Hawaiian music songwriting retreat coming to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is offering a two-day Hawaiian music songwriting retreat for beginners Aug. 16 and 17. Hawaiian music, language and haku mele, or Hawaiian song, experts Kenneth Makuakane and Kaliko Trapp-Beamer will lead the workshops.

Both workshops run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m, and will be held at the park’s Education Center. Advance registration is required. To register, call 985-6166 and leave name, email address and best contact number no later than Aug. 8. Space is limited. The park will contact registrants by email to confirm their reservations.

The retreat will be held in the park at the summit of Kilauea. Budding songwriters will find inspiration in this wahi kapu, or sacred place, among the towering koa and ohia lehua trees, over fields of ropy pahoehoe lava, and in the awe-inspiring eruptive glow from Halemaumau Crater.

Also inspirational are the retreat’s accomplished teachers. Makuakane is a multiple Na Hoku Hanohano award winner, along with his group, The Pandanus Club. He’s a prolific songwriter of more than 1,500 songs, producer of more than 100 albums and collaborator who has worked with virtually all of the stars of Hawaiian music over the years.

Trapp-Beamer was raised as the hanai son of Hawaiian cultural expert Nona Beamer (1923-2008), learning Hawaiian chant, storytelling, traditional protocol, family songs and stories. He currently teaches Hawaiian language courses at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, and helps coordinate the Beamer Family Aloha Music Camp. He is the president of the Mohala Hou Foundation dedicated to “preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian culture through education and the arts.”

The two-day Hawaiian songwriting retreat is sponsored by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Hawaii Pacific Parks Association. Park entrance fees apply.