KAILUA-KONA — Stef Mariani’s optimistic outlook on life shines through her music, and now through film.
The recent Na Hoku Hanohano award-winner will be performing at Gertrude’s Jazz Bar at 6 p.m. Sunday, where she will also be showing a short film, titled “Stay Gold,” which chronicles her journey and struggles as an independent artist while creating her recently released album of the same name. Mariani said the 18-minute short film will highlight what she considers to be the message of her album.
“The message behind ‘Stay Gold’ is to be a good person in a hard world, and to manifest goodness and exercise it like a muscle,” Mariani said. “Because I truly believe that is the answer to us individually having a play in the world around us. We can’t do a whole lot about what other people can do, but we can help what we do.”
The Oahu-based musician was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, where she was surrounded by a family of musicians. Mariani said her mother, brothers, uncles and grandfather are all musically inclined, and that background pushed her to pursue music throughout her life.
“It’s an act of self expression,” Mariani said. “I’m first and foremost a writer, so the performance part of it is more of a necessity to get my message out.”
Mariani currently has three albums out, including “Stay Gold.” That album from the folk artist won the Na Hoku Hanohano award for Alternative Album of the Year at the 2018 ceremony, where Mariani was also able to perform on stage.
“It was just exhilarating,” Mariani said. “It was such a huge honor. I’m still floating on cloud nine over it.”
Also at the Na Hoku Hanohano awards this year was Hawaii Island group Kahulanui. Mariani said she met the group at the ceremony, and several members from the group — Pat Eskildsen, Duke Tatom and Noa Eads — will be performing with her Sunday at Gertrude’s.
Despite her California background, Mariani has been living on Hawaii since 1999, and the islands have provided Mariani with plenty of inspiration for songwriting.
“I’m inspired by my experiences, but also the experiences of others. I write a lot about how I perceive others and how they are experiencing things,” Mariani said. “So I’m mostly inspired by people. And just living in Hawaii, there is lots of inspiration here.”
When asked what about Hawaii inspires her, Mariani joked “the weather.”
“The truth is, the aloha spirit,” Mariani said. “I don’t think I could ever leave, even if (somewhere else) the weather was great and everything was perfect. Here, I’ll just start talking to someone at the grocery store that I don’t know. If I’m in a place where that’s strange, I think I would feel out of place. But this is my home.”
That love for Hawaii and its people extends all the way to Kailua-Kona.
“The people are so down-to-earth,” Mariani said. “And they love folk music, so I love to perform on the Big Island.”