Leading innovators for spreading aloha around the world, Keola and Moanalani Beamer and friends (including Jeff Peterson, left) are presenting a fundraiser, “An Evening of Aloha, Concert and Film,” on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022, at 7 p.m. in the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s McCoy Studio Theater. PHOTO BY MICHAEL FISH.

LAHAINA — Lahaina residents Keola and Moanalani Beamer invite the community to their fundraising event, “An Evening of Aloha, Concert and Film,” at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Saturday, Aug. 13, at 7 p.m. in the McCoy Studio Theater.

Musicians Jeff Peterson, Isaac Maluhia Castillo and special guest Tom Lunnberg will join the Beamers in concert followed by the Oscar-nominated film “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.”

The presentation honors Keola’s mother, Aunty Nona Beamer, a revered Hawaiian cultural treasure, and her effort not only to live a life of aloha, but also to spread it around the world.

This program is underwritten by The Mohala Hou Foundation (MHF). MHF is a nonprofit organization that presents Aloha Music Camp (AMC) and other educational and cultural programs to foster understanding and perpetuation of the Hawaiian culture.

Through AMC, the Beamer ‘ohana and other Hawaiian kumu (teachers) have provided educational and cultural programs in the context of ukulele, guitar hula, ‘olelo (language), oli (chant) and traditional Hawaiian crafts to thousands of participants of all ages over the 21 years of its operation.

The expertise of MHF in developing and presenting cultural enrichment programs throughout Hawaii and worldwide ensures that children as far away as Bhutan, Cambodia, India and other countries, will also receive the highest quality of instruction. All proceeds from this show will go to MHF to help teach youngsters how to play the ukulele.

“I am looking forward to working with fellow guitarists Jeff Peterson and Tom Lunnberg,” said Keola, a world-renowned musician and award-winning slack-key guitar master.

“Over the years, Peterson has achieved tremendous success, and at the same time, he has become like a son to me. I love playing music with him and exploring the fascinating tonality of the Hawaiian slack key guitar. I have also been enjoying Lunnberg’s interesting and inventive compositions for acoustic guitar. He started off as one of my best students, and now he is in a league of his own. It is going to be fun to hear him present his latest work to our Maui audience. Especially for our ‘An Evening of Aloha’ fundraiser, we are introducing Isaac Maluhia Castillo. Living on the island of Kauai, Maluhia is a professional musician and teacher. Playing the bass for over 20 years, he has performed with bands ranging from classical, jazz, funk, rock and bluegrass in venues such as Benaroya Hall in Seattle and Carnegie Hall in New York. For the last two years, he has been teaching at Kanuikapono, a Hawaiian charter school, as their primary mele teacher working with grades K-12.”

To lend a helping hand to the Beamer concert and film event, Maui musician, songwriter and world-renowned luthier (builder of stringed instruments) Steve Grimes built a tenor ukulele made of select curly koa that has been part of his wood collection for over 30 years. The instrument will be offered at auction as part of the event.

“This ukulele has an African ebony fingerboard, bridge and peghead overlay, and light-colored curly koa bindings” , Grimes explained. “The rosette is also of curly koa, bordered by two 5-ply rings of multi-colored wood, which also trim the body and peghead. The neck is made from Honduran mahogany. I strung it with low-G tuning, since that is what the majority of my uke customers prefer, and I’ll include a saddle that is designed (intonated) for re-entrant (high G) tuning so that the uke will tune optimally for either tuning. Additionally, to benefit Mohala Hou, I will auction a very rare early 1930s Martin soprano ukulele donated by Dr. Tom Vendetti, an award-winning Maui filmmaker and retired director of Mental Health Kokua.

“Keola and Moanalani are my heroes. They are both dedicated to bringing Hawaiian culture to underprivileged youth in Hawaii as well as to children around the world. The Beamers are helping those who may never have had an instrument in their hands. Their goal is simple. Spread peace through music, and in the process spread the aloha spirit. I am honored to be part of this fundraiser!”

The concert will be followed by the film “Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom.” The story is about a young teacher in modern Bhutan, named Ugyen, who shirks his duties while planning to go to Australia to become a singer. As a reprimand, his superiors send him to the most remote school in the world, a glacial Himalayan village called Lunana, to complete his service. He finds himself exiled from his westernized comforts after an arduous eight-day trek just to get there. There he finds no electricity, no textbooks, not even a blackboard. Though poor, the villagers extend a warm welcome to their new teacher, but he faces the daunting task of teaching the village children without any supplies. He wants to quit and go home, but he begins to learn of the hardship in the lives of the beautiful children he teaches, and begins to be transformed and eventually enlightened through the amazing spiritual strength of the villagers.

Numerous people have contributed their talents to providing youth with the ukulele as a way to enrich their lives and communities through the power of music. AMC instructors know that when children learn to better understand the essential connection of music and dance in other cultures, they will begin to assimilate these ideas and instruments into their own culture. To begin this process, the instructors teach the children songs in their native language. By learning to play their own songs on their own instruments, the warmth, joy and aloha spirit of the music will begin to spread and uplift their lives and the lives of their families and communities. The expertise of MHF in developing and presenting cultural enrichment programs ensures that Hawaiian, Sikkim and Bhutan children will receive the instruction that is responsive to their needs and interests.

Vendetti noted, “Through MHF, Keola and Moanalani have put together an extraordinary event to help children worldwide to learn to play the ukulele. The contributions that the musicians, Steve Grimes and many others have made to this fundraiser will help realize Aunty Nona Beamer’s vision to spread aloha around the world. This initiative is to give back and teach children to make the world a better place through music and aloha.”

Advance ticket sales are available online at boxoffice@mauiarts.org. For ticketing inquiries, phone (808) 242-SHOW.

For information on the ukulele auction e-mail grimesguitars@gmail.com or visit https://mohalahou.org.

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