POW! WOW! Hawaii Music 2014

For the past four years, Honolulu’s Kakaako district has hosted annual art festival Pow! Wow! Hawaii that invites artists from around the world to grace the scene with contemporary art, steadily evolving into a vibrant creative community. Since its last year’s edition, POW! WOW! has expanded by introducing music. For this occasion, founder Jasper Wong as well as music directors Tiffany Tanaka and Christa Wittmier curated a special music campaign. Action Bronson made his Hawaii debut with a special concert at The Republik while Ta-ku blessed the crowd with his energetic live DJ set at HYPETRAK’s Drive Slow Homie, Pt. III release party at Fresh Cafe Downtown. In addition, POW! WOW!’s School of Music — a special program focusing on music education for a select group of local musicians between the ages of 13-18 — celebrated its second year with a special donation by Flexfit. In conjunction with this program, POW! WOW! also hosted a music panel offering young musicians a platform on how to take their talent to the next level. Participants of the panel included recording artists such as Ta-ku himself and media representatives like HYPETRAK’s own managing editor Petar Kujundzic. Tiffany Tanaka gives us a detailed outlook on the festival’s current and future foray into the world of music.

Pow Wow Music aims to serve as a platform for emerging artists wanting to visit Hawaii and collaborate with local musicians to bridge the gap across oceans and genres. Connecting international musicians with musicians in Hawaii has been POW WOW Music’s goal since the beginning. POW! WOW! has attracted artist from a wide variety of genres while working to study Hawaiian music to promote its preservation, education, and evolution.

The week of POW! WOW! teams with many artists collaborating to create and environment that builds relationships between visual artists and musicians. Visiting musicians and local musicians are able to serve in the role of speaker, mentors for youth in the Pow Wow School of Music, and seminar leader. The Pow Wow music program involves a School of Music for ages 12-18 through which the youth can explore, and refine their musical talent through and intensive guided program during the month of February and throughout the year after Pow Wow.

Enjoy our visual recap above — including shots from Action Bronson’s concert, Ta-ku and HYPETRAK’s Drive Slow Homie, Pt. III release party Fresh Cafe Downtown, as well as impressions from POW! WOW! School of Music. For more information on POW! WOW! Hawaii, visit their website.

Photography: Brandon Shigeta/HYPETRAK