I was star struck last Friday when I met the beautiful Hawaiian singer, Raiatea Helm. Though I probably had trouble putting two coherent sentences together, Raiatea gracious engaged me in conversation and even seemed to take interest in Go Visit Hawaii. At least, I’ll pretend that she did. 😉
As you may recall, I was in San Francisco last weekend to accept the Lonely Planet Travel Blog Award for Best Destination Blog. As soon as I knew I was coming to San Francisco, I checked to see who was going to be performing at the special Aloha Friday at Gordon Biersch in San Francisco
and I was super excited to see that it was the Grammy Nominated, Raiatea Helm! I love her Hawaiian Blossom CD.The San Francisco location of Gordon Biersch at 2 Harrison Street was a great setting for a completely packed house! Raiatea wasn’t due to perform until 8pm and we arrived just before 7pm and could hardly find a place to stand. It was clear that the crowd had a true love of the sounds from the islands. See all our photos from this event.
If you aren’t familiar with Raiatea Helm, then I hope you will be soon. Go here to listen to samples of her songs. She sings Hawaiian songs as well as jazz songs with a Hawaiian music flavor. Her voice is so pure and lovely and I really don’t know how it’s possible for her to seamlessly transition from a high note to a low note so artfully.
Raiatea grew up on the small Hawaiian island of Molokai, though she lives in Honolulu now. She has been playing the ukulele since the age of seven and has been singing since the age of 15. You can read her biography
and her blog. Note that she performed at the Presidential Inaugural Ball just this past January. What an honor!I must thank my friends Nathan Kam and Michael Ni for introducing me to Raiatea Helm. Nathan gave me the Hawaiian Blossom CD last year and now it’s time for me to pay it forward. So, I’ll be giving away a copy of Hawaiian Blossom to a lucky reader. To enter, just comment on this post. I’ll randomly select one winner. (For e-mail subscribers, you must visit the site and comment on this specific post.) Enter your comment by noon ET on Monday, April 6, 2009 to be eligible. Only one comment per person, please.
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Raiatea's wonderful! Yes, I'd love this - can't believe I'm the first commenter.
New Hawaiian music would be PERFECT for our upcoming trip to Maui and Kauai! Thanks for your blog, I have been using your tips to plan our trip & have been passing on your "deals" to friends & family. Mahalo!
Hello! She is very lovely! Her voice is amazing. I would be honored to be included in your fabulous CD prize drawing!
Many thanks.....Cindi
Was she playing with Kaleo? He plays there most weekends and is awesome. One of the best in Hawaii!
Wow! Congrats on winning the Lonely Planet Travel Blog Award for Best Destination Blog! That's pretty neat. I'll have to check out the rest of your blog soon :) And what a great 'pay it forward' idea!! Mahalo!
It was great seeing Andy and you in San Francisco...wasn't it fun being Raiatea's groupies for the night :)
I love Hawaiian music and always interested in learning of new artists. Thank you for sharing and enlighting others.
I really enjoy following you a Twitter. My family has never been to Hawaii before and we are going in Aug/Sept this year! I can't wait! Thanks for all the tips you provide. Would be nice to have a little music to help with the pre-planning. :)
Oh! I love listening to Raiatea Helm - she's a young Auntie Genoa! I could use a little sunshine :)
It's after noon ET on Monday. I cut out 9 equal sized slips of paper and numbered each one to correspond to the comments. And the winner is number 9 - JulieAnn!
Thanks for all the comments!
@ Michael - it was VERY fun playing groupie! Thanks for letting us hang out with y'all. :)
Hi Sheila,
She's fabulous. I hope I'll get to see her on Friday at San Jose, CA. Thanks for your post.
Aloha,
Mark
Mark - Yes, she's such a talent! Enjoy your Aloha Friday!