 I'm Marcia Joyner and we are navigating the journey. And today, what a journey this is. We are going with my dear friends, and you all know I only talk to dear friends. My dear friends, Leon and Malia, and we are going to see a 40-year journey with these two. In fact, I was just talking to Leon and Malia. When I first met you, my children were little and you were doing the concerts at the zoo. So you know how long that's been. Yes. Yes. A local Leon is so excited to be here today. Yes. So you've been on a wonderful journey. Yes. Yes. 40 years of this. Or more. More. Yes. You're counting 40. We're celebrating certain landmarks here as 40 years, but we started way before that. Yes. So we have a beautiful little piece about all of those 40 years. All right. And let's see what 40 years looks like. Welcome to Backstory, the musical journey of Leon and Malia. Being duo, Leon and Malia has been part of Hawaii's music scene for over 40 years, composing and performing a wide range of music in Hawaii and around the world. In this special series, we'll be hearing the fascinating backstories behind their amazing journeys in music from Waikiki to the London Symphony, from the momentous triumphs of Hokulea to the Hawaiian cultural renaissance. And we're back. Was that the Hokulea? Yes. We were involved in that. What you saw in this trailer is the beginning introductory part of our new show called Backstory, which is on O'Lello. Oh. And it's a 12-part series. So we're down to the last few parts right now that has been running all year, and it focuses on various aspects of our career. We take season by season, and we have some that are focusing on what we do with children, like you were mentioning when we've been at the zoo and other places like that. And the videos we've done for children and all the songs that are in the schools right now have been for the last 30 years in schools. So that's a whole part of our activity was to do music for children. Hawaiian friendly Hawaiian educational music for children. Well, that's right. Very family friendly. And very benchmark so we can meet certain DOE national and Hawaii benchmarks as far as the type of song they're singing about as we're talking about children. As you know, we are always involved with environment sustainability and responsibility. And culture. And culture. And nature. Now you mentioned the songs in Hawaiian. Some of them are Hawaiian. Yes, some of them are in Hawaiian or a mixture of Hawaiian and English. But they've become really anthems for many of our schools that have adopted the songs as their school anthem and things like that. Well, for example, the one song called the Ohana song is sung in every school in the entire state. Most of them have adopted it as an anthem for their school. Because we talk about three values. That's Ohana family. And the other one is Lokahi, which is harmony. And the third is Aloha. And with those three, which are principles we're teaching to our children, those three are so important to us as a family. So they have a recording of it? Or do they just now they just sing? We do sort of everything. We have DVDs and CDs of the songs that we do. So most of the schools have that in their library for their teacher's use. And then, for instance, we see thousands of school children a year in live concert. Prior to coming to their school, they will learn certain songs. And then when we go and there's 600 of them in the auditorium or in their cafeteria, we all sing that song. It's a big sing-along. Wonderful time for that. So each of the school has a recording and they play all the kids. And also the recordings are available in the open market. So many, many parents and grandparents purchase the recordings for their children. But fast forward just a moment since we're talking education schools and whatnot to the two Hokulea song kids that we've done. So we've been involved with the Hokulea voyage and the experience. Since its practically its inception. We were there at the launch and of course we're working with the Hokulea project, the Polynesian Voyages Society, from the early, early days. And then, when they took off for Tahiti, then we were involved with the National Geographic Project to document the trip. So then we wrote the soundtrack for it when National Geographic made a TV special on the voyage of the Hokulea in 1977. So we've been involved. So recently because of its worldwide journey, we wrote some new songs for children because a lot of times the children are sort of left out of the equation when these big historical and cultural things are going on. So what we've been doing is making sure the children actually understand or participate in what's going on. So we wrote some songs and we decided to put them into song kits that can be used by the schools to teach children about Hokulea. And then, lo and behold, Hokulea comes after its journey, comes and visits the different communities and the children know the songs. Well, I am glad to know that because, you know, with the voyage when it was coming home and we were all excited, but my grandchildren kept saying, well, what does that mean? Yes, yes. You know, those that don't live here. Right. The pictures are great and we understand that you're excited, but what does that mean? And that's a good question. So, for instance, on the Polynesian Voyaging Society website, if you go to curriculum, it shows that songbook anyone in the world can get it and be able to read it to learn what it's all about. It's downloadable. We did two. One was for preschool level. We're talking about two years old to four years old. And the second is for the kindergarten through sixth grade, really. So, it's quite covered in those areas. That is wonderful. Anyone can find out on our website. That is wonderful. Now, hey, I don't get paid for this. So, but