, I was moved by the picture of a tattooed Kalehua holding his son Ka’ula. As Kalehua tells his story, he explains why the tattoos are such an important piece of who he is. 

Kalehua is an advocate for the promotion of the Hawaiian language and teaching young children culture and language. He believes a well-balanced understanding of the world these children live in needs to be balanced with the contextual history they come from.

Music has always been important to Kalehua. On occasion he still plays with Hi’ikua, but throughout his career, he’s always sung songs with his children. In the past year or two, they have taken this love of singing together to another level and now perform as Ohana Krug. I have included one of their songs, Ola I Ka Wai which is about connecting with and loving the land.  
 
P.S. If you enjoy music by Hawaiian bands, you will for sure enjoy the life stories of Wade Cambern from the Hawaiian Style Band, as well as my interview with Henry Kapono. Both of these episodes have great music!