Several readers and others have asked when we would devote a column to the musical legacy of K&C, your friendly "Ke Mele Hawai`i Nei" columnists. Many of our fans and friends have made similar suggestions. Well, now seems an appropriate time. And I hope you will not think of it as "ringing our own bell."

On March 16, we were honored to receive the first annual Legacy Award for "lifetime achievement" by a musical group - for our more than 30 years of performing in Waikiki and around the world, and for what we have done and continue to do for other artists and the community. So, with the blessings of our editor, we'll devote this column to saying thanks and telling you a bit about ourselves. It's been an exciting lifetime in Hawaiian music, and we are truly honored. This recap barely scratches the surface of the fun life we've had in Hawaiian music.

We'd like to say that we can think of many musical groups that are very deserving of this recognition. But, that said, we graciously accepted the award anyway.

To begin with, we are very honored that Johnny Kai and the Board of Directors of the Music Foundation of Hawai`i saw fit to give us this award. It is an honor, indeed. In past years, we have received many honors and awards from charitable organizations and others we have helped by donating our time and talent; and some of our efforts - such as the "best" Single of the Year 2004, Patriotic CD of the Year 2003 (as part of The Patriots with Gordon Manuel Freitas and Don "Geezer" Humphrey), Country CD of the Year 2002, in the Hawai`i Music Awards; and two Anthology of the Year awards from the Hawai`i Academy of Recordings Arts (Na Hoku Hanohano) for albums we produced in the 1980s.

It was an honor to receive the award from Michael Titterton, President and General Manager of Hawai`i Public Radio and a driving force in the local broadcast industry. Michael mentioned that in our more than 30 years performing in Waikiki and around the world, we never knowingly did a show without hula. FYI, Hawai`i Public Radio is celebrating 25 years of local broadcasting and we've been with for many of those years. Among programs we started at Public Radio are "Ke Aolama," the first-ever Hawaiian language radio news program anywhere; and "The Hawaiian Word of the Day," both still heard daily on HPR. We still produce and host "The Music of Hawai`i" on KIPO. And we conceived the award-winning "Na Mele O Hawai`i" series for KHET, which went on to win honors for PBS, and which was the forerunner for the currently popular "Na Mele," which also received a Legacy Award this year. Keith also hosted the first three programs in that earlier series - featuring Ray Kane, The Hui `Ohana, and Jerry Byrd - but all three shows mysteriously disappeared after KHET fired the first producer/director, David Sylvian. Those three great programs never aired, and the series started over again with Martha Carrell as producer, and won national awards for PBS. All we got out of that effort was a nice letter from Dr. George S. Kanahele of the Hawaiian Music Foundation saying "thanks for a great idea" and "look what you started." But that's OK; it started KHET and PBS on the right road, producing great Hawaiian music programs for the whole country to enjoy. Keith also hosted the "Hawaiian Renaissance" radio program on radio KHVH in the 1970s for the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, then the longest running radio program in the Islands, with only four hosts - Monsignor Charles Kekumano, Dr. George S. Kanahele, Keith, and Haunani Apoliona.

Among the most significant of our past awards was the Aloha Spirit Award that Keith received from the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai`i, and we'll never forget the Military Week Luncheon at which Lynn Cook presented that award to a speechless Keith, or performing our patriotic songs at Pearl Harbor on December 7, or at Punchbowl for the Pacific American Veterans Memorial Day Service, or in the Historic Hawai`i Theatre with the Combined Military Bands. Subsequent recipients of that award include Don Ho, Michael W. Perry & Larry Price, the Outrigger Hotel's Kelly Family.