this is a plug. This is coming Christmas and if your grandchildren are like mine that didn't quite understand what all this was about, because I've been following the voyage since the beginning, then I think that is a great Christmas present. So, how do they get it? Tell us again. Sure. All you have to do is go to our website, which is HawaiiKidsMusic.com. Very simple. HawaiiKidsMusic.com. Everything is there. I just made up my mind. That's what they are. Simply because they kept saying, Grandma, what's this all about? What's it all about? Yes. What's the excitement? Especially those in Wisconsin. Right. Well, we've reached out. We have people from England and from many other countries who come to the website or the information that they want their kids over there to learn all about. Right. So, school teachers all over the world use it to introduce kids to things in Hawaii. So, we have not only that but the other videos that we have issued, there's Keiki Kalabash and HawaiiKidsKalabash, DVDs, videos, they're also posted online. So, those are our songs about our island home and our culture here. And so, that's been taught all over the world. And you travel all over the world. Yes. They know when you're coming. They know who you are. Right. By your music. Well, that's wonderful. And that's just one aspect of our music. Yeah. Because of course, we do Hawaiian music as well for our four adults. And we also do Waikiki first. They show us. And visitor. Yeah, right. Music and we've also done concerts throughout the U.S. and in some places around the world. And so, we were talking earlier. What did you do with the London Symphony? We did that in 1979. Oh, thank you. So, this is one of the 40th, this is the 40th anniversary of it. Oh, really? It was a symphonic piece that we wrote with a friend of ours from here. And it's the first and only Hawaiian symphonic piece ever recorded. Well, it's... First and secondly, ever recorded by the best orchestra in the world. Right. Wow. It's called a heroic fantasy. And it was a combination of a famous author, artist, John Thomas, and an orchestrator, Jerry Tanner, and two of us. Ten years in the making, mind you. Now, do you put all those artists together for ten years? Are you really accomplishing something? That is great. That is like goodness. Yes. And so, we performed it, what, 50 times here? Yeah, with the Honolulu Symphony. Honolulu Symphony. Yeah. In pieces. And then when we went to record it, we, the record company, wanted to use a new process called digital recording. Yes. And so, they hired the Honolulu Symphony. I mean, the London Symphony Orchestra. Yes. To do it. So, this was not only a breakthrough with Hawaiian music being performed in a symphonic setting, but it was also one of the first digital recordings made. Well, so, that, since you had used the Hawaiian music, the Hawaiian music, the Hawaiian, everything. So, when you transfer that to London, was there a learning process, or did they just... No, no. The symphonic... Just musical pieces. Just music. Yeah, it's music. Right. But they do... We did take some Hawaiian instruments, implements for them to play, and things like that. But really, the symphonic orchestra simply read the orchestration and played it. We also had a choir, a 50 voice choir, that sang with it. And so, they asked, I mean, they could sing Hawaiian because they sing Italian. Yes. Spanish. Other languages. No, no languages. But they also asked, what kind of English do you want this for the English part? That is, do you want a... American English? A British accent, or a Latin accent? English. And so, they sang it that way. Wow. It was fascinating. Yes. So, we were able to... No pigeon? No pigeon. No pigeon. Wow. So, that was a fabulous experience. So, that was a season of the orchestra we've had seasons of Children's Music. Well, they were all overlapping, actually. So, the same year that we recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, we also released our first children's album called Mokulana, which was a fantasy album. And one of those big 12-inch records, with a book that opened up and all that. So, that was the same year. And then we did another project that same year. Again, it all culminated in that one year. Another one called Heartland, which is about our travels across the U.S. America, yes. Yeah. With our band. So, those are still available? Well, actually, bored with Goldfish, the London Symphony one is available. And so, as Mokulana... To be unavailable... Yes. The other one, Heartland, will be made available again soon because we had to remaster that. Okay. We need to take a break. Okay. And when we come back, we'll go for the rest of the journey. Okay. Thank you. Very good. And we'll be right back. Aloha. I'm your host, Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, of Sister Power here at ThinkTech of IE. And Sister Power is all about motivating, empowering, educating, and inspiring all people. And we have various subjects here. Sister Power is here at ThinkTech every other Thursday at 4 p.m. Again, my name is Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, host of Sister Power. We look forward to seeing you. