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# Hawaiian superstars play the pier
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/hawaiian-superstars-play-the-pier/
- Published: 2008-07-03T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:02:55.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Events, Pier, #archive-import

*Hawaiian performers will attempt to break Hula record*

*By CHRISTINA YOON Special to the Daily Press*

SM PIER For those who can’t get away this summer for a tropical getaway, Santa Monica’s Twilight Dance Series will bring a taste of Hawaii to the pier.

The “One Hawaii” event, featuring popular Hawaiian musicians Keali’i Reichel, Na Leo and Weldon Kekauoha will perform in the second Twilight Dance Series concert of the summer tonight starting at 7 p.m. The concert is a celebration of Independence Day, Hawaiian-style, with traditional and contemporary Hawaiian music accompanied by two award-winning Hula groups.

“This is a very rare occurrence,” said Warren Wyatt, the longtime tour producer for Keali’i Reichel and manager for the group Na Leo.

The three large acts rarely tour together and tonight’s performance will be the first free show that any of the musicians have ever done on the mainland.

“Keali’i is the biggest-selling and most popular living Hawaiian artist,” said Wyatt, “and Na Leo is the biggest-selling female group in Hawaii.”

The musicians have been lifelong friends with singer-songwriter Weldon Kekauoha, who won song of the year at the 2008 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, Hawaii’s equivalent of the Grammys.

Nalani Choy, a member of Na Leo, said that the “One Hawaii” show has been a truly unique experience for her as a performer.

“It’s been magical,” she said. “This show is designed so there’s a lot of overlapping and collaboration, resulting in a lot of mini This is not Choy’s first time performing on the mainland, or in Southern California, for that matter. Na Leo and Reichel performed together in 2006 at the Hollywood Bowl to a packed house. Choy recalled the breathtaking sight of thousands of cell phones being raised in the air in place of lighters to show the audience’s approval as Na Leo performed its hit song “Flying With Angels.”

“When we come to the mainland, people really embrace everything about the Hawaiian culture and people,” Choy said.

She expects nothing less of tonight’s event, and is glad to be playing for an audience that has to pay nothing to enjoy it.

“For us, a free show is really exciting,” she said. “We feel like the more people we can reach out to and share the aloha spirit with the better.”

Wyatt said that tonight’s audience would be asked to make one contribution, however. The performers and organizers hope to break the world record for the number of people Hula dancing at the same time. The current record is 5,000 people. Wyatt said he was confident that the crowd at the pier could break the record.

Mostly, however, Wyatt said he hoped that tonight’s concert would introduce Hawaiian culture to people who were not yet familiar with it, and bring fond memories to those who had visited the islands in the past.

“The idea was to bring a free gift of Hawaiian dance, music and culture to the people of Southern California.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 3, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/070308.pdf?ref=smdp.com)