First prize (for `I Ka La `Apopo) in the Friends of the Royal Hawaiian Band Ho`okuku Mele (songwriting contest) for new Hawaiian lyric songs about the overthrow of 1893 was also a highlight, as was being honored by the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the Chosen Few. Among our most significant awards and other recognitions, were those from the Hawai`i Heart Association, HICOSH, American Lung Association, Honolulu Advertiser Christmas Fund, Boys & Girls Club of Honolulu, Hawai`i Public Television, Hawai`i Public Radio, Alzheimers Association, Bishop Museum, US Army Hawai`i, Salvation Army, Aloha United Way, Punana Leo, Unity Church, Kilohana United Methodist Church, Lunalilo Home, Kaumakapili Church, Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions clubs, Boy Scouts of America, the State of Minnesota, and more.

But awards and recognitions aside, it all began for Keith with a father who played violin, a mother who played piano, and siblings who played trumpet, piano, clarinet, and who had performed for President Roosevelt and the Queen of England. For Keith, then known as Cordell, there was mixed chorus in high school, church choir, a boys quartet with Byron Danielson, Gerald and Chuck Vagle, and years of performing instrumental solos, accompanied on piano by Marlys Ann Gunnarson.

Carmen began her musical career as a songleader at Baldwin High School, but it wasn't until she studied hula under Hu`i Park at Aunty Genoa Keawe's Hula Studio in Pauoa, that she turned professional, joining Keith in Waikiki -first as a guest artist at the Kuhio Hotel (now the Miramar), and later with Keith as a duo at the Hawaiian Regent (now the Marriott). More than 30 years later, they still perform together.''

"Adding Carmen to my solo act was the best thing I ever did," Keith said in a recent interview. "She added that gracious Hawaiian touch, beauty, her angelic voice, and her hula. She has the loveliest hula hands ever."

Keith & Carmen Haugen, 1975, while performing at the Hawaiian Regent Hotel. (Photo by Roger Parsons)

In 1959, in Japan, Keith had put aside his brass valve instruments to become an `ukulele strumming singer of Hawaiian songs.

It would be impossible to name all those who have influenced and helped us musically since then, or even those with whom we have performed. But here are some names that immediately come to mind.

In Japan, as part of The Islanders, Keith performed with Al Abing, Rawley Nawa`a, Andrew Dela Cruz, Ken Kitagawa, Don Muroki, Lucille Kekipi Cordeiro, Millie Ka`uhane Chan, Georgina Samson Haugen, Rawley's lovely daughters who danced for us too, and occasionally with dozens of others in Hawaiian musical groups made up of military and civilians working for the military. Names that come to mind are Reggie and Dot Kekuewa, Leo Baduria, George Kobayashi, Bill Maluo, Lino Buenconsejo, Harold Yap, and a few dozen more. It was during that time that the popular "Tokyo Tattler" columnist dubbed Keith, a singing emcee, as the "Webley Edwards" of Hawaiian Music in Japan.

Thanks to our mentors in music and language - including Aunty Alice Namakelua, Jimmy Kaholokula, Sam Kong Kee, Emma Sharp, Lokalia Montgomery, Aunty Edith Kanaka`ole, Irmgard Farden Aluli. Thanks to teachers Mileka Kanahele, Pua Anthony Hopkins, Allison Ledward, Edith McKinzie, Kawehi Lucas, Ruby Kawena Johnson, `Ioli`i Hawkins, No`eau Warner, Laiana Wong, Al Schutz and others. Mahalo to our kumu hula Hu`i Park, Noenoe Zuttermeister, and more recently Kaha`i Topolinski.

