Aloha ʻĀina with Practitioner of Mele Hawai'i, Zachary Lum

Zachary Alakaʻi Lum of Haʻikū, Heʻeia, Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, is a lifetime student, educator, and practitioner of mele Hawaiʻi. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama and a current Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Zachary is the executive director of Kāhuli Leo Leʻa, a Hawaiʻi 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to catalyzing aloha ʻāina through mele and other cultural practices. He is the former director of choral music at the Kamehameha Schools Kapālama campus, where he promoted the value of mele in education and as a powerful tool for self-efficacy. As a cultural practitioner, he is a Grammy-nominated producer and member of the seventeen-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano award-winning group, Keauhou. In addition to Keauhou, he has produced albums––including Kūhaʻo Maunakea (2019), Lei Nāhonoapiʻilani: Nā Mele Hou (2020), Huliāmahi, Vol. 1 (2020), and Kāwili (2021)––as well as live and virtual events, such as Hawaiian Airlines May Day and Mele Huliāmahi. He belongs to Hālau Nā Kamalei o Līlīlehua, a hula school under the direction of Kumu Hula Robert Uluwehionāpuaikawēkiuokalani Cazimero. Zachary is driven by his passion to promote mele and aloha ʻāina as a fundamental tenet of all relationships—familial to lāhui.

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