Event

Aloha from Hawaii- HAPA

Barry Flanagan is an American singer-songwriter and musician and founder of the internationally acclaimed and award winning World Music group HAPA. Flanagan is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocal performances and ocean awareness projects. Born in New York City and raised in Bergen County, New Jersey, Flanagan came to the Hawaiian Islands in 1980 to study and explore the Art of Kiho Alu, or Slack-Key Guitar, and Haku Mele, Hawaiian poetic song composing. Flanagan heard the recordings of Ry Cooder and Hawaiian Slack Key icon Gabby Pahinui while living in Colorado, which inspired Flanagan's first visit and eventual move to Hawaii. Flanagan immersed himself in Hawaiian Culture and Art, seeking out Native speakers, Teachers and Composers of Hawaiian Poetry along with legendary Hawaiian Slack key players, passionately studying all the indigenous art forms with Hawaii as the backdrop. An "eternal wellspring of inspiration for Artists and Writers from around the globe" is how Flanagan describes Hawaii.
A prolific composer and performer, and one of Hawaii's most respected and celebrated Recording Artists and Producers, Barry Flanagan has composed some of Hawaii's popular songs of the last three decades. In 1994, the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts honored Flanagan, and Hawaiian Language Professor S.H. Kiope Raymond, with the prestigious "Haku Mele" award, an acknowledgement for Excellence in the Art of Song Composition in the Native Hawaiian Language. In 2004, Flanagan co-composed a song with friend Kenny Loggins for his Grammy nominated "More Songs from Pooh Corner" release. The song, entitled "Hana Aluna Lullaby" includes a chorus in the Hawaiian language, making this the first song utilizing Hawaiian lyrics to receive that distinction.