And thanks to all those who played a part in our many recordings - Bill Murata, Guy Tseu, Ezra Johnson, Robbie Kaholokula, Eddie Palama, Cathy Rivera, Donna Rivera, WAIMANALO KEIKIS (Clinton Aina, Wilton Harvest, Paula Sarsona, John Sarsona, Brenda Lee, Linda Lee, Cyrinah Solomon, Kirk Kamanu, Scott Maukele, Cory Kaneaiakala), Herb Ono, Bob Lang, Roger Parsons, Chris Skapik, Elaine Iwamasa, Elaine Ako Spencer, Ed Roy, Elizabeth & George Studios, George Gardiser, Lea Uehara, Pierre Grill, Nanilisa Pascua, Hans Ballin, Gladys Isokane, Erik Diesen, Michael Eisenstot, Katy Campbell, THE SUGAR CANE EXPRESS (Rob Hartley, De DeCrow, Bill Joor, John Higgins), Nora Oyama-Haugen, Stanton K. Haugen, Steve Sakaue, Kevin Hirasa, Dunbar Wakayama, Tracy Clay, John Lino, Augie Colon, Jack Matthews, Jeff Helberg, Hal & Kay Rosoff, Albert Ka`ai, George Kuo, Keoki Lake, Lanakila Rittenband, Helene Woodward, Randy Oness, Danny Kaleikini, Isaac Ki`ilehua, Louis “Moon” Kauakahi, Bob Nelson, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Al Velasquez, Carl Carlson, Jen Loper, THE PATRIOTS (Gordon Manuel Freitas, Don “Geezer” Humphrey), Greg Sardinha, Steve Kramer, John Valentine, Roy Hamada, Todd Adamski, THE SOUNDS OF ALOHA CHORUS (Steve DeCrow, David Leeder, Bill Curtis, Mark Conching, Tom Hutton, Sam Vigil, Wayne Neidhardt, Ralph Brandt, Ed Allen, Tim Ozmun, Rob Hartley), Roy Hewetson, Ray Higuchi, Lee Carney, Jay Linsky, Katie Linsky, Edie Becker, Jim Jeffus, Sjoberg Photo, Bishop Museum, Jack & Marty Ford Collection, and T.W. Shelton. What a cast!

There were many more who performed on other (non K&C) recordings that we produced, including a Touch of Brass, Agnes Kimura, Nina Keali`iwahama, `Iwalani Kahalewai, George Kuo, Puamana, Jim Howard, Alan Akaka, Sol K. Bright, Simeon Bright, Joe Recca, Patricia Lei Anderson Murray, The Lim Family, Na Kaholokula, the Waimanalo Keikis, George Kuo, Rhonda, a pela aku.

Thanks to those with whom we performed regularly over the years, including Guy Tseu, Ezra Johnson, John Mahuka, Vern Ropp, Eddie Kamae & The Sons of Hawai`i (Joe Marshall, David "Feet" Rogers, Dennis Kamakahi, plus Diana Aki, Joe "The Fiddler" Bourque).

And thanks to our dancers, from the young ladies of Ellen Castillo's halau who performed with us in a Hula Bowl show, and the hundreds who danced for our performance in an Aloha Bowl Half-time Show in 1991; to Carmen's many hula students - including Yumi Fujii Chee, Eraina Eshleman, Michelle Macapagal, Cristin and Tess Lush, and the professionals like Kealohilani Correa, Kaleinani Chun, Miss Universe Brooke Lee, Miss Hawai`i Kanoe Aberegg Naone, Robin Ide, Moanikeala Gaddis, and Kanoe Arola, who performed with us over the years as regulars in our Waikiki shows and some of whom occasionally traveled abroad with us too.

We even fondly remember the lovely Hawaiian Telephone Company ladies who were featured on the award-winning 1979 Kamehameha Day Floral Parade "rainbow" float that introduced our song, "Chasing Rainbows," to the world - Dana Wong, Lali Fuller, Gwen Kakaoka, Denise Moore, Aurora Andres, LaFern Johson, Patti Silva, Lois Teruya and Nalani Paio. Thanks to the UH curriculum committee and the DOE for choosing that song for inclusion in a DOE music textbook.

WOW, just saying thanks took up most of a column. And that doesn't mention the hundreds of artists and groups who have invited us onto their stages to perform with them, here and abroad. They are too numerous to mention, but most notable is Aunty Genoa Keawe (with Nora Keahi Santos, Harris Kaleikini, Jacob Kaleikini, Warren Akana) who called us up often at Steamboats in Waikiki in 1970, when we had just moved to Honolulu from Maui, and almost no one in Honolulu knew who we were. Aunty Genoa still invites us to perform with her and we are still just as honored to share her stage at the Marriott with her, Alan Akaka, Momi Kahawaiola`a, and Gary Aiko.

