Kumu hula Robert Cazimero’s hālau to celebrate 50 years at 62nd Merrie Monarch Festival

After 50 years of teaching hula, famed musician and Kumu Hula Robert Uluwehionāpuaikawēkiuokalani Cazimero will be taking his hālau to Hilo in April to compete for the eighth — and last time — in the Merrie Monarch Festival.

While this news may be sad for the great majority of spectators who love Cazimero’s performances, the kumu hula’s longtime friend and Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning musician Kuana Torres Kahele of Hilo said he knows this won’t be the last time the public will enjoy the talents of Cazimero and his kane.

“Anyone who is close to Robert knows he’ll keep doing hula and music till he can’t, just not on the competition stage,” Kahele said.

The 76-year-old Cazimero first brought his Oʻahu-based Hālau Nā Kamalei o Līlīlehua to the prestigious hula festival in 1976, with 20 men in his lineup.

“We were the new kids on the block at the time,” Cazimero said. “It wasn’t until 1979 that I convinced the haumana [students] that it would be a great idea to compete every 10 years.”

He said one reason he didn’t want his halau to compete more often was because “I didn’t want it to be their whole life.”

During the upcoming competition portion of the 62nd annual Merrie Monarch Festival, which takes place April 23-26, Cazimero will bring 17 dancers and four chanters.

They will be part of the weeklong festival — this year April 20-26 — that has become a worldwide phenomenon, seen by hundreds of thousands of people in nearly 150 countries and more than 6,000 cities internationally.

The festival’s mission is to preserve, perpetuate and promote the art of hula and all Hawaiian culture. Hālau from throughout the state will showcase performances in kahiko (ancient hula) and ‘auana (modern hula) during the three final nights of the festival on the stage at Edith Kanakaʻole Multi-Purpose Stadium.

With Cazimero’s tradition of participating in the competition only once every decade, the last time his hālau performed at Merrie Monarch was in 2015, when it placed first in the ‘auana division and second in kahiko.

Cazimero, who also is known for being part of the Hawaiian music duo The Brothers Cazimero, said he and his haumana have always competed in Merrie Monarch for themselves as a way to share their art with the hula community.

“That’s how it always has been and that’s the way it’s going to stay,” Cazimero said. “I enjoy the idea of sharing rather than competing.”

When he competes, Cazimero said, the most rewarding part of the experience isn’t receiving a trophy: “Your dancers are the trophies. Without them and my teachers, I’m nothing.”

Cazimero was trained by Margaret Maiki Aiu Lake, one of the most widely recognized hula masters of the 20th century, according to the Center for Biographical Research at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Aiu helped to preserve and pass on crucial components of Hawaiian knowledge and tradition through difficult times, and “in her school, Hālau Hula o Maiki, she trained many of the most-respected kumu hula who teach and practice today,” the research center stated.

Aiu invited Cazimero to take hula classes when he was in high school.

“I was excited to be there,” Cazimero recalled. “I was in total awe of her.”

Aiu guided Cazimero on the path to teach and start his own hālau in 1975.

For the upcoming Merrie Monarch, Kahele, a professional musician and kumu for Hālau Māluaki’iwailehua, will be singing for five hālau in the competition, including for his good friend Cazimero.

“When you play the same genre of music you’re bound to run into each other,” said Kahele, who has known Cazimero since 1997.

And in Hawaiʻi, Robert Cazimero is a household name. For decades, he played stand-up base with his late brother Roland was on a 12-string guitar. They made around 20 albums full of not only Hawaiian music, but also classic Christmas and American songs with their own spin.

“To talk about that man, where do you begin?” Kahele said of Robert Cazimero. “He’s done so much.”

Since the beginning of the festival, Kahele said Cazimero was one of the first to bring an all-male group to the stage. Cazimero also had the talent to train his dancers to sing.

In the early years of the festival, there was no limit to the number of musicians a group could bring to sing for the dancers during opening auana night. Cazimero would show up for competition with dozens of musicians and 30 dancers.

“They were an arsenal of musicians,” Kahele said. “Not only could they dance, but they could sing.”

In the later years, Cazimero brought mele (songs) and chants back to the stage that were performed in bygone days that were relaxing and enjoyable.

“They’re having fun and that’s a huge part of hula,” Kahele said.

While Cazimero says this year will be his last to compete, Kahele said that remains to be seen.

“When you’re a musician and a kumu, there are sacrifices made,” Kahele said. “You can’t devote everything to two crafts. There needs to be a balance.”

There are so many people who try to emulate Cazimero in music and hula. Kahele said the kumu is leaving a legacy, which includes his all-male groups being known for their hips.

Male hula can be rigid and not as graceful as it is masculine, which is good, however, Kahele said, Cazimero’s style is fluid hips.

“It’s a total style,” Kahele said. “You can pick them out of a crowd.”

This year, 31-year-old dancer Nicholas Lum will be competing in his second and final Merrie Monarch under Cazimero’s tutelage.

Lum dances hula for a variety of reasons, including the cultural aspect of learning about songs and Hawaiian traditions, saying: “It’s the camaraderie with all the hula brothers. It’s a family.”

Lum said since last year the group has been practicing for the competition once a week on Sunday mornings for three hours. In March, Lum said they’ll pick up the pace and practice two nights a week.

Lum likes Cazimero’s 10-year tradition of participating in the competition, and his outlook that the artistry is more important than trophies.

“It doesn’t matter if we win or lose, it’s a showcase of what we do,” Lum said. “If we end up winning it’ll be great, and if we lose it’ll be great.”

When Lum was young, he remembers listening to The Brothers Cazimero; and at around age 10, first seeing Cazimero’s hālau perform, which was at a Christmas Concert at the Hawai‘i Theater on O‘ahu.

“It was at that time I wanted to dance for Robert someday,” Lum said.

Lum’s own band Keauhou was performing at the Imua Lounge when the famed musician came in to watch them play.

“‘Oh my gosh, that’s Robert!'” Lum recalled of the first time he met Cazimero. “We ended up talking story.”

Lum said Cazimero invited him to dance in his halau. After joining the group at 18, Lum said he experienced a full circle moment when his first public performance in the all-male lineup performed at a Christmas concert.

“His halau is his family,” he said. “He does everything with his halau. He has this father figure status and best friend.”

And, Lum said: “It’s a connection to my culture and my people. I feel a responsibility that I give it back and honor my teacher.”