On September 18, Na Leo Lani joyfully presented its first Friends and Family concert in nearly three years. We had a wonderful turnout of enthusiastic supporters, including former NLL director Lars Isaacson and many singers from Sounds of Aloha and Honolulu Blend Show Chorus, as well as many warm and encouraging partners, spouses, parents, and extended ‘ohana.
Thank you to all who attended and joined in the fun! And thank you for your generous financial support of Na Leo Lani through your donations to our calabash bowl!
See below for a smattering of images from the event.
This .GIF image does not have sound, but it gives a sense of our excitement at singing again for a live audience.
Embrace the spirit of the season through song! Join Na Leo Lani for our weekly rehearsals from October 19* through December 18, and sing alongside the chorus as we learn and perform barbershop arrangements of three classic holiday songs. The program culminates in a holiday show on December 18 at Harris Methodist Church.
You will be provided sheet music and learning tracks and will be voice-placed to determine your harmony part. Cost of participation: $20. (Should you decide during the course of the holiday program to join the chorus as a regular member, this fee will be applied to your Sweet Adelines International chapter membership.)
*Note: starting on OCTOBER 19, our rehearsal weeknight will be on Wednesdays , with the exception that on the SECOND WEEK of every month, our rehearsal will be on a THURSDAY. We will meet at the same time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for members and 6 to 7:30 p.m. for “Sing With Us for the Holidays” participants.
Do you love to sing? Have you always wanted to give a cappella choral music a try? If so, please join us for Guest Night,Thursday, September 29 from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.!
Email naleolanichorus [at] gmail.com for further information, or simply visit our Join Us! page for our rehearsal location and parking instructions.
Please note, we have temporarily suspended our Covid vaccination requirement for Guest Night participants.
If you love barbershop, you’ll love O’ahu’s men’s barbershop chorus, Sounds of Aloha, performing its “Love Songs Dinner Cabaret” on Friday, August 26, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Piux X Church in Mānoa. Scan the QR code on the poster below or visit soundsofaloha.org to purchase your tickets in advance online (no ticket sales at the door). Love is in the air!
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.
What could be better than a morning gig followed by coffee and cream puffs?
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.
Hamming it up — an all-bass quartet?? sings “How We Sang Today”Coralyn reciting a dramatic soliloquyDebbie sings “Nada Sou Sou”Vera hulas to “Lovely Hula Hands”Leads belt out “Bras Suck!” to the tune of “Java Jive” 🙂Pure Nerves quartet sings Ukulele Lady
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, Pure Nerves, Rhapsody, and the Region 12 recording teamIn the role of “Lani” In the role of “Tutu”Singing with heartOur director in action.The closing chord The Region 12 recording team and volunteers from Sounds of Aloha, plus Tim Waurick!Rhapsody and Pure Nerves taka photo opHamming it upThe wonderful volunteers (our kids!) who made our Afterglow possible Relaxing at the AfterglowRhapsody shares a tune at our AfterglowView from the topKieko & Chris happy and relieved at the end of our performance
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.
Na Leo Lani Chorus 