There was Al Kealoha Perry, who invited Keith to solo on the original "Hawai`i Calls" radio program; Haunani Kahalewai, who invited Keith up to perform with her in California; and Bill Ali`iloa Lincoln, who always singled us out, called us up to sing old songs, and dozens of other notables. It has been exciting. Guest hosting such shows as KHET-TV's "Pau Hana Years" and narrating the KITV (ABC) coverage of the King Kamehameha Day Floral Parade (3 years) and the Aloha Week Festivals Floral Parade (4 years), were all personal highs.

Writing about Hawaiian music and language for Ha`ilono Mele, the Journal of Hawaiian Music, Manulani, Land of Aloha, Guitar Player Magazine, Aloha Magazine, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu Weekly, and dozens of other publications, was very rewarding.

Having visiting artists from all over the world perform with us has also been an exciting part of our entertainment lives - Kenny Kitching from Australia, Palani Baum from Germany, Keoki Lake from Canada, just to mention a few of the foreign steel guitarists who've performed with us.

We fondly remember casual gigs with Richard Kauhi, Raymond Kane, Bill Messer, and concerts with the Kahaiali`i Family, Na Kaholokula and being a part of The Sons of Hawai`i shows, concerts and casuals. . . We remember `Iwalani Aiu, who danced with Carmen in Bangkok; being a part of Rhonda's show in the Monarch Room; traveling to Texas with Na Kaholokula, Minnesota with steel guitarist Keoki Lake, Vancouver with John Mahuka, Japan with Larry Endrina and Andy Yim and a bevy of beauties; to Guam with The Peter Dillingham Band and Moe Keale; performing at Punchbowl with Gordon Freitas, on the USS Missouri, and at Pearl Harbor, with The Patriots; and doing shows with Don Humphrey and The Geezers; performing at the Mall of America, the Empire State Building in New York City. on a bridge over the River Thames in England, at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, and dozens of other exciting venues and events, in the USA and half a dozen other countries - far too numerous to mention.

Mahalo to those in management who hired us, once by audition and in all of our future gigs after seeing us perform. We especially thank Peter Kwock, who selected Keith for his first Waikiki gig - at the old Kuhio Hotel - and Ed Philippe at the famous Blue Dolphin Room, and Jack deMello, then VP of entertainment for Sheraton Hotels in Hawai`i, who picked K&C for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, where we performed for 17 years. And mahalo to those who recommended us for various gigs - from Don Ho and Eddie Kamae to Walter Omori, Lynn Cook, Beverly Nelson and others.

Carmen at the Blue Dolphin Room 1980. Reviewers said she had "the lovliest of hula hands." (Photo credit: Honolulu Advertiser Photo by T. Umeda)

Briefly, Keith's first gig in Honolulu was singing at happy hours at the Red Fox Lounge in the Amfac Tower downtown soon after we moved here from Maui in 1970. He played briefly at the Ala Moana Hotel's In-Between Bar. Then, thanks to a tip from soundman Walter Omori, he auditioned and moved to Waikiki to the Warrior's Bar and Torch Lanai Restaurant at the Kuhio Hotel, then the "in spot" for Hawaiian music in Waikiki. Carmen joined his act there, and they opened as a duo in the Garden Court Lounge of the Hawaiian Regent Hotel. Then while peforming only one night a week in Waikiki, K&C joined Eddie Kamae and the Sons of Hawai`i two nights a week in the newly renovated Palm Garden of the Downtown Blaisdell Hotel, a real highlight in our career. When Eddie and the Sons moved to the famed Blue Dolphin Room of the Main Outrigger Hotel, Eddie recommended the Keith & Carmen Haugen Quartet (K&C plus Guy Tseu on guitar and Ezra Johnson on bass) and they shared the room. After the Sons moved on, the K&C quartet split into two duos for a time, then K&C added a third member, John Mahuka on `ukulele, to form the Keith & Carmen Haugen Trio. When they moved to the Hale Koa Hotel, they went back to performing as a duo. Then, a few years later they moved to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, where they performed for more than 17 years - as a duo, then a duo with an extra dancer, a trio again (with Vern Ropp on bass) with a dancer, and often with three or four guest musicians and up to 200 guest dancers (on a single night). Our last regular gig was for two years at the Pacific Beach Hotel, once again as a duo, with many guest musicians and dancers from all over the world.

