On August 15, Na Leo Lani sang the Star Spangled Banner and Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī at Ala Moana Hotel as part of the opening ceremony of the 2022 training conference of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs. It was a brisk but enjoyable performance — made even better by our afterglow breakfast at Liliha Bakery.
In the spirit of summer fun, the ladies of Na Leo Lani had a blast in July showing off hidden talents in a members-only mini talent show. Entertainments included impromptu quartets, poignant folk tunes, a dramatic reading, and more. See below for pics of some of the evening’s entertainments.
Do you like to sing, meet new people, and make new friends? Then join us for a musical night of barbershop at our Na Leo Lani guest night! See flyer below for details.
After months of rehearsals and many challenges along the way, we sailed through our competition recording yesterday with full-throated joy. What a journey it has been!
Thank you so much to our director, Christine Wee; to the Region 12 recording team of Mary Mamer, Donna Prochazka, Randy Sahae, and Joanna Davis, who flew all the way out to Hawai’i for a quick, 48-hour whirlwind of lights, camera, and action; to the men of Sounds of Aloha who volunteered hours of their day to assist with the event; and to our Vice-President, Kristi Dagdagan, who organized an elegant and bounteous Afterglow. Each of you was masterful in your attention to detail, planning, and performance. Our kids, too, rose to the occasion, tirelessly putting in hours of work to set up and clean up the party. The delicious food and beautiful setting of the Afterglow made for the perfect ending to our 2022 contest experience.
Most of all, thank you to our amazing chorus members, who stayed together through two and half long years of Zoom rehearsals, masked rehearsals, and rehearsals in unusual and less than ideal settings. As the lyrics of one of our contest songs goes, “There is a feeling deep in my heart . . . It’s a feeling heavenly!” Uniting in harmony truly is heavenly. Thanks, ladies, for making it happen.
Na Leo Lani was invited in April to sing the Star Spangled Banner and Hawai’i Pono’i at the first annual awards ceremony of the University of Hawai’i’s inaugural Naval ROTC unit. It was an honor to be a part of this special event. Congratulations to all the students, and thank you for the opportunity to sing for you.
As you can tell from the photos, we had a great time warming up before the show:
Putting the “non-aging” in “nonagenarian,” one of our longtime members, Ruth de Mesa, recently celebrated her 90th (!!) birthday, which fell on our regular weekly rehearsal night. A loyal alumna of Roosevelt High School, Ruth didn’t miss a beat when our Birthday Captain, Wally, asked her to sing the Rough Riders’ school song.
Enjoy this video of Ruthie belting out “Ever faithful, ever true; Roosevelt, to thee our song shall be– All Hail! Hail! Hail!” https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3157519444568006&ref=sharing
Na Leo Lani Chorus was thrilled to perform the U.S. national anthem and Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī for the Diamond Head Classic Basketball Tournament at UH Manoa on December 22. Watch our video, below, and sing along with us!
For the tournament opener between Northern Iowa University and Liberty University, we sang the Star Spangled Banner and Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī.
Mark your calendars for Sunday, December 5, 4:00 p.m. Hawaii time for “Songs of the Season,” a special concert to benefit the Hawai‘i Theatre Center. The pandemic has been hard on all live music venues, and the Hawaii Theatre is no exception. To help this cultural landmark weather the storm and, hopefully, to mark a turning point toward better days ahead, the Sounds of Aloha Chorus has organized a benefit concert featuring all your holiday favorites, sung by the mellifluous male voices of SOA, plus six quartets, small ensembles, and a special guest appearance by Na Leo Lani! As you can can see in the photo from our recording session, the ladies of NLL are overjoyed to be on the risers and singing together in-person again.
Please support the Hawai`i Theatre Center with your $20 per device donation (plus $2 processing charge) to watch the concert premier online on December 5 at 4:00 p.m. HST. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Hawai`i Theatre. Click here for the instructions and access to the online concert streaming link: https://hawaiitheatre.secure.force.com/ticket/#/events/a0S5c00000FZC5xEAH
UPDATE December 6: We hope you enjoyed the music! We hope to be able to share a video of the performance soon. Stay tuned.
Recorded with permission from the composer, Hector Venegas, and arranger, Arlene Fox. Special thanks to our amazing video editor, Randy Sahae.
In 2020, while all of Honolulu was under pandemic lockdown orders, O’ahu’s three barbershop choruses — Na Leo Lani, the Sounds of Aloha Chorus, and Honolulu Blend Show Chorus — came together to overcome the gloom and learn a new song together for our first-ever virtual performance. It was a steep learning curve, but the results — a joyful blend of male and female voices in upbeat celebration — were well worth it. Many thanks to Adam LeFebvre of Sounds of Aloha for his extraordinary editing skills. Enjoy the performance by clicking HERE: “If There’s Anybody Here From Out of Town.”
Na Leo Lani Chorus 