Kamakakēhau: The Heart’s Desire is a feature documentary produced by the Pōpolo Project that follows locally and internationally renowned Hawaiian falsetto music star Kamakakēhau Fernandez as he embarks on a heartfelt, music-filled journey from Hawaiʻi, where he was raised, to discover connections to his birthplace in Little Rock, Arkansas and on to his ancestral homelands in West Africa.
People of African descent comprise close to 3% of Hawai‘i’s resident population, and in Kamakēhau’s youth on Maui he was often the only Black face. As a product of his experience of hānai/adoption, Kamakakēhau embodies Hawaiian culture and spirituality. For him, living Hawaiian culture rooted in his moʻokūʻauhau (Hawaiian genealogy) means knowing and honoring all his ancestors.
The Hawaiian concept of hānai (literally, “feed”) is often translated as “adoption,” but this complex social relationship differs from Western ideas about adoption. All sectors of Hawaiian society, from ali’i (‘nobility’) to farmers, engaged in the practice in traditional times and the practice endures as a valued part of Hawaiian culture.
