Jan

Hula Circuits and Hawaiian Rooms: Looking at “Mainland” Hawaiians with Kapena Baptista

Kapena’s great grandmother was a kumu hula and ukulele singer. Kapena started researching his roots while at Harvard and produced his thesis on the Hawaiian Room. Baptista interviewed many of the former Hawaiian Room singers at a reunion they held at the Lexington, a nightclub in New York City.

Other resources:
“Hawaiian Room” the movie: https://www.pbshawaii.org/pbs-hawaii-presents-the-hawaiian-room/
More on Kapena’s research: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/researching-roots-aiming-to-teach/

Photo Credit: PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC, COURTESY HULA PRESERVATION SOCIETY