Liliʻu

The primary issue that will be addressed is hope. Hope for indigenous peoples comes in various forms: indigenous language revitalization, contemporary indigeneity, and uplifting each other.

In ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, we have hundreds of words for rain—the time of day, color, intensity, and sound of a rain gave it a distinct quality that inspired this vocabulary. The existence of such a depth of language for natural forces such as wind and rain reflect the importance and understanding of nature in Native Hawaiian culture. For children growing up in this culture, learning these names also meant respecting their environment in order to observe the subtlety of difference in rain types. In fact, modern science confirms that Hawai‘i has one of the most diverse rainfall patterns in the world. (Giambelluca TW, et. al. 2011. The Rainfall Atlas of Hawai‘i)

“. . . Thus the second aspect of language as culture is as an image-forming agent in the mind of a child. . . . our capacity to confront the world creatively is dependent on how those images correspond or not to that reality, how they distort or clarify the reality of our struggles.” — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Decolonizing the Mind

However, in 1983—the year I was born—there were fewer than fifty speakers of Native Hawaiian under the age of eighteen (Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas, ed. Serafín M. Coronel-Molina 2016). Through a dramatic language immersion movement over the past few decades, Hawaiian is beginning to once again become a vibrant living language.

Therefore, writing this new opera and building out a robust community engagement element to any production as a part of its premiere is essential to my solution to "drive positive outcomes for Indigenous learners of any age and context through culturally grounded educational opportunities."

Writing the libretto bilingually (since Liliʻuokalani was multilingual) brings in elements of indigenous language revitalization and also meets Kanaka Maoli where we are: that fluency does not determine authenticity, and that we can celebrate the process of including and uplifting more ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi in our lives as contemporary Hawaiians. As a part of the community engagement leading up to the presentation of the opera, we will offer free hula and language classes (see below for details). Through these classes and representing powerful use of ʻŌlelo on stage, audience/participants will be empowered to continue to find their own path though language and contemporaneity, with renewed hope for how they can be and thrive in community.

Partners such as E Hoʻopili Mai already have a robust online presence, using technology to reach diaspora around the world. Another community engagement and artistic partner, Te Ao Mana, is also connected to diaspora throughout other indigenous communities. Connecting these fellow Kanaka Maoli educators to an artistic effort that can uplift and recenter these cultural elements in contemporary art allows for a conversation in the greater community, fostering further solutions and resources to be focused on indigenous communities.

Liliʻu is a new opera celebrating the legacy of the last Queen of Hawaiʻi. Set in 1895, when Queen Liliʻuokalani was imprisoned for almost a year in Iolani Palace for her alleged knowledge of an attempt to take back the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, the opera tells the story of the Queen's life at a time of great upheaval. Liliʻuokalani depended on secret messages and news that would come to her as wrapping for flowers. She used her voice to encode hope and seeds of cultural renewal in her writings and musical compositions—a spark of hope in the darkness.

The opera libretto will be comprised completely of Liliʻuokalani's own words (in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi/English): her diary entries, excerpts from her biography, and lyrics from her songs written during the imprisonment. Liliʻuokalani’s advocacy for Hawaiian music and culture is her greatest legacy as seen through her various acts of cultural preservation and through her voice as a composer.

The opera itself will challenge status quo narratives of Liliʻuokalani's imprisonment, our ability to govern, and stereotypes about Hawaiians, by revealing Liliʻuokalani’s strength and wisdom through creative contextualization of her own compositions during imprisonment in the form of this new operatic work.

The project breaks down into three main activities:

1. creation of the new work
2. community engagement
3. presentation of the new work.

For the creation of the new musical work, the opera involves the lead artist both writing the libretto (the text of the opera), and the music. During this process, there are different stages of onsite research, trying out new sounds with the singers (Roomful of Teeth, Julia Bullock) and musicians (members of the New York Philharmonic). As the lead artist, I am both the composer, the writer, and the project manager (grant writing, organizing workshops, building community connections).

As a part of the community engagement leading up to the presentation of the opera, we will offer free hula and language classes through partnerships with Jonah Kahanuola Solatorio (Founder of E Hoʻopili Mai) as well as Te Ao Mana (the lead partner organization). These classes are not just to create space to learn, but more to create space to come together through language and culture, and to celebrate the diaspora. There are 37,000 people of the Polynesian diaspora living in New York City, and it would be exciting to bring people together through this partnership.

Finally, I am currently in conversation with several presenting organizations about the iterations of the opera, specific to the New York area, the New York Philharmonic. Additionally, we are in talks with the LA Philharmonic, and other organizations in Hawaiʻi to tour the production and community engagement activities.

