A Rainbow Warrior recently won multiple awards at the premier music award event in Hawaii.
Kainani Kahaunaele, a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, won seven awards in six categories for her album, "Waipunalei," at the 2021 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. "Waipunalei" is Kahaunaele’s third record to date, according to UH Hilo's website.
“The Waipunalei collection of mele reflects my love for travel with my gang, whether in my own one hānau, an atoll in a different time zone or a country where I can get my passport stamped. Time travel through the past, in the moment and through the future is wielded in every purposeful delivery of the mele,” she said of the album on her website. “The recording process in itself was a journey, collaborating with over 20 of Hawaii’s finest musicians with many meaningful conversations about our musical foundations, tradition, innovation and the direction in which we want to take our musical legacies.”
She graduated from the university with a bachelor of arts in Hawaiian studies, along with a master of arts in Hawaiian language and literature. Kahaunaele is currently a lecturer in Hawaiian Studies at UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla o Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language.
Kahaunaele said that her music is cultivated from her life’s experiences and is rooted in her favorite songwriters, along with Hawaiian cultural and language experts.