Moose Lodge goes Hawaiian with island bash

An authentic luau lunch, slack-key guitar concert and hula dancing create a traditional Hawaiian experience on Sunday, Feb. 26, at Sonoma’s Moose Lodge. “The word in Hawaiian is ‘kokua,’” explains Betty Ann Bruno of Hula Maui, “a real island kind of event.”

The 1 p.m. concert features slack-key guitar legend Patrick Landeza. Born and raised on “the island of Berkeley” to Hawaiian parents, Landeza is a leading exponent of the traditional Hawaiian guitar style.

Landeza played a concert at Carnegie Hall last month that showcased a variety of indigenous music from around the world. “Music is an important key to understanding other people’s cultures,” he said. “We express our deepest emotions in our music, and those emotions are the same everywhere in the world.”

The Sonoma party serves as a release part for his new CD “Kama’alua.” True to Hawaiian traditions, the disc also introduces elements of Ladenza’s California upbringing. “The overall theme is that of identity through ancestry.”

“We are thrilled that this young rising star of Hawaiian music has chosen Sonoma to introduce his latest album,” says Bruno, who founded Hula Mai, the local hula dancing troupe, three years ago.

“When I gave the first hula workshop at Vintage House in 2009, Sonomans had to travel out of town to hear live Hawaiian music or see the hula,” she says. “Now, not only does Hula Mai have an annual show in the Plaza every year, we perform all over the valley.”

Hawaiian performers are beginning to see Sonoma as an appreciative audience, she feels. “(Ladenza) is just the first, but he is also a producer and if this event succeeds, he will bring others, and that’s exciting.”

Landeza will be busy that day – he’s also the chef. ‘He’ll cook a Hawaiian luau lunch and we’ll help him serve it up,” Bruno says. Afterwards, he’ll play his wonderful slack key guitar and we’ll dance.”

Also performing will be Hawaiian musicians LT Smooth and Bill Griffin.

Tickets are $20 at the door, 20580 Broadway. The Hawaiian luau plate lunch will be available for an additional $10. Doors open at noon.