Arts Feature
Inspiring Arts Profile
The Gift That Gave Back
RAIATEA HELM received an introduction to Hawaiian falsetto music watching the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest on television. Today, almost eight years later, the singer from Molokai is standing at the helm of her own label, Raiatea Helm Records.
In 1999 Raiatea attentively watched Nina Kealiiwahamana's rendition of "Pua Tuberose" in the Ho`ike performance, and it would end up changing her life forever. Inspired by the performance, the awestruck teenager immediately set her mind to learning the traditional falsetto song. Raiatea's father, Zachary, was an aspiring musician almost 22 years ago, but his 15-year-old daughter had no background in music, except for what was passed on to her by way of the gene pool. Raiatea talked her parents into buying her a four-string concert ukulele, and behind closed doors she sang and strummed to her heart's content.
"I had no idea what traditional Hawaiian music was. I remember hearing Nina Kealiiwahamana for the first time and being in awe," said Helm, who was born on Oahu, but raised on Molokai. "Singing falsetto is one of the hardest ways of singing Hawaiian music because of the variation of pitches. I had a recording of her performance, and I played it over and over again. I picked up th(Read more)
