Grandparents Day in Hilo on September 9, 2007

Hui Okinawa celebrated Grandparents Day with an afternoon concert at the Historic Palace Theatre. For those that braved the warm, humid Palace Theatre, the concert was awesome.  The shishimai costume was brought out of retirement and opened the show with a great performance thanks to Troy Sakihara and Sam Gushiken.  These 2 guys climbed to the top of the theatre and tumbled around the stage like old pros in that very hot costume.   The ever popular Kobudo Taiko wowed the audience with their precision.  Samantha Maesato showed that she was multi-talented by dancing, playing the taiko, and playing the sanshin along with members of the Hilo Okinawan Cultural Club.  Next, two cute little girls from the Kin Ryo Sho Dance Academy (Shaylyn Arakaki and Kathy Oyadomari) displayed their gracefulness while being accompanied by Reynold Miyashiro on sanshin. Then, Kirk Shimabukuro amazed the audience by his ukulele playing.  Watch out Jake Shimabukuro, Kirk is an up and coming musician.  Finally, the children from this summer’s Cultural Day Camp showed off their talent by dancing and playing on their very own shimedaiko that they made during camp.  After a short intermission, closing out the afternoon was Keith Nakaganeku and Calabash. [Click here to view more pictures.  Close this window to get back to the HUOA Web site.]