Owana Salazar

Owana Salazar
Born	October 30, 1953 Honolulu, Hawaii
Occupation	Musician, Royalty
Spouse(s)	Ronald Kaʻimihale Walters Warren Kaipohoʻohuaamaua DeGuair
Children	Mahana Kaʻahumanu Walters Noa Kalokuokamaile
Parents	Helena Kalokuokamaile Wilcox Henry Mario Salazar

Owana Kaʻōhelelani Mahaelani-rose Salazar (born 1953) is a musician who is related to the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She has used her popularity to promote discussion of Hawaiian sovereignty issues.

Early years

Owana Salazar was born October 30, 1953. Her mother was Helena Kalokuokamaile Wilcox, the ranking member of the House of Keoua Nui, through the branch of Laanui-Kalokuokamaile. Her maternal great-great-grandaunt was High Chiefess Elizabeth Kekaʻaniauokalaninuihilaukapu Laʻanui, and her great-grandmother, Princess Theresa Owana Kaohelelani Laanui was a great-great-great granddaughter of Keoua Kalanikupuapaikalaninui, the father of King Kamehameha I. She was the granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Rives, a French native who had come to the islands as a boy in 1819 and become an interpreter and aide to the royal family.^[1][2]

Her father was Henry Mario Salazar, descendant of a noble house from Spain. She was raised on the island of Oahu in her Spanish, Hawaiian, English, French^[3] and Italian culture. Her early years were immersed in music and family history as taught to her by her mother. The only girl in a family of five, Owana grew up with a sense of place. "Our family discussions were vast... about many of our ancestors, about their roles in Hawaiiʻs history, about the crown lands, about Robert Wilcox, about Princess Theresa going to Washington, about Princess Elizabeth going to Washington to petition Congress to survey the crown lands."^[4]

Education

Under the tutelage of Kumu Hula Ho`akalei Kamau`u, Ho`oulu Richards and Winona Beamer, Owana studied the art of hula. She was later enrolled in the Kamehameha Schools. Owana sang with the Concert Glee Club.^[4] After graduating from high school in 1971, she attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa as a music major. Along with studying traditional western music theory, Salazar continued her study of hula, studied voice with Elizabeth Cole, and studied piano, string methods, guitar, Javanese dance and gamelan.

Cultural and Sovereignty Involvement

Salazar has been strongly influenced by her descent from Hawaiian royalty and from her great grandfather, Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox, a military and political leader. At nineteen, she was initiated into the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, Mamakakaua, a lineage society of descendants of Hawaii's ruling chiefs. Throughout her musical career, Salazar has promoted Hawaiian history, culture and sovereignty. She served as family liaison to the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts for two years, with the goal of planning, commissioning and unveiling a life-size bronze statue of her great-grandfather Wilcox. His statue was installed at Wilcox Park in downtown Honolulu, on the corner of King and Fort Street.^[3]

Salazar served for seven years as Kuhina Nui (Regent) to Ka Lahui Hawaii, a Hawaiian sovereignty organization. Before her death in 1988, her mother named Owana Kuhina nui and her son, Noa as Ali`i nui Kalokuokamaile III. She informed Owana's brothers that their sister and her son would succeed her. All brothers supported their mothers decision.^[4]

In July 1998, Salazar and her son withdrew from Ka Lahui. In press interviews around the centennial of the United States' annexation of Hawaii under the 1898 Newlands Resolution, she noted that it was only a joint resolution of the US Congress, not a treaty.^[5]

Music career

At the start of her public career, Salazar performed with Hawaiian headliners such as Don Ho, Ohta-San, Ed Kenney and Charles K.L. Davis. It was at U.H. that she learned Kihoʻalu (slack key guitar). She was introduced to the world of Kihoʻalu by friend Nelson Hiu. Combining music theory with her repertoire of Hawaiian songs and slack key, Salazar developed her playing skills with help from her professors and other fellow musicians such as George Kuo, Bla Pahinui, Cyril Pahinui, Dennis Kamakahi, George Kahumoku Jr. and Sonny Chillingworth. Other musical influences include Joni Mitchell, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Stevie Wonder, Genoa Keawe, Gabby Pahinui, Lena Machado Marvin Gaye, Debussy, Ravel, Bach, Rachmaninov.^[3]

Her first recording in 1986, Owana and Kaʻipo, In Kona was nominated in the category of Most Promising Artist in the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, a Hawaiian music industry salute. The following year, her second recording, Owana, was a final ballot nominee for Contemporary Hawaiian Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. Pupukea describes the characteristics of the ocean on the North Shore of O`ahu. Kula Morning takes you upcountry Maui, gazing from mountain to the sea. “Na Wai” is a playful poetic expression of love's experiences, full of Hawaiian kaona (hidden meanings). “Kalamaula” celebrates the early homesteading movement of the Hawaiian people. “Silhouette Hula” is a hapa haole piece, recalling the early jazz years of Hawaiian music.

For most of the 1980s, Salazar sang Hawaiian classics with the Royal Hawaiian Band and performed at venues in Waikiki and Japan. Jerry Byrd accepted Salazar as his student for formal study of Hawaiian steel guitar. Eventually, she received a full scholarship from the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association. In 1992, she became Byrd's only female graduate and has been called Hawaii's preeminent female steel guitarist.^[4] Besides Hawaii, Salazar has also performed in Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and the Americas. In January 2000, she became the first woman to tour with the Hawaiian Slack Key Festival along with George Kahumoku, Jr., Keoki Kahumoku and Daniel Ho.^[3]

Discography (partial)

• "Owana and Ka'ipo IN KONA" (1986), Nominated: Most Promising Artist of the Year.
• Owana (1987), Nominated: Female Vocalist of the Year; Contemporary Hawaiian Album of the Year.
• Wahine Slack n’ Steel (2003), Winner: Contemporary Hawaiian Album of the Year. Nominated: Female Vocalist of the Year; Album of the Year.
• Hula Jazz (2005), Winner: Jazz Album of the Year; Nominated: Female Vocalist of the Year; Album of the Year; Song of the Year
• Hawaiian Slack Key Masters: Volume III, Winner: Grammy Award (Hawaiian Music Category)
• Hawaiian Slack Key Masters: Volume IV, Winner: Grammy Award (Hawaiian Music Category)

Family tree

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Owana Salazar.

• Owana Salazar: Singer, Slack Key and Steel Guitarist personal web site