KeAloha - EPK

KeAloha { kay - ah - loh - hah | they/ she } is a mixed-Indigenous and chronically-ill artist based in so-called “Vancouver, BC". Their music carries essences of Alternative RnB, Latin-fusion, and Dream Pop mixed with sounds inspired by their Hawaiian, Tahitian and Lheidli T'enneh Indigeneity. "Dynamic, multi-pronged musical paradise. Grounded, Elevated, oceanic, bars, all of it" (Music Waste Festival 2022). ​KeAloha weaves soundscapes of Indigi-Pop wonder, fluidly owning the stage as a vocalist, drummer, and dancer.  

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KeAloha’s young love for tap dance led her Mama to surprise her with drum lessons when she was 12. At 18 KeAloha moved to xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in 2014 where she achieved a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Drums on full scholarship, while diving into performance and session work.

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This project was born out of necessity. “Living with chronic illness is like being a bird asked to learn a life on the ground. What I have cultivated is the power in shape-shifting, the beauty in unplanned paths, the relationships that bloom through deepened empathy, and the ancestral voices of resilience.” KeAloha’s music is a manifestation for the world we are weaving that centers disabled, queer, and Two-Spirit people, and liberation of all our relations. 

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​KeAloha’s second single, was nominated to CBC Searchlight Top 100 in 2021. “Mama’s Hands celebrates my Mom, Nani, who raised me and my 2 older siblings… and celebrates our triumphs as a low income, brown, femme gang hailing from the North-West of Turtle Island” said KeAloha (Aesthetic Magazine). Their third single - Mahina - reached #13 in the Indigenous Music Countdown, “under a groove with rnb, soul and pop intonations, the singer mixes and interweaves the sounds in a percussive instrumentation and a tenderly beautiful song.“ (Iggy Magazine).

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​The spring of 2021 to present has seen KeAloha across stages and circles in Turtle Island, including Banff Centre for the Arts, Oahu Indigenous Youth Workers gathering, Indigenous Day Live presented by APTN, Music Waste, Vines Festival, and Shipyards Festival. 

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KeAloha's most recent years have been dedicated to individual and community healing efforts for Right Return. Witnessing genocidal occupations being livestreamed has led them to take more radical steps away from spaces that continue to fuel colonial-capital plans, which ultimately involve the erasure of Black and Indigenous people and cultures, globally. KeAloha has been dedicated to time on the land in Turtle Island, time resting and tending to their chronic illness disability, and considering their own foundational Right Return.

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Summer of 2022-present has offered KeAloha pathways home to themselves and to more Indigenous community across Turtle Island through dance medicine. They have been practicing and learning Pow Wow traditions; including Native Hoop Dance, Jingle Dress, and Fancy Shawl. From babies to elders, KeAloha has found deep belonging and hope in returning to dance after years being immobilized and bedridden from their chronic illness, and patiently tending to sustainable recovery rhythms.

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KeAloha opens portals that traverse hope & lament, heartbreak & remedy. A Two-Spirit and Mahu person, a chronically ill time-bender and shapeshifter, music is part of KeAloha's commitment to collective liberation. Their upcoming debut album, “Pieces of Who I am” is a fierce & tender soundtrack for the revolution of our youth.

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