During those years, we performed in Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, England, Thailand, many Neighbor Island venues, and Mainland cities, on luxury liners (Royal Viking Lines, Holland America Cruises) and interisland cruise ships (American-Hawai`i Cruises), on radio and television in half a dozen countries, at dozens of major Honolulu events ranging from the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Honolulu Concert Hall to being the last act to perform in the old Honolulu Stadium more than 30 years ago - with Guy Tseu, Keao and Kaui Lowe.

We'd be remiss if we didn't tell you who else received Legacy Awards at the Waikiki Lau Yee Chai Restaurant on March 16. The other recipients were: Jimmy Borges, male vocalist; Sonya Mendez, female vocalist; Jack & Cha Thompson, show; Betty Loo Taylor, Lifetime Achievement; Gordon Broad, producer; Eddie Suzuki, songwriter; Jimmy Funai, studio musician; Al Harrington, entertainer; Randy Bauske, technology; Punahou High School Music Department, music educators; Charlie Lukela, engineer. The Mayor's Performing Arts Award went to Don Ho. The Loyal Garner Award went to Na Mele, the television seies patterned after KHET's Mele Hawai`i, which we conceptualized about 30 years ago. And the Governor's Fine Arts Award was presented to George Naope. Melveen Leed, the best all-around entertainer in Hawai`i nei was the mistress of ceremonies. Remember when we were on the Lurline with Mel in 1969. We certainly were in good company - then and now.

At the end of March, Danny Kaleikini was honored by St. Francis Hospital and KINE 105 Radio in a special concert/salute at the Hawai`i Theatre, and it brought to mind our first meeting with Danny, another of Hawai`i's great performers, a superstar by anyone's standards. It was in 1963, where I was working in Japan as a Department of the Army civilian employee and serving as an officer of the Hui O Hawai`i (later, as the president), a social club for Hawai`i residents living and working in that part of Japan. We were hosting our annual lu`au and there were local folk from all five Hawaiian clubs participating. I was emceeing the show, with musicians, singers and dancers from all the clubs. Someone handed me a note, saying "please call up Danny Kaleikini." I must admit I didn't know who he was, so while the band played the next song, I asked those on stage. Finally, one of our musicians, Bill Maluo (brother of kumu hula Bella Richards), said "he's the guy who replaced Alfred Apaka at the Hawaiian Village. Call him up."

So I did.

And Danny took over. He sang. He joked. He called his brother, Eddie (who was in the U.S. Marines, stationed at nearby Atsugi Naval Air Station) up to sing with him. Then he asked if he could do "Ke Kali Nei Au." It was on our program and the baritone who was to sing it agreed to let Danny do it. Our lead vocalist, Lucille Namahanaikaleleokalani (Kekipikamakahukilani) Cordeiro (Class of '51 from Lahainaluna High) joined him in that famous song and they were the hit of the show. It was Lucille, the way, who got Keith started singing Hawaiian songs some years earlier, and around whose beautiful voice we built The Islanders. She had sung with Ray Kinney's band in the Hawaiian Room of the Hotel Lexington in New York City, and was superb. She now lives in Oregon.

Lucille (Kekipi) Cordeiro & Danny Kaleikini, Japan 1963 (Photo by Keith Haugen)

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