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at sistersinpowerandkawaii at gmail.com. Look forward to chatting with you soon. Aloha. Hi. I am Yukari Kunisue, host of Konnichiwa Hawaii, ThinkTech Hawaii's Japanese program, broadcasting every Monday from 2 p.m. I usually invite a guest in Japanese-language community. That's an interesting thing and I'd like to share stories with you guys. Please, tune in and listen to Konnichiwa Hawaii. Aloha. We are back and we are navigating the journey and my gosh, what a journey this is. And I am just so involved in like, what come I don't know? What come I didn't have a voyage like this? We're with Leon. We have our own voyages. Yeah. Leon and Malia. And we are celebrating 40 years of them being this wonderful voice of voices of Hawaii from and for and about Hawaii. So tell us about, you know, we were talking about the symphony and all of the big music, but when it's just the two of you, what's the performance like? Do you play instruments? Yes, I play guitar and Malia and I both sing. And so that's really Leon and Malia at its core. All the other stuff is production and that's what we've been talking about, the different productions we've done and the different compositions we've written. But in the performance, it's really where we really enjoy being there because you have a live audience. Malia and I started out in Waikiki. I was already singing in Waikiki. Malia came back for kind of a short visit. She was on her en route to someplace else, but she got up on stage the first night she was back. She got on stage with me. I asked her to come up and sing a song. The owner of the of the establishment where the restaurant we were in. Where were you? This is Chuck's seller. I remember Chuck's. I remember Chuck's. Right. So the owner approached us right after and he said, can you be here every night? And I said, can you sing about it? Okay, fine. So we were an immediate group then. And so we had to rehearse and make sure we had had enough songs together to go through the night. But that started out then. Within a few months, we were offered a job at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, which is a very world famous place where many, many stars got their launch from Jim Neighbors from the Stiller, the Kingston Trio, the Smothers Brothers and those. So we were there for a couple of years. We worked there a few months and they come back here for a few months and back and forth. And meanwhile, we were also playing other clubs on the West Coast. And this was during the time of the folk era. Right. So we were playing mostly folk music but inserting Hawaiian music in there because it's folk music. It is. And it always got some really strong response to it. People loved it. So anyway, so that's what we were doing and started recording almost immediately as well. We did our first recording in Los Angeles in 1970, I think it was. But what was really fun was being in performance. So we'd come back and forth from San Francisco once a year for a very big reason, the Diamondhead creator concert. Yes. The festivals. Yes. And so we were there at the very first one and at many other ones and sometimes we were by ourselves, sometimes we'd have a band with us, and whatnot. But it was, you know, you get to be with Linda Ronstadt and all those people from that era. Fabulous. Yes. The concert. How long did it last at the Diamondhead? Now, I can only remember. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. We only played for the first few, maybe three or four of them. Because it only went once. Right. Because the newer ones in the newer years are quite different from what we had when we started. The old years. Yes. But anyway, they were really enjoyable and it was quite, you know, a lot of fun to do that. So we did those kinds of concerts. We did a lot of college concerts on the West Coast and, you know, traveling up and down by train with our group that we had at the time. And then, of course, we did a lot of work in Los Angeles, part of the Hokulea film. But we also worked on several other film soundtracks and did a lot of recording. What other films did you do? Well, I worked on one called Sail Away, which was from, anyways, it was an adventure film that, down through Mexico. It's a sea of cortex. Oh, that sounds interesting. Yeah. It was a sailing feature. And then, we did a couple of others for National Geographic. Because we had started with Hokulea and then we went back for the Great Whales and then for this other one called The Tigris. Oh, the Thor Hired Dog. That's right. The Thor Hired Dog. Yeah, something like that. Right. And the interesting thing is that we all, those stories, as well as Hokulea and the things about Hawaii, all kind of had some connections. Yes. I was going to say, especially Thor, quite yes. Yes. He was quite a character. Yes. Right. So, again, are all those available? No. No. Well, I believe the voyage of the Hokulea is still available through National Geographic. Yeah, but that sail away or whatever that film was, I haven't seen that in a long time. We have to look into it. We'll look into it now we're talking about it. Yes. You know, it would be really interesting those even, Yeah. Those are the early days. And then we, Uncle Tom Moff had booked us on a number of rock concerts. What was then the HIC? The warm-up act is for the, at the HIC. Right, right, right. Yeah. And so, again, it was quite a contrast, you know. I was going to say, you are folk. Yes. So the funny thing was that sometimes we'd be performing with the Honolulu Symphony at the concert hall. And then, And then go around the corner. Next evening we'd be in the arena with Jethro Tull or Leon Mussel or somebody like that. Right. Right. Those were pretty exciting moments. Mm-hmm. Switching hats. Mm-hmm. Anyway, it was a great time. And then one other thing I wanted to mention was Territorial Tavern. Oh my, yes. Which was, of course, you know, the place where so many groups You know, It's such a launching pad from here. Yeah. Right. And so, we were there very early on. On one of our trips back, they asked us to headline and then we kept coming back but, you know, Buga Buga, of course, and the Beamer Brothers and the Brothers Casemiro or Sons of Hawaii was the anchor on Sunday, Sunday Jam. Yes. And there was such an incredible time. The music was just flowing and developing. So, we were just really blessed to be a part of that. Mm-hmm. This modern Hawaiian music, Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. J was saying that he doesn't get to hear it. How did, ordinary, I know, ordinary people get to hear this new Hawaiian music? I thought it was everywhere but Jay says he doesn't get to hear it. Hmm. Well, there are certain stations that play it here and, of course, there are quite a few concerts going on as well in live performances. Oh, yes. Yes. Things like that. So, if Jay would go look at some of those Hawaiian concerts, he's quite it. Yeah. You see, what I remember of Waikiki when it was magic, that you could walk, all of the hotels had show rooms and all of them had Hawaiian entertainment. Yes. And we would walk down the beach at night and sit out and watch the concerts. Right. And that's why we also made sure that we did not abandon that part because that was a very important part of Hawaiian music. It was. And that is what the visitors heard and it was also an opportunity to educate visitors about the depth of Hawaiian music and so we were really pleased to be able to do that too. We played the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for years at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Moana. Moana Hotel and most of the hotels all went out. All along with that show room on the beach. On the beach to the beach. Yes. Right. And we really enjoyed playing for the visitors because it was what we were trying to do is elevate their exposure to Hawaii. Yes. Instead of just what they saw on TV or in the films. Yeah. But like I said, I hated to see that disappear. It seemed like it was here and then one day it was gone. Yes. It's faded out but there are pockets of it here but you're right. It's not like you can go from one place to the next right down the strip and here is great Hawaiian music. Great great Hawaiian music. Yes. So, okay now what are you up to? Well, we're sort of archiving things right now. We're digging through our archives and finding recordings that we've never forgotten about and then actually we're bringing them back out and remastering and we're going to be releasing some of these but most of them we're going to archive. Right. But this coming year we will be really mastering and re-releasing three different albums. Oh great. Yeah. Well a client sale. And we still have some projects in the works you know when we have time we work on them. Now what the last time I talked to you was at the Life Park. Yes. Well that's one other thing that we're looking at. Yeah well we are talking with them because they're right now remodeling a great deal of the park and they want to put in what we're looking at is a fin and feathered friends show because we have songs about the sea creatures and whatnot and we'd like to get that across. So we're talking to them we know fin and feathered friends right in the the whole new and the Mark Seol and you know we're still contemplating whether we should call a fin and flippered friends. Oh that's true flippered friends you know sea animals that's true but there are birds they have a lot of birds come in they have a big bird this way so that's a possibility right we'll be doing a great deal yes as you know for his work as well as well as my we do yes yeah it's always like well when I ask there well where is he or which hat is he wearing that's what we should ask yes he wears so many hats we you know everybody knows Leon and then they remember Leon and Malia as a group yes so do you get to work with him on these journeys as much as I can yes I do Malia is also a music educator yes and so I have we have a young preschool entertainment program that we came up with and so I work with the toddler to the five year old and develop songs and at different schools at different schools yeah it's wonderful because every day we have innocence and joy and just you know energy energy that they always have to get up to it you know but it's wonderful we have many plans we'll keep on going and if anyone's interested they can look at our website that's when I said HawaiiKidsMusic.com or go to Facebook we have Facebook.com Leon and Malia like I said everybody knows Leon and Malia yes and my husband when I said you were going to be a guest he said oh I remember them yes I hope they all do yes yes anybody that had little children remembers Leon and Malia yes well the great thing is that little children know us also because of the exposure to our music well also but the little children the parents and grandparents yes and so well we've influenced just young generations so we get letters in the mail let's say I was so influenced by your music where can I get it and things like we sent them our website but also they're saying how profoundly affected they were as children growing up right and so they're looking for the music how immediate difference in their lives but don't we all want to do that yes but somehow there is this thing these black dots on a piece of paper and then you hear something else you don't hear black dots on a piece of paper it's just magic it's magic it is magic it is just wonderful and your magic and this has been such a pleasure well thank you for inviting us with you with us sure and you will come back yes as your projects move on yes yes and there's so much more I want to ask about all the music and your archiving and how we can get it and like so alright thank you thank you it's been a pleasure and Godspeed Aloha Aloha and we'll see you next time but in the meantime ta-da we have a Halloween party the day of the dead Saturday and it is in Hawaii, Kai at the Mexican restaurant and it's the same shopping center where Safeway is so the day of the dead Halloween party it's free just come and enjoy and have fun and it's for adults so the children get to play tomorrow but this one's for adults so again thank you and we'll see you next time Aloha