becoming

KeAloha’s project carries essences of their Hawaiian, Tahitian and Lheidli T'enneh Indigeneity; woven with Brown & Black artists and music lineages who have importantly mentored KeAloha’s voice. Keali’i Reichel meets Jhene Aiko, Thundercat meets Olivia Rodrigo. "Dynamic, multi-pronged musical paradise. Grounded, Elevated, oceanic, bars, all of it" (Music Waste Festival). ​KEALOHA weaves soundscapes of Indigi-Soul wonder, beaming and shapeshifting as a vocalist, drummer, and dancer.  

“MY young love for tap dance led my Mama to surprise me with drum lessons when I was 12! Our Mom, ever nurturing, fiercely believing in us. At 18, we moved to xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, where I achieved a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Drums on full scholarship. Bussing to gigs with my drum set, stage-handing arena shows, practicing background harmonies in bands, getting flared up amidst an unsustainable hustle through ableist industry spaces… Mobilizing my original project has been possible through multi-generational resilience.”

Bedridden for years with chronic illness flare-ups; KeAloha offers living prayer at the pace of disability. They have survived through Ohana support and building pathways of community care. They have continued because they know more freedom is possible when we centre the experiences of our most vulnerable kin.

KeAloha’s original music project was born out of necessity. “Living with chronic illness is like being a bird asked to learn a life on the ground.” KeAloha’s “Mama’s Hands” was nominated to CBC Searchlight Top 100 in 2021. Their third single - “Mahina” - reached #13 in the Indigenous Music Countdown. ​The spring of 2021 to 2022 saw 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.

KEALOHA opens portals that traverse hope & lament, heartbreak & remedy. A Two-Spirit and Māhū person, a chronically ill time-bender and shapeshifter, MUSIC is Kealoha’s commitment to collective liberation. 

lineage:

Lheidli T’enneh Nation | Kanaka Maoli | Tahitian | Chinese | Irish

I am a Great-Great-Grandchild of Granny Seymour, “Matriarch of the North” of Lheidli T’enneh Nation; medicine woman, trapper, crafter, and knowledge keeper. I am a Great Grandchild of Captain Owen Browne, and Grandchild of Earl Browne - who passed the traditions of Hawaiian and Tahitian dances down to my Mama, Nani Browne, who in turn taught my siblings and I. Our Mama's Mom was Lorraine Grove, descended from Irish-English farmer-settlers. I am paternally descended from, and a survivor of, Chinese immigrants.

I belong to Lheidli T’enneh Dakelh Nation; I am committed to these homelands and waters - I grew up urbanely, in our Keyoh.

I am devoted to xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations - these Northern Coast Salish homelands have nurtured me 18-30.

I am Kanaka Mamao - Native Hawaiiandiaspora; I wonder what it was like for my ancestors to navigate by stars from the South Pacific to Salish coastlines. I pray for more time with my ohana doing 'aina work.

I am Tahitian - in this I feel the interconnectedness of Māhū travellers, original community bridge makers

I am Chinese - a survivor of my Chinese father and his family

I am Irish and English - I think of holding my sweet, precious, and strong Gramma Grove.

​

Through music, dance, and storytelling;

I amplify the wisdom of disabled, queer, Indigenous, Two-Spirit, and Māhū identities.

lands

I grew up in the urban centre of so-called "Prince George, BC" in our unceded Lheidli keyoh.

When I was 18 I moved to the unsurrendered ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations ("Vancouver, BC").