Robert Cazimero on PBS' INDEPENDENT LENS

    Tuesday May 6 at 7:30pm, I'll have the second half of my conversation with singer Robert Cazimero on our weekly PBS Hawaii program, LONG STORY SHORT.

     Then, on Thursday, May 8, at 8:30pm, Robert goes national, as the respected PBS national program INDEPENDENT LENS presents a moving documentary.

     Funded by Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), the film focuses on Robert's all-male hula school, Halau Na Kamalei, as it doggedly and joyfully prepares for the "Superbowl of Hula," the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo.

      Watch the program, and you may get caught up in the dynamics of achieving a perfect, unified, culturally authentic performance from modern, regular guys who are also committed to busy careers and personal lives.

     Most hula halau teach both men and women. But Robert's own mentor and kumu hula (hula teacher), the late Maiki Aiu Lake, urged him to specialize in teaching men.

     She warned him that men wouldn't pay to be taught hula, as women do--so it wouldn't be an easy venture. (She was right.)

     The documentary shows the brotherhood bonds in  Halau Na Kamalei and explores Western stereotypes about gender and sexuality in hula. In ancient times, men learned hula as well as the arts of fighting and war.

      Robert told me he felt uncomfortable giving the documentary team open access to himself and the halau, but he felt his kumu Maiki would want him to do it.

     Come to think of it, we're not accustomed to knowing who Robert really is, only about what he's doing as a public figure. We see him in the media, pitching a concert or a worthy cause. But he's doing promotion, not introspection.

     On LONG STORY SHORT, Robert speaks frankly about about what it takes to get into the halau, why he expelled his beloved brother  and business partner Roland, the advice he received from Don Ho about "our people," how he feels about his voice, and why he sings every song as if it's his last.

      PBS Hawaii will play an encore of LONG STORY SHORT with Robert, after Thursday evening's INDEPENDENT LENS presentation.