Hoʻokena

Hoʻokena is a Hawaiian music group that traces its founding to 1986, when Horace K. Dudoit III, Manu Boyd, and William "Ama" Aarona began performing together; Glen Smith joined as the group took the name Hoʻokena, after Hoʻokena, a historic beach and former port village in South Kona on Hawaiʻi Island. Sources differ on the exact founding lineup and date: some accounts place the Hoʻokena name and format from 1989, with Chris Kamaka — now a core member — joining later, around 1999. The group is known for close vocal harmonies built on traditional Hawaiian language, melody, and instrumentation (guitar, ʻukulele, and bass), and is among the longest continuously active ensembles in contemporary Hawaiian music.

The group has released thirteen studio albums between 1990 and 2020, beginning with "Thirst Quencher!" (1990) and including "Nā Kai ʻEwalu" (1993), "Hoʻokena 5" (1999), "Cool Elevation" (2003), "Nani Mau Loa: Everlasting Beauty" (2009), "Hoʻokena 3.0" (2017), and "Meant to Be" (2020). Hoʻokena has won seven Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards (Hawaiʻi's principal music honors) across categories including Group of the Year, Hawaiian Language Performance, and Traditional Hawaiian Album of the Year, and has received three Grammy Award nominations for Best Hawaiian Music Album / Best Regional Roots Music Album (at the 47th, 52nd, and 60th Grammy Awards, for the albums "Cool Elevation," "Nani Mau Loa: Everlasting Beauty," and "Hoʻokena 3.0" respectively), without a win.

Beyond recordings, Hoʻokena has performed at Carnegie Hall on more than one occasion, including a 2013 appearance, and performed for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2008. The group's lineup has shifted over the years: William "Ama" Aarona left around 2003, and Manu Boyd departed in 2012, after which the group continued as the trio of Dudoit, Kamaka, and Smith; Aarona and Boyd rejoined for a 2019 reunion and the 2020 album "Meant to Be." The group's official current roster lists Dudoit, Kamaka, and Smith alongside kumu hula Nani Dudoit; Boyd and Aarona's ongoing membership status is not clearly confirmed in current sources. Group member Glen Smith received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts in 2022.