The technology element is related to performance and dissemination: the ability to livestream, the ability to offer classes virtually, the ability to record and distribute the opera digitally as a way of creating further resources.

My solution serves the Kanaka Maoli community, and in terms of greater impact, gives hope for indigenous language revitalization in indigenous communities across the United States.

ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) is spoken on all of the Hawaiian Islands. In the 19th Century, for a short time when Hawaiian became a written language, the Hawaiian Kingdom was one of the most literate countries in the world. Shortly after the overthrow, in 1896, it became illegal to teach any subject in Hawaiian, a law which remained for 90 years.

In the 1970's, there was a sort of Hawaiian Renaissance which lead to the language law to be repealed in 1986. In 1987, government schools were able to begin using Hawaiian again in select sites, and in 1990 the US federal government adopted a policy to recognize the right of Hawaiʻi to preserve and support indigenous language revitalization.

Today, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is a success story of indigenous language revitalization, and is the only Native American language that is used officially by a state government. Still, there is much to be done to continue to provide resources for Hawaiians to feel supported in their own language learning and cultural revitalization.

The opera not only provides national attention to this story that most Americans still do not know, but also provides concrete support in the form of financial and institutional backing. By having national attention on this story and substantial funding to support practitioners, we can continue to expand the resources that are available online to promote language learning, cultural revitalization, and creative artisans.

Bringing money from the production back into the community, through not only these education partners, but people like Manaola Yap, the costume designer who also has his own non-profit supporting Hawaiian artisans, we are creating a ripple effect of creative inspiration and change.

The specific indigenous community I am hoping to effect is Native Hawaiians (Kanaka Maoli). My solution will benefit this community by bringing jobs, creating opportunity, creating visibility, and uplifting the work that they are already doing.

Specific members of the community who are in turn plugged into larger Kanaka Maoli and Polynesian communities are Kahanuola Solatorio (E Hoʻopili Mai), Anthony Aiu (Te Ao Mana), and Manaola Yap (Manaola Hawaiʻi). In addition to talking to these partners about their collaboration and communities, I am also in conversation with Iolani Palace (where the queen was imprisoned, now a space interested returning to its mission as a focal point for Hawaiian culture), the Liliʻuokalani Foundation, and other community leaders around the state about addressing needs for community engagement and support through this project.

As a Kanaka Maoli composer and sound artist, it is important for me to also collaborate and uplift other indigenous community leaders through this project.

As the team lead, I am a Kanaka Maoli artist based in Honolulu. Through my maternal grandfather, I can trace my genealogy back to important Hawaiian families on Maui and Hawaiʻi. In terms of my proximity and the personal importance of this project to my own genealogy, I can trace back to Keawaheulu—a Hawaiian high chief and maternal great-grandfather of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.

I have prioritized creating resources for indigenous communities in my previous leadership roles within organizations, for example, in my role as the Director of Community Engagement at Hawaiʻi Contemporary, I uplifted local artists and educators to create meaningful engagement and community activities in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi for the first time in the organization's history.

To understand the needs of the Native Hawaiian community and help engage other community leaders in that solution, I have been building a team of other community leaders who are dedicated to these solutions, and consulting with elders such as Aunty Nola Nahulu in my research about the queen's life as a composer and musician.

All of the team members / partners mentioned below are Native Hawaiian / Native Hawaiian run organizations who are rooted in the community. You can read more about them at the links below.

• Kahanuola Solatorio (E Hoʻopili Mai) article: "KSK kumu Solatorio amasses global social media following of his 'ōlelo Hawai'i lessons" —Kamehameha Schools.
• Anthony Aiu (Te Ao Mana)
• Manaola Yap (Manaola Hawaiʻi)
• Iolani Palace
• Liliʻuokalani Foundation

Therefore, the design and implementation of this project are inherently and meaningfully guided by the communities’ input, ideas, and agendas through the ongoing actions and integration of the team's members in these various Hawaiian communities of practice.

I'm excited about the possibility of connecting with a cohort of Indigenous Innovators! Being connected across the country with other community leaders and partners who can give feedback and offer inspiration is so important to continue to renew hope and determination to see the project through.

Access to strategic advice from experts on how to best use digital resources for community engagement and help partners to expand their reach (such as E Hoʻopili Mai), would be wonderful for helping to make this not just a single project goal, but leave all collaborators in a better situation and with more support than at the beginning of the project.

Connecting with innovators across disciplines and gaining exposure at conferences would also be helpful in brainstorming future fundraising to get this large-scale project from its current state in progress to on stage and in communities.

Finally, of course, opera is very expensive. I believe that it is important to incorporate these elements of community engagement and members of the community from the start, to build strong relationships and to create greater change.

See above, I am a Kanaka Maoli sound artist and composer based in Honolulu.